Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

I 4F i IV Glaciers and Icebergs. RESEAECHE'i ON THE GREENLAND COAST. Exp'ioraHfln* by L'eut**nant Eaumer, of the Danish Navy—Ioebergs of Stupendous 6iio—Cunos’liea of the UrSeulaud Language. An expedition sent out to Greenland by the Danish Government in the fall of 1879 to explore the great Jakobs- havn glacier has recently made an in teresting report to the Royal Commis sion for the Exploration of Greenland. Its chief purpose, to determine thf speed of the great glacier’s progress toward the sea in the winter months, was accomplished under exception ally discouraging circumstances by R. Hammer, a Lieutenant in the Navy, who commanded the expiditron. Pre vious investigations by Rink in 1850, and by Helland in 1875, had shown that the Jakobshavn glacier in the summer moved seaward at the rate of fully sixty feet in twenty-four hours, while the Swiss glacieis trayel only a few inches in that time. The discovery that in the depth of the Arclic winter its speed fell very little short of this was, however, an unexpected conclu sion ; the measurements made by Mr. II iiurner, nevertheless, fully prove this. The Jakobshavn ice-fjord (69° 12 / north latitude) was chosen as the point of observation, because the glacier which through it reaches the sea from the unexplored interior is the greatest and sends forth the largest number of icebergs that crowd the Polar Sea. Th^belt of coast land that is not cov ered with perpetual ice is at Jakobs- havn about twenty miles wide. Be yond it the inland ice covers hills and valleys and feeJsthehugeglacier which packs the inner fjord at all seasons. The mouth of the fjord in Disco Bay is closed by a bar of mud, upon which the larger icebergs ground as they break off at the end of the glacier, Choking up the fjord and preventing all communication between Jakobs- havn and Claushavn, at the south side of the fjord, except by beat outside the bar. When large icebergs from time to time slip over this bar, an opening Is made through which quantities of ice push out into the bay, to the great danger of any boats that happen to be there, as the occurrence is always sud den and unforeseen. But when the glacier “kalver”—i. e., when the outer end breaks oft and forma icebergs that turn over aud over in the effort to attain their balance—the disturbance of the waters extends far out into the bay *nd at times may be traced many miles down the coast. Ice three or four feet thick is broken miles away like fragile glass. The Danes in Greenland understand well the cause of this commotion, though the actual process of the “kanel” has only been observed by a European once ; but the natives believe that it is the work of the spirit of the glacier, whose fast nesses are far in the unknown interior of the country. During the winter of 1879 this phenomenon occurred thrice. Hammer started for the glacier from Claushavn In September, expecting to make his base of observation in the little inlet Kongerdlukasik, which in 1875 had been passed and entirely shut off by the glacier on its seaward marc 1 ’. He reached it after great hardships only to find that the glacier had receded up the fjord so far that it could not even be seen fronBthat point. The mountain sides of the inlet were too steep to cliiiid, and in an attempt to do i-o the explorers were surprised by a terrible snow-storm and had to spend the night in a ravine in imnii nent danger of being frozen to death. After ascertaining that the glacier since 1850 had moved back fully four miles, they were compelled to return to Jakobshnvn to spend the long Arctilc night. It was on January 13: b that half of the sun’s disk appeared above the horizon again, and travel in dog-sleds became poetible. Several attempts were made to reach Konger dlukasik, and the trip to Umenak, a distance of 160 miles over mountain ranges 2,000 feet high, was made in a sled with one team of eight dogs in three days and a half, with the ther mometer at—40°O., but the ol ject was npt attained till the middle of March. The glacier hud pushed ahead and was again visible from the inlet, but this was so closely packed with ice screwed up in all sorts of shapes that twenty- four hours’ hard work only brought the party 400 feet nearer the Ice-fjord, and another way had to be found. It was noted by measurements, as accu rate as the distance would permit, that In that night the end ef the glacier advanced perceptibly, though the thermometer showed—39° O. On March 21st the main ice-fjord was at fast reached, and from that day until the end of April nunie r ous m* a*u re- uieEts were made from both ends of a fixed base to ascertain the speed with wh cb the glacier was moving. As to get upon the moving mass was im possible, the tall peaks and Hocks of ice that projected from its uneven sur face were used as landmarks; quite frequently these would suddenly tum ble down and disappear a; d the work would go for naught. Movements of a Glaoier. The glacier at this point was three miles wide, and its end was a perpen dicular wall 200 feet abo/e the ice sur face of the fjord. The roughne ss of its surface was greatest nearer the sides; toward the middle it disappeared en tirely. Although the observationa were made at a time w hen the winter’s frost was most severe aud had lasted long enough to penetrate