May 2, 1884.] 
dwarfed cycadean stems or trunks which formerly 
went by the name of Cycadoidea, but which the 
Marquis Saporta (Paléontologie francaise, Végétaux, 
IL.) now divides up into the two new genera, Bolbo- 
podium and Clathropodium. From an examination 
of his figures, I am inclined to refer it to the latter 
of these genera. Although found at Golden, Col., 
which is cretaceous or Laramie, still it is not impossi- 
ble that this specimen may have been in some way 
brought to this spot from a locality higher up the 
adjacent slope, having a position stratigraphically 
lower. LESTER F. WARD. 
The Greely search. 
Safely assuming that Science admits within its do- 
main facts only, and willingly dismisses errors of 
observation, I respectfully offer the following correc- 
tions of some inadvertences found in your notice, 
March 28, of the action of the Navy department, and 
its board of relief for Lieut. Greely. 
It is an error to suppose that the report was 
founded, ‘in great part, on the counsels of Capt. Nares 
and his associates;’ for the joint letter of Nares, 
Markham, and Fielden, dated, as the report shows, 
London, Feb. 1, could not have been in the board’s 
hands until nearly a month after their submitting 
that paper, the publication of which was delayed for 
these and other valued counsels. 
The necessity of leaving the ice-navigation ‘abso- 
lutely’ to the judgment of the ice-navigators, that is, 
to ice-pilots, is also in this case a fallacy. Neither 
the whalers nor the sealers go north of 70° north 
latitude, and can have no knowledge of the ice move- 
ments in Kané basin, for action in which, the com- 
manding officers are likely to gain as much knowledge 
as ice-navigators, so far as this can be gained in 
lower latitudes. Once in the basin, the whole prob- 
Jem depends on the judgment and skill of the officer, 
who must, by careful observation of the local tides 
and weather, determine when and where to advance. 
The writer of your notice has ignored the plain fact 
that the commander, as the only responsible person, 
must also be the absolute judge of the ship’s move- 
ments among the most fickle of all known conditions, 
— the ice-changes. He must, almost without ceasing, 
be on the watch and in the crow’s-nest. In that ‘sort 
of tub,’ Hartstene, when out in the search for Kane, 
““stayed for thirty-six hours on the stretch, with but 
a bowl of soup sent up to keep body and soul to- 
gether;” and, according to Markham, Nares almost 
lived there, from the nest closely scrutinizing the 
ice motions, the tides, the currents, and the influence 
of the wind on the pack. ‘It was entirely due to 
this that the expedition advanced, although inch by 
inch.’? That an ice-navigator of the ordinary type 
should be equal to this watchfulness, is scarcely 
among the possibilities; and in this connection the 
experience of the Proteus is most unfortunately 
cited by your correspondent, if the captain of that 
vessel was correctly reported as being confessedly 
very rarely in the nest. Nor, in another point, is the 
case a parallel one, inasmuch as the needed naval 
qualifications could not be expected to be found in 
an army officer, however marked were his courage 
and admitted sagacity. ; 
The statements in regard to the failure in providing 
for scientific observations, and as to the programme 
of the cruise, are equally at fault. The final decision 
of the programme for the expedition could not have 
been made at the date of the writing, and, indeed, has 
not yet been made known. From the nature of the 
case, much must be left to the discretion of the offi- 
SCIENCE. 533 
cer commanding: he must, as in the case of previous 
expeditions, sail ‘untrammelled.’ So far as opportu- 
nity shall offer for scientific observations, these will 
be made by the use of two complete scientific outfits, 
including photographic apparatus, carefully prepared 
for meteorological and magnetic work, if the ships 
should winter north. For this, as well as for previ- 
ous expeditions, special instructions have been laid 
down by the department for such observations as will 
not interfere with the main object. The ships will 
take out three young officers of the number, which, 
under the sanction of Secretary Chandler, have been 
recently on duty at the Smithsonian, under training 
for just such work. ‘They will be thus prepared to 
carry out the instructions of Professor Baird, so far 
as the ever-changing circumstances of the cruise 
shall permit. 
May not the very grave responsibilities of this er- 
rand of mercy be intrusted to the department and its 
selected officers, conscious, as they assuredly are, of 
these responsibilities, and hoping for that success 
for which the hearts of the nation wait, as attested 
by the unlimited appropriation placed at the discre- 
tion of the president ? When De Haven went out in 
the search for Sir John Franklin, Admiral Osborn 
openly said, ‘‘I was charmed to hear that officers 
and men signed a bond not to claim any part of the 
reward of £20,000 offered by the English govern- 
ment.”’ 
Unaware of the existence of any lower tone of 
character in those who now leave their homes on 
an errand of humanity, yet of grave uncertainty of 
success and of personal danger, I submit the pre- 
ceding corrections, which might, indeed, be extended. 
They will commend themselves as due to the Navy 
department, to the officers, and to the mixed board 
from the army and navy, whose report itself evinces 
much previous arctic study, and close attention to 
the wants of the expedition. J. E. NOURSE. 
[The question as to whether an officer entirely 
without experience, and therefore necessarily with- 
out skill in meeting certain exceptional conditions, is 
as well qualified to do so as one who has gained skill 
by long experience, is one, which, divested of senti- 
ment and class feeling can have but one answer. We 
are not aware that floating ice north of latitude 70° 
possesses any occult qualities which it loses on drift- 
ing south of that imaginary boundary. The skill and 
watchtfulness of the ice-navigators of the sealing and 
whaling fleet is a fact which does not depend upon 
any one’s opinion, but has been proved by long years 
of successful adventure. That the owners of this 
fleet should require some guaranty in case of suc- 
cess, for putting their property in jeopardy, for what 
many regard as a forlorn hope, is merely reasonable; 
and no just parallel can be drawn between them and 
officers of the navy, who have no pecuniary stake in 
the vessels to which they are temporarily assigned. 
The statement in regard to scientific work, ‘ not in- 
evitable to the expedition ’ (like meteorological obser- 
vations), was made on the best authority; and we 
shall be pleased to learn that the first intention of 
the commander of the expedition has been modified 
in the manner the writer intimates. That the coun- 
sels of Sir George Nares and others had great weight 
in determining the report of the board, we judged 
from internal evidence, from the fact that the report 
was delayed until those counsels were made known, 
and because it would have been most reprehensible 
if they had not received respectful attention. | ; 
