566 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII. , No. 177 



but few days in the month of April, only seven, 

 yet the aggregate rainfall was about the average 

 for the same month in preceding years. May was 

 in all respects a month of showers : on fourteen of 

 its days rain fell to a greater or less amount ; and 

 the total for the month was 5.40 inches. During 

 the same month in 1885. although some rain fell 

 on thirteen days of the thirty-one, but one less 

 day than this year, yet the total rainfall for the 

 month was but 1.86 inches. As will be seen by 

 the chart, the greater part of the rain this year 

 fell on the 8th and 13th insts. An examination of 

 the records for the past seventeen years fails to 

 show such a rainfall during May, the nearest ap- 

 proach being in the year 1882, when 4.20 inches 

 fell. If, however, we continue our search still 

 further back, we shall find a number of years in 

 which this rainfall is surpassed, and in one year, 

 1846, nearly doubled, it being then 10.25 inches. 

 The highest point reached by the thermometer was 

 86° F., on the 23d inst., at 5 p.m. On the preced- 

 ing day the mercury rose to 84° F. at 4 p.m., and 

 on the 30th it reached 85° F. at the same hour of 

 the day. 



A NEW EXPEDITION TO ALASKA. 



The New York Times has sent an exploring 

 expedition to Alaska, the object of which is to 

 explore the St. Elias range of mountains and the 

 country between them and the sea, while an 

 attempt will be made to ascend Mount St. Elias 

 itself. The expedition is led by Lieut. Frederick 

 Schwatka, who has already won deserved renown 

 in arctic travel and research. In 1879 he led an 

 expedition over the route of Sir John Franklin's 

 party, and brought to the world its fullest and 

 final knowledge of the fate of the Erebus and Ter- 

 ror. Again, in 1883, he explored from its source 

 to its mouth Alaska's great river, the Yukon. 

 It was in returning from this trip that Lieutenant 

 Schwatka conceived the desire to visit the moun- 

 tainous and forbidding southern coast of Alaska, 

 and tell the world something of its Indian races, 

 of its forests, its soil, and its glaciers. The Times 

 has given him an opportunity to undertake this 

 voyage of discovery and description, and it hopes 

 in due time to lay before the public such additions 

 to the w T orld's present slight knowledge of this 

 region as will amply justify the effort and the 

 expense involved. 



Lieutenant Schwatka himself has an article in 

 a recent number of the Times, in which he says : — 



" The New York Times Alaskan exploring ex- 

 pedition, which sailed on the Alaskan steamer 

 Ancon from Port Townsend. Washington Terri- 

 tory, June 14, has for its object the exploration of 



the almost wholly unknown St. Elias Alps, 

 stretching for nearly 300 miles from the upper 

 part of that picturesque lane of water called ' the 

 inland passage to Alaska ' to Mount St. Elias, the 

 highest peak of the North American continent, 

 and which throws its name over the whole range, 

 and even beyond. The expedition, therefore, will 

 have to do with mountain-climbing ; and should 

 opportunity present, which is very likely, attempts 

 will be made to ascend, in whole or in part, some 

 of the numerous peaks that project from that 

 high range. Although, strictly speaking, this is 

 not its main object, still it would be considered no 

 small victory to crown the king of the American 

 continent, Mount St. Elias, with shoe-leather of 

 American make, and, but a little way behind this, 

 to reach the summits of any of the others. — 

 Crillon, Fairweather, La Perouse, Vancouver, 

 Lituya, d'Agelet, — all higher than any peak short 

 of the Rocky Mountain range. Should the top 

 of the main range be gained, at 8,000 to 10,000 

 feet above sea-level, it is hoped — and the proba- 

 bilities are great — that a bird's-eye view in the 

 interior will compensate for all the trouble taken, 

 and especially if this be done at several points 

 along the main ridge. Bad weather, of course, 

 could defeat much of this part of the plan, but 

 during the summer months this is not very likely. 

 The interior slopes may be descended if the pros- 

 pect is at all flattering for important research and 

 discovery of any kind ; for toward the interior 

 absolutely nothing is known of the country. 

 Prof. William Libbey, jun., professor of physical 

 geography in Princeton college, will have charge 

 of the scientific work, and especially the hypsomet- 

 rical and topographical part of it. He has been 

 identified with considerable practical Alpine work 

 in the past, both in our own and other countries. 

 The well known hypsometrical and other scien- 

 tific tables compiled by the late celebrated Pro- 

 fessor Guyot (to whose chair at Princeton Profes- 

 sor Libbey succeeded on the former's death), and 

 published by the Smithsonian institution at Wash- 

 ington, were recently revised under Professor 

 Libbey's care, and brought up to the require- 

 ments of scientific advancement in that line since 

 Professor Guyot's death. Many of the hypsomet- 

 rical and other scientific instruments taken were 

 once those of that celebrated geographer." 



Of the scientific aims and prospects of the 

 expedition, Lieutenant Schwatka writes as fol- 

 lows : — 



'•The glacier system of the Mount St. Elias 

 Alps is undoubtedly the most extensive south of 

 the arctic regions themselves. Just how extended 

 it is cannot be told until further exploration gives 

 more data. It will probably be Many years before 