as far into the glacier as Ls effect might be felt, the whole mass was found to be mov ing steadily ahead. Its velocity in creased greatly from the edges of the g’acier towa-d its middle. On account of the lack of projecting points near the middle, the spee 1 of that portion could not l»e as accurately measured as that of the flank section?, but was ; est'mated to reacli at least fifty feet in twenty-four hours. The average speed of a point in the glacier 1,790 feet from the edge of the fjord was 39.8 feet in twenty-four hours. Constant detona tions, sometimes like the firing of heavy guns but more frequently like pistol shots, accompanied the move mentof the glacier. It was faster on some days than on others, and appa rently without regard to time of day or night, or to the temperature of the atmosphere. From the top of the ad jacent hills two lines could be observed running lengthwise on the glacier, dividing it into three nearly equal parts; they marked the lines of fric tion where tno central part moved independently of the flanks. The natural conclusion was that the latter drag on the shore and on the rocky bottom and that the resistance they meet with makes them move more slowly and causes the roughness on their top, w’hile the central part of the glacier, floating on water, preserves its even surface and moves along faster. The fact that the middle of the glacier seemed to lie higher than the rest supported this theory. Float ing free, the end of the glacier is buoyed up at last by the tidewater until it breaks off in huge masses. These are the icebergs ; the largest are from the solid middle of the glacier, which in spate of its greater Bpeed always ends in a concave arch. The flanks that drag on the rocks are not exposed to much to the action of the water aud therefore “halve” much less fr* quently. During the summer of 1180 the ex pedition made geological researches and explored Waigatted and Disco Island, the west coast of which had never yet been trodden by aEuropean. In several places pure iron was found in the organic basalt. Everywhere on the coast, even on the highest mountain tops, abundant evidence was found that the ice had once cov ered all in a solid mass—one huge glacier. Erratic boulders were scat tered about, and on the top of the mountain Jonarsnak, 1,624 feet above the sea, the characteristic groov.s worn in the rock by glaciers were dis tinctly recognized. During his long stay among the natives at Jakobshavn, Hammer en- dt uvored without much success to learn something of their language. He fouud that it possessed astonishing capabililies in the direction of express ing a whole or any number of sen tences in a single word by merely hitching on extra syllables. The fol lowing may serve as examples: “Hali but,” the chief food of the Esquimau dog, is In the Greenland language Kaleralit. From it may lie formed the following senteBces: “Have you any halibut ?” — Karleralekarpit f “Have you no halibut whatever?”— Ka’erahkangidluinarpuohit? “A dog” — Kir>f/nuk; “he buys a dog”—King- morsivok; “he strives to buy a dog.”— Kinyruorainiarpok; and so on until the sentence, “1 would certainly very much like to buy some dogs from you,” is expressed in the one euphone- ious word, KinamtrslttiarJijiumayul- narpavkit. The idea that the Chinese can land A School Committee Cornered. Stirring One’s Ris bles. How Light Affects the Blind. At an examination of a public school on Staten Island, the teacher justly proud of his scholars, ad lresa- ing the audience, said: “Ladies aud gentlemen, to prove that the boys arp not crammed for the occasion, I will direct oue of the n to open the arilh metic at random aud read out the first problem. Then I shall invite a gen tleman of the audience to votk out tiie sum on the board, and to commit in tentional errors which, yc u will ob serve, the boys will instantly detect. John Smith open the book aud read the first question! The scholar obeyed and read out: “Add fifteen-sixteenths and nine- elevenths.” The teacher turned to the audience and Maid: “Now, Supervisor , will you step to the blackboard aud work it out? The supervisor hesitated, then said, “Certainly,” and advanced a step, but paused and asked the teacher, “is it fair to put the children to so diffi cult a problem? “Oh, never fear,” replied, the teacher, they will do it.” ‘ Very well,” said the supervisor,“ go on.” The boy began the question ; “Add fifteen-six teenths—” “No, no !” said the supervisor, “I will not be a party to oyertaxing the children,s brains. I l ave conscien tious scruples against it. This forcing system is ruining the rising genera tion ! and gave back the chalk and left the room. “Well, Judge Castleton, will you favor us? asked the teacher, tendering the chalk. “I would do so with pleas ure,” replied the Judge, “but l have a case coming on in my court in a min ute or two,” and he left. “Assessor Middletown, we must fall back on you,” said the teacher, smil ing. “Oh,” said the assessor, “I pass— I mean I decline in favor of Collector X.” “Well that will do,”’ replied the teacher, “Mr, Collector, will you favor us? “I would, certainly—that is—of course,” replied the collector, “but— ahem I I think it should be referred to a commit—why, bless me! I’ll never catch it. Good bye ! Some other time!” And he left. “I know Justice Smithfield will not