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THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION: ITS SCIENTIFIC AIMS. 
By ROBERT BROWN, M.A., Ph.D., F.L.S., F.R.G.S., &c. 
B EFORE the next part of this review is in the hands of its 
readers an English expedition — the object of which is to 
explore the wide unknown region surrounding the North Pole — 
will be well on its way to the scene of its labours for the next 
two years. An event so remarkable in the annals of science 
cannot be allowed to pass unnoted. For months past almost 
every journal in the kingdom has had something to say on the 
subject ; for years to come we shall hear talk interminable, or 
may read print of which there is no end on this fruitful subject. 
Judging from the past we may expect these articles to be 
plentifully distinguished for the want of knowledge, more especi- 
ally of what are the scientific aims and objects of the expedition. 
A few pages may be therefore profitably devoted to this question. 
Thanks to the unwearying efforts of Sherard Osborn and 
Clements Markham, backed by the Arctic Committees of the 
Royal and (Geographical Societies, and their refusal to accept a 
denial — sedunt ceternumque sedebunt — in a few weeks the 
ships and the men will be ready. The Alert and Discovery are 
now fitting out at Portsmouth with every appliance which 
experience and ingenuity can suggest as best fitted for serving 
the purposes for which they are intended. Twenty-three 
officers have been selected from the overwhelming number of 
volunteers who offered themselves. The head of the whole ex- 
pedition will be Captain Nares, of Challenger fame. Commander 
Albert H. Markham, who has shown that his skill as a naval 
commander in many seas is almost equalled by his literary 
power in describing his voyages, is second in command ; while 
Captain Stephenson, late of the Royal Yacht, will have the 
command of the second ship. Under these officers will be 
about 120 seamen. In addition there will be six ice-masters — 
experienced whalemen — who will advise the officers on questions 
connected with ice navigation, and two civilian naturalists. It 
is to be hoped that one of these is a geologist ; for, as we shall 
see presently, the geological questions to be solved are not the 
