Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 50.djvu/870

848 most strongly developed the Norseman's wild delight in conquering difficulties. As a boy he struggled with cold and ice and with other boys hardy like himself. He spent his money for tools and chemicals when he was expected to yield to the seductions of toys and gingerbread. A hard problem was his delight, whether it was mathematics, the mechanism of a sewing machine, or how to make the longest leap on snowshoes and he never rested till he got to the bottom of it. Then he threw all thought of it to the winds and attacked another. After he had developed a decided taste for science and chosen zoölogy for his specialty, almost his first training in descriptive research was gained in a sealing voyage undertaken by the advice of Prof. Collet. In the seal hunting and bear hunting on the ice he acquired training for his famous feats of exploration and his first decided bent in that direction. After his return he studied first at the Bergen Museum and then at the Zoölogical Station at Naples. There are several contributions in the volume by other hands than those of the principal authors. One of these, by Gustav Retzius, tells what Nansen has done as a biologist, showing that he has performed good service in several directions. The account of the Greenland expedition is prefaced by two chapters giving a general description of the country and of the great ice age which, one may say, still persists there. The authors tell us how he made known his plan to Nordenskiold, Rink, and others, how earnestly he answered all objections, and, after making careful preparations, set out on his dangerous undertaking and brought it to a successful issue. Nansen's home must be an eagle's nest, and his wife a fitting mate to the intrepid explorer, if we are to trust the glimpse of her given by one of the authors, Nordahl Rolfsen. He describes humorously a visit to Mrs. Nansen for the purpose of interviewing her about her husband at the time the rumor was current that Nansen had reached the pole. The interviewer found her gay and severe by turns, but uncommunicative through it all. "Like a figure from the Sagas," he describes her, proud, high-strung, and as strong in her way as her husband. A special historical value is given to the book by the sketch of arctic expeditions from the earliest times, contributed by Aksel Arstal, and the chapter by Prof. H. Mohn summarizing the contributions of Norwegian seamen to arctic geography. A geological description of the New Siberia Islands is contributed by the Baron Edward von Toll. The remaining chapters are devoted to Nansen's plan of his polar expedition, his preparations, and his start. With the main features of these matters the world is now well acquainted, but the details have an absorbing interest, especially when told with the vim and color of our northern authors. The volume is illustrated with many portraits of Nansen, his family and companions, and many views of scenes connected with his doings. There are also three folded maps of northern regions.

The questions which have been raised by the experimental investigation of automatic movements, recently carried on in France and England, are among the most interesting with which contemporary science has to deal. In this sphere, as in so many others, the naive belief in the essential simplicity and reasonableness of Nature, which in the scientist is the counterpart of the child's faith in the native goodness of grown folk, has suffered a shock. Although at present we can scarcely do more than say that