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National Geographic : 1925 Sep
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SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF THE MACMILLAN EXPEDITION OUTPOSTS OF TilE ARCTIC ICE OFF LABRADOR the following: 15 gallons of formalde hyde, 20 gallons of alcohol, ioo pounds of salt, 2,000 feet of gill nets made of linen thread, trammel nets, dozens of thermometers, automatic water-sampling bottles, silk bolting cloth to seine up the almost microscopic food of the fish, dredges for creatures living on the sea bottom, insect nets, plant presses, and a number of copper tanks for use in pre serving fish. Because space was at a high premium on the Bowdoin and the Peary, there was much improvision. After his fish were "pickled" in alcohol and formaldehyde, Dr. Koelz commandeered empty gasoline drums in which to bring the specimens back to the United States. The fish are preserved whole and will eventually re pose in glass jars of alcohol. The preservation of bird specimens is simple. The skins are split and slipped off with the feathers still in place. The neck is then severed, so that the head and skin remain. These are generously salted and, after drying, are packed away. Be cause they can be packed flat the bird skins take up little space. Hundreds of them have been stowed away in ordinary wooden packing cases. Back home these skins will be softened by washing out the salt, will be stuffed with excelsior, and mounted, being thus restored to a lifelike appearance. The skins of land animals have been dressed and numerous photographs are being brought back to aid taxidermists in devising lifelike mountings. Experiments have been undertaken to determine the temperature of the water at various depths, and these fluctuations have been studied in relation to the zones of undersea life. UPPER AIR TEMPERATURES CARTED Prior to the work of Commander Mac Millan's party, upper air temperatures in the Far North were almost as little known as the secrets of the million-square-miles "blind spot" on the map. Summer rec ords of these conditions not only will be of value to aviation in the future, but may have a direct bearing on weather forecasting. Forecasting weather consists largely in detecting new disturbances as they show up on the western and northwestern bor ders of the United States, learning their 351
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