which is known to enter the Arctic Sea through Bearing Strait, and is believed to emerge on the other side through Baffin's Bay. The drift of ice on this side is consequently northward, and the danger is that it will cut off the retreat in case of accident to the ship by which the party is compelled to take to the ice.
Of course the object of the expedition is to reach the north pole, but, even if it fails, there are subsidiary objects also to be accomplished. It may be expected, at any rate, that the unknown Arctic area will be reduced in dimensions, and there will be the opportunity of scientific observations in places as yet unexplored. The magnetic conditions north of the magnetic pole will be examined. There will be geological and mineralogical observations, and information collected with reference to the fauna and flora of the Arctic regions. Systematic attention will also be given to meteorology, in the hope of getting further data for elucidating the laws of storms.
The scientists of the Western coasts, as is very natural, have taken a deep interest in this first Arctic expedition from their side, and that has so many special features of importance. A meeting of the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco was convened June 16th, for the special purpose of giving a reception to Lieutenant De Long and the staff of the Bennett expedition. A paper on Arctic exploration was read by Dr. A. B. Stout, and remarks were made upon various connected topics by gentlemen present. Lieutenant De Long spoke, but only to say that he had very little to say in regard to what they were going to do. They did not sufficiently know themselves, and hoped to be better qualified to talk satisfactorily upon their return. Mr. Charles Wolcott Brooks made some interesting observations regarding the ethnological possibilities of the Arctic regions which we here subjoin: "In offering his word of kind encouragement, he remarked that men who use obstacles as steppingstones to success are apt to win; and he but expressed the universal desire of all ethnologists that Lieutenant De Long and his brave comrades should overcome every barrier that the Frost King might impose as an obstacle to their success. As ethnologists, we all feel great interest in the existence of an Arctic Continent, and earnestly desire to know if it is, or can be, inhabited. In a world governed by mathematical law, whose every atom is geometrically correct, and subject to mathematical proof, we may reasonably judge of the unknown by what we can see, cautiously using the great law of analogy as our guide. If we should judge of the ultimate atom, or the most distant orb in space, we may study for that purpose some object around us, or our globe taken as a whole. He who has watched the organization of crystalline forms under electric currents has seen the operation of the same law which has formed the solid part of the earth we live on. In its early and plastic condition it was a sphere like the dew-drop, but, with the constant currents of organizing magnetism, it has assumed a crystalline form, and to-day its solid exterior, were its oceans emptied and removed, would present the polyhedron. If we carefully examine the almost universal features of all land known to us, we find a prevailing form wherever we turn. Each territorial area of magnitude seems to have an appendage trending southward. Thus, south of the large continent of North America, we find that leg-of-mutton or pend d'oreille form of South America. Beneath Europe rests a similar shaped area of land in the continent of Africa, and south of Asia is Australia and the Polynesian or Spice Islands. The same relative position of land is general among many island groups, and all peninsulas seem also to point southward, such as Kamtchatka, Alaska, Lower California, Florida, Nova