refuse!” said the teacher, aud the jus tice stepped promptly up to the black board amidst a round of applause from the audience. The scholar again began to read the sum. “Add fifteeu- sixteeuths! A dozen hands went up as the jus tice made the first figures. “Well, what is it?” asked the teach er. “lie’s got the denominator on top of the yne!” cried the boys iu chorus. “Very good, boys, very good : I see you are attentivesaid the justice as he rubbed out the figures, turned red, and began again, but, was inter rupted by the class calling out: “Now he’s got the numerator and denominator under the line!” “Aha! you young rogues! You’re sharp, I see!” *aid the justice, jocosely, and again commenced. “That ain’t a fraction at all! It’s one ^thousand live hundred and sixteen!” was the cry that hailed the Justice’s new combination of figures, “Really, Mr. Teacher,” ejaculated the justice, “I must compliment you ou the wonderful proficiency of your scholars In algebra! I wou’ttire their, patience any more.” “Oh, go on, go on, Baid the teacher aud again the justice wrote some fig ures in an off baud manner. “That ain’t a fraction ! It’s six thou sand one hundred and fifty-one! yelled the hoye. “Mr. Teacher,” said the justice, “it would be ungenerous ou my part, and simply an unworthy suspicion as to your efficiency, to put these extraor dinarily bright children to additional tests; I would not—I could not—Oh ! excuse me! There’s Brown! I have important business with him ! Sheriff ! I want to see you,” and he left. Some days afterwards a hoy was brought before Justice Smithfield for throwing stoues in the street. ‘ ‘John,” said the justice’ sternly, “ware you the hoy that laughed in school on Mond ay 1 while I was working that problem?” “Yes, sir!” was the reply. John got thirty days. oil British soil, foot it into our terri tory, and so evade the anll-L’hinese act, is au error. The law plugged up that hole. The Canadians have naturalized “bulldoze” and “gerrymander,” arid are using tin ni as freely and as indig nantly as any political paper on this side of the lino. A philosopher pry?: “The man who laughs is the sympathetic man.” It is astonishing how many sympa thizers a man lias when he falls down and hurts himself. A Scotchman, having a warm dis pute with a London cabman about his fare said : “I’d have ye ken I am a Mackintosh,” To which the Cock ney replied: “You may be a liuiu- brellar for all I knows, but my fare is eigliteenpence.” A young man wi f h an umbrella overtook an unprotected lady acquain tance iu a rainstorm, and, extending his umbrel:•» over her, roq ie.-ted the pleasure of acting as her rain beau. “Oh!” exc aimed the young lady, taking his arm “you wish me to be your raindear.” “I only want to show you one thing more, professor; I have iuvented a short way of boring mountains, which I think will prove valuable.” “My dear sir,” hurst forth the wearied lis tener, “if you would only invent a short method of boring individual?, you would confer a lasting benefit upon the race.” A a Irish ostler wasrentto the stable to bring forth a traveler’s horse. Not knowing which of the two strange horses in the stable belonged to the traveler, aud wishing to avoid the appearance of ignorance in his busi ness, he saddled both animals, and brought them to the door. The trav- der pointed out his own horse, say ing: “That’s my nag.” “Certainly yer liouor, I know that very well; but didn’t know which was the other gintleman’s.” “These rubber garments are such a blessing,” remarked a fat man as he brought into a street car a perfect del uge of water. The lady at his right, who mopped oue side of his coat with costly dress,agreed with him perfectly; the man at his left, who caught about a | int of the drippings iu hi* shoe, could scaicely conceal Lis admiration ; while the youug miss to whom the fat man gallantly offered his Beat a few minutes later went into perfect ecsta sies as she sat down in a pool of water. Sberidan was once dining with Peter Moore, when a servant, in pa-s ing between Sberidau and the fire, knocked down the plate-warmer with a terrible clatter. Sheridan started and trembled. Moore, provoked at this, scolded tha servant, adding: “I suppose you have broken all the plates?” “No, sir,” replied the ser vant; "net one.” “Not one!” ex claimed Sheridan. “Then, hang it, you have made the noise for nothing.” Some of Buckland’s Stories. Some interesting and successful ex periments have been made receutly at the labratory of the International Ice Machiue Company, at Greenpoint, N. Y., ou a new method of making ice* This is called “the low-pressure binary system,” aud its novel feature is the liqu faction of the ammonia employed at low pressure by glycerine. The system is called “binary” because two liquids are employed instead of one. The author goes on to tell a curious anecdote of a child he met with when inspecting tue Coquet iu Northumber land, who, having been taken to see a pantomime in which there was a scene of a forest inhabited by monkeys, was so impressed that “the next morning he imagined himself to be a pionkey.” He would not speak, would not sit at table, but insisted ou eating out of a plate placel on the ground, by which he crouched on all fours. If anything to eat was presented to him, he always put it to his nose and smelt it before eating it. “This