March 13, 1885 



SCIENCE. 



213 



laboratory ; and the best tables and facilities are 

 reserved for any of this class who may select An- 

 nisqnam in order to pursue their work in any 

 special department, whether botanical or zoolo- 

 gical. For the four years the average attend- 

 ance has been sixteen. Last year there were, 

 in all, fifteen, but at no one time more than 

 twelve. There are comfortable accommoda- 

 tions for about eighteen persons when all the 

 seats are filled, and this is considered the ex- 

 treme limit in numbers at any one time. 



The students come from all parts of the 

 country east of the Rocky Mountains. Pro- 

 fessor Hyatt is the director, and has one assist- 

 ant ; and neither receives an}^ remuneration for 

 his special services. A building specially con- 

 structed for a laboratoiy is much needed, as 

 well as a steam-launch in which to make sur- 

 face-towings, — a class of work little carried on 

 in our waters, but the value of which should not 

 be underrated . For the successful maintenance 

 of this laboratory, it should possess a regular 

 fund ; for some fear exists that the Woman's 

 association may at an early date withdraw its 

 support. This would be sincerely regretted ; 

 for the Annisquam laboratory has marked out 

 for itself a course, which, with proper support, 

 will result in great advantage to American sci- 

 ence. As it is, the ladies of the Boston asso- 

 ciation ma} T well be proud of their beginning, 

 and the}' ma}' be sure that they receive the 

 thanks of a large class of students who have 

 profited by their venture. 



THE HUDSON-BAY EXPEDITION OF 



1884. 



With Manitoba, and the Canadian North-west be- 

 yond it, promising to become a vast wheat-producing 

 country, a convenient outlet for surplus grain is most 

 important. Taking Winnipeg as the converging point 

 of all grain to be shipped, we find that the distance 

 to Montreal by the shortest road, the soon-to-be- 

 opened Canadian Pacific railway, will be fourteen 

 hundred and thirty miles, and thence by water to 

 Liverpool, via Cape Race, twenty-nine hundred and 

 ninety miles; while if that large inland sea, Hudson 

 Bay, could be utilized as part of a continuous water 

 route to Europe, it would involve only seven hundred 

 miles of rail transport to York Factory, and twenty- 

 nine hundred and forty-one miles of water to Liver- 

 pool. 



That the bay and strait are navigable to a limited 

 extent is proved not only by the voyage of the intrepid 

 navigator who bequeathed his name to them and left 

 his body on their shores, but by the fact that the 

 Hudson-Bay company has had ships sailing from 

 England to York Factory annually for a great num- 



ber of years, to take in all the supplies required in 

 its western trade. But the voyages of these vessels, 

 entering the bay only once a year, at the most favor- 

 able season, could throw little light upon the extreme 

 duration of navigation ; nor could American whalers 

 entering the bay add much to our information, as 

 they winter and pursue their avocation usually alto- 

 gether too far to the northward. 



The desire for further information on this impor- 

 tant subject culminated in the appointment of a com- 

 mittee of investigation by the Canadian house of 

 commons during its last session, and the appointment 

 of an expedition under the command of Lieut. A. R. 

 Gordon, a retired naval officer, and assistant director 

 of the Dominion meteorological service. The plan 

 adopted was to establish on the shores of the strait 

 six observing-stations, — one on each side of the outer 

 entrance, two similarly situated at the inner entrance, 

 and the third pair dividing the distance between 

 these, as stated briefly in No. 78 of Science. 



A Newfoundland sealing-steamer, the Neptune, 

 was chartered to convey the expedition ; and, on the 

 outward voyage, four stations were located: viz., at 

 Port Burwell, on the north-western shore of Cape 

 Chudleigh, at the entrance to UngavaBay; at Ashe 



,,Yt7~~\\!jSM>van.aulA.£ar 



SECTION OF OBSERVERS' HUT. 



Inlet, near North Bluff, on the island called by Lieut. 

 Schwatka Turenne Island; at Stupart's Bay, about 

 three miles away from the strait, along the north-west 

 coast of Prince of Wales Sound ; and at Port DeBou- 

 cherville, on Nottingham Island, near its most south- 

 erly point. Each of the stations was named after the 

 observer stationed there. The steamer then ran 

 across Hudson Bay to its north-west angle, and 

 visited the whalers' harbor on Marble Island, where 

 a letter was found from Capt. Fisher, of the whaling- 

 bark George and Mary, dated the 7th of August, stat- 

 ing that they had experienced a very cold winter and 

 spring, with the thermometer four degrees below zero 

 on the 23d of May; that the ship had got out of her 

 winter quarters on the 7th of June, but had been un- 

 able to get up the Welcome or to the east shore in 

 consequence of ice. 

 Continuing her voyage, the Neptune visited Fort 



