SCIENCE. 



j/ A/A - 



605 



SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Record of Scientific 



Record of 

 Prog r ess. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



Per Year, 

 6 Months, 

 3 



Single Copies, 



TERMS 



Four Dollars 



Two 



One 



Ten Cents. 



Published at 

 TRIBUNE BUILDING. NEW YORK. 



P. O. Box 3838 



London, England, 



150 Leaden hall Sr. 



SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1881. 



The glad tidings of the safety of a large proportion 

 of the crew of the Jeannette, and the probability that 

 the missing members of the company will probably be 

 soon heard from, will be a relief to many aching hearts, 

 and welcome to the general public who have taken a 

 great interest in this expedition. 



As the success of the expedition has not been re- 

 ferred to in the despatches, the probability is great, 

 that the discovery of the North Pole is still a problem 

 to be solved, but the experience of Captain De Long 

 will doubtless prove very valuable in making future 

 plans for Arctic explorations, and we trust that no 

 time will be lost in obtaining authentic details of the 

 expedition. 



From what we know respecting the voyage of 

 the Jeannette, and from other information to date, 

 our opinion is that the route by Smith's Sound, is the 

 most practicable for all who attempt to reach the 

 North Pole, and we still maintain that the plans ot 

 Commander Cheyne present a higher prospect for 

 success, than any other scheme which has been an- 

 nounced. 



The first step which we advise, is to establish firmly 

 a small colony at St. Patrick's Bay, where coal exists 

 in abundance, and ample protection can be found for 

 stores and shelter for men. This spot is less than 

 500 miles from the North Pole, and, with such a base 

 of operations firmly established, the coveted prize 

 can surely be won by continued and persistent efforts. 



We approve of Commander Cheyne's proposal to 

 utilize balloons, on the ground that no facilities which 

 can be devised by practical scientific men should be 

 neglected, and it is far from impossible that some 

 means of aerial navigation may be invented, which 

 may be at least sufficient for this purpose. 



The establishment of the colony at St. Patrick's 

 Bay, should be the immediate plan which shouid 



~ 7f ; — — 



claim attention, without desiring by a rush to accom- 

 plish the remaining distance. Time should be given 

 for traversing the 500 miles which intervene before 

 reaching the Pole, and all the devices which science 

 can suggest should in turn be put to the test. 



We cannot conclude these remarks without giving 

 a due acknowledgement to Mr. James Gordon 

 Bennett for his liberal outlay in the cause of geographi- 

 cal exploration. Inspired by his generous hand, 

 Stanley braved the horrors of tropical climates and 

 penetrated to the unknown recesses of Africa, and 

 by Mr. Bennett's aid De Long has added new laurels 

 to the American flag, and increased our knowledge of 

 the Arctic regions. 



The presence of fossil organisms in meteorites al- 

 leged to have been discovered by Dr. Hahn, was fully 

 explained in " Science " (No. 50, June n, 1881) by 

 Dr. Rachael. Since the appearance of this article 

 I have discussed the subject with many specialists, 

 with the result of finding a general distrust of Dr. 

 Halm's discovery. 



I, therefore, endeavored to obtain a portion 

 of the Knyahinya meteorite which fell in Hungary on 

 the 9th of June, 1866, as many of the most con- 

 vincing specimens were obtained by Dr. Hahn from 

 it, and by the aid of Messrs Ward and Howell of the 

 Natural History Museum, Rochester, N. Y., a small 

 fragment of this meteorite recently reached my hands. 

 From this specimen two sections were cut, and ground 

 down to a condition of transparency by a gentleman 

 skilled in such preparations, and are now mounted as 

 microscopical objects. 



An examination which I have since made confirms 

 in every respect the correctness of Dr. Hahn's state- 

 ment, as to what he saw, and it therefore remains 

 only to decide whether the deductions he made were 

 correct. The doubtful forms are very clearly defined 

 and sufficiently large to be examined with precision 

 by a 1 -inch objective ; one prominent object, which to 

 the uninitiated might be taken for a diminutive 

 clam shell, is found to measure 1-25 by 1-20 of an 

 inch. I was disappointed to find that high powers 

 failed to develop structure which indicated decisively 

 the nature of these forms, and to show the difficulty 

 of arriving at a correct solution, I may state that the 

 two persons to whom I have so far shown the speci- 

 mens, differed entirely as to their interpretation; the 

 one pronounced them veritable fossils, and the second 

 was equally sure that they were merely interesting 

 forms of crystallization. 



I reserve an opinion until the section has been 

 studied with more attention, and comparison made 

 with other specimens now being prepared ; in the 

 mean time I shall be pleased to show the section to 

 any person who is interested in this subject, or able 

 by previous study to throw any light on the subject. 



John Michels. 



