The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1880-02-19
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. @
The Polar Exploration Before tho

At the last maating Of Tho New Orleans Acnd-
envy OF Rcinncee held on Tuesday evening Mr..
Hill. chairman of tho section on geography and
niisics. made n report on tbs voyage of Prof.
N,rdonHk iold around tho Northern Continent
of Asla thlIs demonstrating the existence Of nm
npen md nnvignhIn northeast pnssage to China
md Jnpnn Tho readlng Of the report was IL
lustrntad by rsfNrsDrs to M sxcellanly exe-
| ruted chart showing tho course Of tho Profess
aot /. veaao Among tho sclebtitle results Mt
tainod wns Il moro accurate chartlng OF tho
eonst limo.
During Tho tImn tho Vega WINS frox ~ W In
the irs afet having neRry reached Behring's
Htrnitp tho officers of tho expedition made na
exteDsivo and thorough reEonrehes na possible
into tho physical geography, paleontology. eth
nogrnphy nnh moteorolory of this part of tho
hitherto ,,nox ploroi world and have thus ndd-
% considerably to our stock Of knowedga GA
| thcse subIerts The NordenskJod expedition
conaiAted of two small steamships the Vega
Trom.on Ia Norway, en- the fifth of Augu 1t,
1878 and arrived NJ Yokohama japan on Sop
tnmbor 2 ia1o There WIZ ss, very little IT, on,
Ren or nlong the northern eohat of Siberia I'M
til tho Kolwyn river was passed., when the din
daily ,h a"a a ono h besse ws
eighth Of September. 1879. In latltudeG7 degreea
mnntee north and longitude III degrees q!
until July IL. 1879 whom the ine broke up and
the voyage was resumed. pnssing into behring's
Strata two d. 70 afterwards.
This Vega WIS imprisoned In the loo 26I days.
The tenn pernture was worry low. averaging 30
dagraes 4 minutes below zero lFAhrsnheltl.
Notwithstanding tho severity OF the cold. how
over, tho SniirS Ehtps company remained In
tho best Of health and spiritR. Not single
cage Of scurvy or other serious diasnRa md not
a single death occurred during the entire voy
III the discussion which followed tho readlng
q tho report, r. ltol'o called attentlon to
Prof Nordenskjpld and tho expedition Of Capt.
Hall IN the F,,Iarls IN 1871. The professor
etates that had ho r'achod tho spot whore he
sailed into Tho iceloss Behring atrnita In two
days. thus snving tho 2G! days during which he
was detained IN the loo. This incident wnH OK
nctly unraIeed by one that probably, nnusod tho
f,iinrea Of the Poaris expedition When Capt.
Ilali renched tho upper extremity OF Hobeson's
Channel tho lookout OF the ponris reported
open watef In sight. just beyond tho pack which
surrounded the voss"l md impeded further
progfess. This open winter was afterwards
s,eon irom II" cape At tho NORTHERN opening OF
Grow Of that 1T fntad v.~aei that " she had bnen
but tho fraction of IN hour earlier In reaehipR
tho channel they could have steamed unob-
strncted il considerable Distance farther north,
perhaps even TO tho pole itself-that goal Of
modern gsographarE.
| summary Of the results attained by recent
| Arctic expeditions. and dweit upon the advan.
tngea TO science and commerceby continued In
| vest Igatloa Ia ths prolific fsd of adventure
He gave m In eIostlng account Of the plan pro
posed by Capt II. W. Howg tie. of the United
| States army. for finally overcoming 'hs Difficult
ties III the wny Of reaching the pole. and re-
terred to the efforts being made by various M
lions to eatnbllsh circle OF stations within the
Arctic Oirclo for tho purpose of making me-
neurological. astronomical mud other OBSERVE
tions In physical science. with tho Wow Of get
thing certain prohlnms I'm science.
Mr.. Hill WA requested to continue his studies
Of this subject. and report upon It ut creator
length ut d future mcating.