402 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
constantly at the temperature of the sea ; the moment a change of 
the temperature takes place, the pencil of the thermograph will 
move showing the exact time of the change of the temperature. 
The ice-breaker “Ermack” will be fitted with one of these 
instruments. 
The part of the earth least known is the Arctic Sea, and 
information about the temperature and specific gravity of the 
water in that part of the world would he very interesting. 
It is long ago since I had a great desire to penetrate into this 
region with the hydrometer and thermometer in my hand, but 
means which I think are the best adapted for the purpose are 
verj 7 " expensive. To collect the necessary funds is sometimes 
almost impossible. There ought to be a pretext that some 
influential persons should approve, and without good pretext it is 
impossible to find money. When Dr Nansen — whose personal 
acquaintance I made after his journey across Greenland — conceived 
the idea of penetrating into the Arctic with his “ Fram,” I wrote 
him a letter in which I stated that I w T as entirely of his opinion, 
that he would he carried by the currents somewhere in the direction 
he imagined, and advised him that help should be sent for him to 
Franz Josef Land; my letter to him and his answer were duly 
published in the Russian newspapers and the Geographical 
Proceedings. 
I thought it quite possible that he would not f ulfil his voyage in 
three years; I also thought that if in four years nothing was 
heard of him, people would be anxious to send help, and that 
would be a good pretext for collecting necessary money. In my 
opinion the best way to penetrate into the Arctic region is by means 
of a large ice-breaker. Certainly I did not wish to mention in my 
letter to Dr Nansen that I would go and help him, because being 
on a Government Service I could not dispose of myself, but I 
asked him in my letter, if he had any intention to leave some 
trace of his voyage ; he then answered me that he intended to put 
on every island that he might discover, a pole with a small 
Norwegian flag on it, and under that pole a letter with information 
about the voyage of his ship. 
Fortunately for Dr Nansen the current carried him on very well, 
