Februaky 19, 1886.] 



SCIEXCE. 



165 



lower altitudes, the writer asserts that the time 

 is generally more favorable for vision in the after- 

 noon, and that it is at sunset that one obtains the 

 best views in the Alps. 



— The geographical society of Lisbon has re- 

 cently published a list of the journals in the 

 Portuguese provinces, printed in that language. 

 This list includes the names of nineteen in An- 

 gola, six at Cape Verde, seven in China, two in 

 Guinea, fifteen in English India, seventy-two in 

 Portuguese India, seventeen in Macao and Timor, 

 ten in Mozambique, and three in the island of St. 

 Thomas. In addition, seventeen are published in 

 Portugal, which are devoted to the interests of the 

 foreign Portuguese provinces. 



— Interesting experiments have lately been 

 made by Dr. Parsons, we learn from Health, on 

 disinfection of clothes and bedding by heat. 

 These experiments, among other points, have 

 shown what degree of heat, and duration of 

 exposure, are necessary under different condi- 

 tions (e.g., of moisture and dryness) in order to 

 destroy with certainty the germs of infectious 

 disease. The net results of Dr. Parsons's experi- 

 ments on this head are as follows : with the ex- 

 ception of spore-bearing cultivations of the bacil- 

 lus of splenic-fever, all the infective materials 

 reported on were destroyed by an horn's exposure 

 to dry heat of 220° F., or five minutes' exposure 

 to steam at 212° F. Spores (or the reproductive 

 particles) of this bacillus required for destruction 

 four hours' exposure to dry heat of 220° F., or 

 one hour's exposure to dry heat of 245° F., but 

 were destroyed by five minutes' exposure to a 

 heat of 212° F. in steam or boiling water. It may 

 therefore be assumed that the germs of the or- 

 dinary infectious diseases cannot withstand an 

 exposure of an hour to dry heat of 220° F. . or an 

 exposure of five minutes to boihng water or steam 

 of 212° F. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



**♦ Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The 

 writer's name is in all cases required as proof of gcod faith. 



Did Dr. Hayes reach Cape Lieber in his arctic 

 exploration of 1861 ? 



This question has given rise to much controversy of 

 late years ; and, for the sake of truth, it is highly 

 desirable that it should be satisfactorily answered, 

 although this could only be definitely done by the dis- 

 covery of the cairn, with its enclosed statement, de- 

 posited by Dr. Hayes at the highest latitude reached 

 by him. 



The writer believes he can throw some little light 

 cn the question, from the fact that he had the original 

 records before him, worked up the astronomical ob- 

 servations (Smithsonian Contributions to knowledge, 

 No. 196, February, 1865), and constructed the chart 

 of the expedition, under the doctor's immediate 



direction, from the materials prepared by him. A 

 tracing of this chart, upon which Dr. Hayes first 

 assigned and wrote the geographical names, and 

 with his signature attached, is still in my possession. 

 It is reproduced in the work quoted above. 



The west coast of Kenned}' Channel was first seen 

 and remarkably well outlined by Morton, of the 

 Kane expedition, in June, 1834, and has since been 

 passed and repassed by many explorers : we may 

 therefore take, for the purpose of comparison and 

 reference, the latest excellent delineation as given on 

 the chart (No. 962) issued by the hydrographic office 

 of the navy, in February, 1885, and which is supposed 

 to embody our best geographical knowledge within 

 its region. 



We shall first collate Dr. Hayes's narrative ( ' The 

 open polar sea,' New York, 1867) with this chart, 

 and see where this will land us. The dates of this 

 part of the narrative are unfortunately very scanty, 

 and need identification in order to trace the progress 

 and position of the party from day to day. Dr. 

 Hayes reached the western coast of the Kane basin 

 May 6, 1854, while a member of the Kane expedition, 

 at or near Cape Frazer, in latitude 79 3 45 . Page 

 336 (of the narrative) he says. '* Our camp was made 

 near the farthest point reached by me in 1854." 

 This was on May 14, 1861, as identified by me by 

 means of the astronomical latitude recorded for that 

 day (p. 20 of the ' Physical observations,' etc., of the 

 Smithsonian publication). The resulting latitude, 

 80 : 06 , appears, therefore, too high in comparison 

 with our chart. Dr. Hayes there found his old flag- 

 staff still standing, and remarks, ' We were now 

 within Kennedy Channel,' and is struck with the 

 circumstance (p. 339) that no land was visible to the 

 eastward, as he could easily have seen fifty or sixty 

 miles in the clear atmosphere ; here he concludes 

 that Kennedy Channel must be much wider, and 

 assigns to it a width of over thirty miles, when in 

 reality it is but twenty nautical miles. He was theu 

 fully forty nautical miles south of the entrance of 

 the channel (which is at Cape Lawrence), and looked 

 out on the Kane basin, instead, as he supposed, 

 toward the eastern shore of the channel. 



Here, then, at the very outset, we meet with what 

 we must now regard a mistake, the influence of which 

 may have injuriously biassed his judgment as to the 

 extent of his further progress. The next day (May 

 15) his strongest man, Jensen, broke completely 

 down, and was left at Jensen's camp. This is south of 

 Scoresby Bay, since this deep bay (p. 343) was passed 

 on May 16. On this day he believed himself to be in 

 a higher latitude than Morton had reached, which 

 was about 80" 30 . On May 18 he appears to have 

 been in the vicinity of Cape Collinson. Apparently 

 no mention is made, in the narrative, of the crossing 

 of Eichardson Bay ; but on May 18 he was finally 

 arrested by a large bay, twenty miles in length (pp. 

 346-348). This, according to our chart, could have 

 been no other than Eawlings Bay : here its southern 

 cape, known as Cape Good, in latitude 80° 16 , would 

 consequently mark his highest point reached. Be- 

 tween Rawlings and Lady Franklin bays there is no 

 other long bay. That named after Carl Ritter is 

 apparently not over two or three miles in length ; 

 and Lady Franklin Bay does not fit the description of 

 his highest bay, inasmuch as its head could not be 

 seen from Cape Lieber, not even the point where the 

 bay divides into two long fiords. This comparison, 

 then, would lead to the conclusion that he never 



