t 13. liStCt
��SCIENCE.
��313
��laboratory ; and the best tables and facilities are reaerii'cd for any of lliis claas who may select Aii- Disqunm in order to pursue their work in any epeoial departnienl, whether botauital or zoolo- gical. For the four jeare the average attend- ance has hepn sixteen. Last year there were, in all. fiftec-'D, but at no one time more than twelve. There are comfortable accommoda- tions for about eighteen persona when alt the seals are filled, and this is considered the ex- treme limit in numbers at any one time.
The studenla come from alt parts of the cx>untry east of the Rocky Mountains. Pro- fcssor Hyatt is the director, and has one assist- ant ; and neither receives any remuneration for bis special services. A buildiug specially con- etriictcd for a laboratory is much needed, as well as a steam-launcb in which to make sur- faee-towings, — a class of worii little canied on in our waters, but the value of which should not be underrated. For the successful maintenance of this laboratory, it should possess a regular fund; for some fear exists that the Woman's association may at an early date withdraw its support. This would be sincerely regrettoti ; for the Annisqnam laboratory has marked out for itself a course, which, with proper support, will result in great advantage to American sci- ence. As it is, the ladies of the Boston asso- ciation may well be proud of their beginning, and they may be sure that they receive the thanks of a large class of students who have profited by their venture.
��1
��•HE HUDSON-BAY EXPEDITION OF
188i.
WrrH Uanitoba, aad the Canadian North-west be- yond it, promising Lo become a vast wheat-producing connlrr, a convenient outlet for surplus grain is most important. THklng Winnipeg as the converging point of ail grain to be shipped, we find that the distance lo Montreal by llic shortest road, the soon-lobe- opeued Canadian Pacific railway, will be fourteen litmdred and thirty miles, and thence by water to Uverpool, tia Cape Race, twenty-nine hundred and ninety miles; wljile If tliAt large inland sea, Hudson Bay, could l)e utilized ax part of a continuous water ronte to Europe, it would involve only seven hundred miles o( rail transport to Tork Factory, and twenty- iiine hundred and torty-une miles of water lo Liver-
Tbal llie bay and strait are navigable to a limited extent Is proved not only by the voyage of the Intrepid navigator who bequealbed his name to them and left Ills body on their shores, but by the fact that the Hudson-Bay company has had ships sailing from England to Tork Factory annually (or a great num-
��ber of yeans, to take In all the enpplies required in its western trade. But the voyages of Uiese vessels, entering the bay only once a year, at the most favor- able season, could throw little light upon the extreme dnration of navigation ; nor could American whalers entering the bay add much to our information, aa they winter and purane their avocation usually alto- gether loo far to the northward.
The desire for further infojinaUon on this impor- tant subject culminated in the appointment of a com- mittee of investigation by the Canadian house of commons during its last session, and the appointment of an expedition under the command of Lieut. A. R. Oordon, B retired naval officer, and assistant director of the Dominion meteorological service. The plan adopted was to establish on the shores of the strait sii obaerving-stations, — one on each side of the outer entrance, two similarly situated at the Inner entrance, and the third pair dividing the distance between these, as sUted briefly in No. 78 of Science.
A Newfoundland seallng-stearaer, the Neptune, was chartered to convey the expedition ; and, on the outward voyage, four stations were located: viz., at Port Burwell, on the nortb-westem shore of Cape Chudleigh, at the entrance to Ungava Bay; at Ashe
���Inlet, near North BluET. on the island called by Lieut. Schwatka Turenne Island; at Stupart's Bay, about three miles away from the strait, along the north-west coast of Prince of Wales Sound; and at Port DeBon- cberville, on Nottlngbam Island, near its must south- erly point. Each of the stations was named after Uie observer stationed there. The steamer then ran across Hudson Bay to its north-west angle, and visited the whalers' harbor od Marble Island, where a letter was found from Capt. Fisher, of the whaling- bark George and Mary, dated the 7th of August, stat- ing that they had experienced a very cold winter and spring, Willi the thermometer four degrees below zero on the 2Ud of May; that the ship bad got out of her winter quarters on the 7th of June, but had been un- able to get up the Welcome or to the east shore in consequence of Ice. Continuing her voyage, the Neptune visited Fort
�� �
