The Scientific Work of the “Vega” ¹

Abstract

THE volume we have before us—the first of a series— contains the results of the scientific observations made during the cruise of the Vega, and to say this is obviously to indicate that it contains a rich supply of most valuable information as to that part of the Arctic Ocean which extends along the coasts of Siberia, which appears in the shape of a series of elaborate papers on different departments of natural history of the Arctic regions. Several parts of this volume are already known. Such are the “Reports to Dr. Oscar Dickson” written by Baron Nordenskjöld during the expedition, and read throughout the civilised world as soon as they reached Europe; or his paper on the possibility of navigation in the Siberian Arctic Sea; or, again, his paper on auroræ (recently summarised in the pages of NATURE). The well-known “Reports” appear as they were written on board the Vega, but with a map “of the northern coast of the old continent, from Norway to Bering Strait,” and with several maps of separate islands and bays. The other papers are quite new, and we find in this volume a medical report, by E. Almquist, on the health of the crew; a paper by A. Lind-hagen, on the determinations of latitudes and longitudes, which will put an end to the discussions as to the accuracy of the changes made in the map of the northern coast of Siberia by the astronomers of the Vega a paper by H. H. Hildebrandson (in French), on the meteorological work of the expedition being a comparison of the climate of Pitlekaj (the Vega's wintering station) with the climate of other Arctic stations; several papers on the Chukches; an elaborate paper by A. Stuxberg, on the invertebrate fauna of the Siberian Arctic Sea; and a series of papers by F. R. Kjellman, A. N. Lundström, and E. Almquist, on the vegetation of the region visited.