curious monkey fit fasted several weeks, but the idea gradually passed out of his head.” A following paper contains an anecdote of Joe the chimpanzee, who was living iu the Ziological Gardens some twelve years ago. He used to be let out iu the mornings for exercise, and when the time came for going back to the cage delighted in keeping just out of reach of Sutton his keeper. “No amount of bribery of fruit or sweets would cause him to descend from Ab perch. To what passion of the monkey’s mind could an appeal hs made, and in what form was that appeal to be presented V” Mr. Bartlett, the superintendent, had observed that two weak points in Joe’s character were curiosity and cowardice ; aud he therefore approached the keeper in a mysterious manner, and pretended to point out to him some strange monster in the dark passage underneath the gas-pipe*, saying, “Look out, there he is, there he is 1” This worked upon Joe’s fear aud curiosity until ho gradually came close to the passage, crooning with agitation. Then Mr. Bartlett uud the keeper, crying, “Ha’s comlngoufc, he’sooming out!” fled as if in great alarm toward Joe’s house, with the t fleet of inducing Joe to rush into It himself at top speed. Joe, Mr. Buoklaud adds, never found out tho trick, with which he was rejjjg^f^ly taken in. An interesting account has been lately furnish*d by lit. Plateau, the eminent Belgian physicist (who has been blind nearly forry year.-) of the sensations he experiences in his « y-'s. Ha has no stn?e of obj ctive light even when turning his eyes to the sun. But his visual field is always divided into spaces, some of which are pre'ty bright and others sombre or nearly dark, and which merge into each other. Their general tint alter* nates, in time, between gray and red dish. The relative arrangement of those different spaces is always the same, but the intensity of their tints varies. The central space seems now rather bright, row very dark; above and below, and on the left to the limits of the field, there is some* time* brightness, sometimes dark ness, but on the right i here fa generally a vertical band, nearly black, and beyond this a space w ich i* nearly always bright aud reddish. These appearances follow all the movements of the eyes, which probably do not participate iu the same way in the tints, but M. Plateau cannot distin- gufah what belongs to one from what belongs to the otlnr. No connec iou of the general tint with the work of digestion is observed. Tho aut- or sta.es that he became blind through looking fixedly at the sun for some time, with a view to ob- serving his after sensation-*; it was not till about fourteen year-* after this that inflammation of the chore id set in, destroying vision, but, during the interval, he often saw colored and persistent halos round flames, etc., and he advises those who have such vision to consult an experienced ocu list Driving a Hen. O n e of th e min or d i fferen ces between man and woman, which illustrates the difforenca between tact and force, is brought out iu the fo.lowing descrip tion of nen driving : When a woman has a hen to drive into the coop, she takes hold of her skirls with both hauds, shakes them quietly to the delinquent, and says, “Shoo, there!” The hen takes one look at the object to convince herself that it fa a woman, and then stalks majestically into the coop. A man doesn’t do that way. He goes outdoors and says, “It is singular no body can drive a hen hut me,” and p'cking upastlck of wood, hurls it at the offending biped and ooserves, “Get in there, you thief.” The hen immediatt ly los°sher reason and dashes to the other end of the yard. The man straightway dashes af.er her. She comes back with her head down, her wings out, and fallowed by an as sortment of stovewood, fruit-cans and clinkers, and a very mad man in the rear. Then she skims under the barn, and over a fence or two, aud around the house, and back to the coop, and all the while talking as only an excited hen can talk, and all the while fol lowed by thing* convenient for hand ling, and a man whoso coat i* on the saw-buck, and whose hat is on the ground, perspiration has no limit. By this time the other hens have come out to take a hand in the debate- and help dodge missiles, and th* man says every hen on the place shall b9 sold in the morning, and puts on nis things and goes down the street, and the woman has every one of those h«us housed and counted in two min* ut<w. Utilizing the Waves and Tides. Engineering skill has not yet suc ceeded iu utilizing as motive powers the vast forces represented by the ebb and flow of tho tides, and the action of sea waves. Various attempts to ac complish this have, however, been made, and two recent schemes have been lately described. In the plan proposed by M. Victor Gauchez, a large bell moves up and down Iu a stone inclosure, and is connected with a large float in the sea. Tue rising and falling of this hell Is used to ttfree air iuto a chamber, ami this compressed air may be employed to drive machin ery. In the scheme adopted by Pro- feasor Welluer, of Brunn, there Is fixed along a sea wall a sort of air-trap —a metallic case, open below, now in air, now in water, as the waves beat! upon it^ At the top this communicates/ through valves and pipes with a resj voir, in which tho air la compr* the izjd. thus sup; lied in pur i