Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-08-18
SCIENCE.
What the World Eas Gained By the
Greedy Expedition Arctic
Scenes.
Little Grains Of knowledge Dearly
Bought, But Worthy Of Their Cost.
The Arctic Seasons, the Tides, the Heav-
ems and Their Accompanying
Phenomena.

scientific observations made by Lieut..
Greedy at Lady Franklin bay, an sgent
of the Associated Press visited him
Saturday. Greedy first stated
the object of the Lady franklin
bay expedition, viz: To establish a
polar station, one of the thirteen sug-
gested by Lieut.. Weprect of Austria,
who discovered Frame Josef land.
Simultaneous observations of all
the physical phenomena were TO be
taken, complete programme of
which was to be followed was arranged
by an international polar congress, In
which the representatives of the thir-
teen nations took part. The observa-
tons IN which the greatest possible
accuracy were TO be had were
those OF the declination and
deviation Of the magnetic needle,
the temperature of the air and sen the
height OF the barometer and the mean
and maximum fall of the tides. All
explorations were incidental to the
main objects OF the expedition
The expedition was fitted out
under the authority OF congress
and was composed of three officers of
the army, one acting surgeon and
nineteen enlisted men from the army.
Rations for twenty-seven manths
were put on the ship. which
left st. Johns July Z, 1881, with
the party. She touched AT
Disco island and Upernavik to pro-
cure sledges, dogs, skins and dog food.
Two Esqulmaux were added To the
party ut Proven. A landing was
made ut Cary island In the
north water and provisions cached
by the Mar 8 Ia 1875 In the Alert
were found ~ good condition. At Lit.
tleton island Greedy personally recov.
cred the, English Artlc mail left by Sir
Allen Young In the Pandora IN 1876.
AT Carlittcr bay In Kennedy
channel n cache of provisions
for use on retrea5 WINS made. II was
the original Intention to establish the
polar station ut Water Course hay
Heavy masses of ice rendered
ingly dangerous OF anchorage.
Moving to Discovery Harbor the station
was there established on the site occu.
pied by the English exploring party
of 1875. The erection of Il house was al
once commenced and stores aud
equipments were landed. On the
twenty-elghth of August came the
parting between the Greedy party
and the men Of the Proteus.
The little band gathered on the
frozen shore and watched the Proteua
rs she steamed slowly down through
Lady Fyanklin bay. On the evening
of the same day the temperature sank
below freezing point ana the Icy Arctic
winter was on them in earnest. their
house was about flushed when the
Proteus left. II was named in honor
of Senator Conger. fort Conger."
During the first month the cold
affected the men more than any
subsequent time. At Fort Conger
later on In December the temperature
sank from 30 to 50 degrees below zero
and 80 remained for days Mt time
but even In that weather the cooks ia.
vorite amusement WINS dancing bare.
headed, bare-armed and slipper.d feet
on top OF the snow drift.
During the day the men
dres I'd In their ordinary out
side clothing, but their llaunels We're
very heavy. Five men were generally
tic work under Lieut.. Greely's direc-
camp. The remainder were
employed generally about one hour
day aud devoted the rest of the time
to amusement. All slept In hunks.
Their quarters were heated by u large
coal stove, the average heat main
tanned being so degrees above zero
Checkers, cards and readlng,were the
amusements Of the evening. The life
Lieut.. Greedy said, was far from u
lonely one. Many of the men said
they never passed two happier
years than those spent mt Fort Conger
On the 10Th of October the sun left
them for l35 days, and n twilight vary.
ing from half an hour
- twenty-four hours succeeded
Tor two months II was SO
dim that the dial of a watch could not
be read by it. On April llth the sun
came above The horizon aud remained
1876 days, giving the party great sulli-
cheney OF midnight sun.
During three months the stars We're
visible constantly. The constitutions
of Orion's Belt aud the Great Bear be-
ing the brightest. Tas North star
looked down from almost overhead,
Standing outside the. fort on
one of these nights the
the aurora borealis and the bright
constellati ms were set like Jewels
around the glowing moon, and
over every thing was u dead
silence so horribly oppressive
that man alone IL almost
tempted to kill himself, NO lonely does
he feel The astronomer OF the party
said that with the naked eye - star OF
ono degree smaller magnitude than
eau be seen here in the same
way might be discovered. The
moon would remain In sight
from ten 70 twelv. days ut u time.
The Thermometer registered on June
80 thu highest temperature ut Lady
Franklin bay Of which we knew dur
ing our stay. 1t was go above zero
The lowest was In February, 1883,
beips 80o below zero. In this
II. bruary our mercury froze and
renamed solid for fifteen days. The
mercury In the thermometer invarla
bly, rose during the storms or high
Winds. The highest barometer was
slightly above thirty me inches, the
lowest slightly above twenty
nii.e inches. The greatest varia-
tion- were In the winter electro
meier. nm Instrument [. ascertain
the = sence q electricity. TWAS set
up, ouL not the slightest results OBJ
ta,i.ed The displays OF the aurora
wers very good. hut not compared with
these seen at Disco Island or uper-
navtk. AS far rs Liert. Greedy could
observe no cracking sound accom-
panied the displays, and the general