SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1884. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 



The long uncertainty has been ended sooner 

 than could reasonably have been expected. 

 Greely and the remnant of his party have been 

 rescued from imminent death. The energy, 

 boldness, and judgment of our naval officers 

 have triumphed over all obstacles ; and, in spite 

 of inexperience in such work, complete success 

 has been attained. With the enfeebled sur- 

 vivors were rescued the complete records of 

 the work at the station, such instruments as 

 were originally taken from Lady Franklin 

 Bay, and the mortal remains of those who had 

 succumbed, except a few who had become the 

 prey of winds and currents. 



The party accomplished all that they were 

 sent to do, and much more, without loss of 

 life, serious accident or disease, to any of its 

 members. Making a successful retreat with 

 records, instruments, and all hands, to a point 

 where a sufficient store to have carried them 

 through the winter should have been in wait- 

 ing for them, and where it is even probable a 

 vessel might have safely rescued them in the 

 autumn of 1883, it was their fate to suffer and 

 die from causes due largely to the ignorance 

 and incompetency of others. Fortunately it is 

 not our duty to allot the blame, or specify the 

 acts, or failures to act, which brought about 

 the disaster. It will, without doubt, form the 

 subject of official inquiry, to which it may safely 

 be left. Meanwhile the victims of stupidity 

 are charged by the great mass of sympathizers 

 to the account of arctic exploration. 



In this journal (No. 60) we stated that it 

 was probable that Greely started southward 

 from Lady Franklin Bay in July or August, 

 1883 ; that the members of the party were living 



and in good health at that time ; that a success- 

 ful retreat to Cape Sabine would depend upon 

 the opportunity of using their boats ; that it 

 was impossible for them to carry more than five 

 or six months' provisions south with them ; that 

 it did not seem likel} T that there were provisions 

 enough at Cape Sabine to carry them through 

 the winter ; that they would probably be found 

 at Cape Sabine when navigation opened in 

 1884 ; that the prospect of the party reaching 

 the eastern side of Smith Sound was almost 

 unworthy of serious consideration ; and that the 

 programme which would waste the time of the 

 relief-ships on the east side of Smith Sound 

 was open to severe criticism. The remarkable 

 manner in which these conclusions (which 

 merely voiced the general opinion of accessible 

 arctic experts) have been justified by the facts 

 is worthy the consideration of those who con- 

 sider arctic travel a matter of luck rather than 

 of study and experience. 



The geographical results of Greely 's work 

 are detailed elsewhere in this issue. The most 

 interesting to geographers are the details in 

 regard to the form of the western part of Grin- 

 nell Land and the physical features of that area, 

 and the discovery of abundant game and re- 

 cent Eskimo traces in its northern part. The 

 additions to the shore-line of North Greenland 

 are also very welcome, though the practical 

 proof of the insularity of that continent had 

 been already given b} T Bessels in his discussion 

 of the Greenland tides. The reaching by 

 Lockwood and Brainard of the highest north- 

 ern latitude } T et attained appeals strongly to 

 American sentiment. The story of heroic en- 

 deavor, and patient, k>3 T al endurance, will be 

 heard with kindling hearts and filling eyes by 

 the brave and enterprising of all nations, while 

 universal sympatlry goes forth to those whose 

 best and dearest heroically met their fate, 

 as their last faint breath went out beneath the 

 cold gray arctic sky. 



No. 77. — 1! 



