t we had
scarcely got to sea before we were again wrapped in so close a fog
that we were compelled to lie-to for the night beside a large piece
of drift-ice. The hempen tangles were used, and brought up a very
abundant yield of large, beautiful animal forms, a large number of
asterids, Astrophyton, Antedon, &c. There was besides made here an
exceedingly remarkable, and to me still, while I write, a very
enigmatical _find_.

For several years back I have been zealous for the examination of
all substances of the nature of dust which fall to the surface of
the earth with rain or snow, and I have proved that a portion of
them is of cosmic origin. This inconsiderable fall of dust is thus
of immense importance for the history of the development of our
globe, and we regard it, besides, with the intense interest which we
inevitably cherish for all that brings us an actual experience
regarding the material world beyond our globe. The inhabited
countries of the earth, however, are less suitable for such
investigations, as the particles of cosmic dust falling down here in
very limited quantity can only with difficulty be distinguished from
the dust of civilization, arising from human dwellings, from the
offal of industry, from furnaces and the chimneys of steam-engines.
The case is quite different on the snow and ice-fields of the High
North, remote from human habitations and the tracks of steamers.
Every foreign grain of dust can here he easily distinguished and
removed, and there is a strong probability that the offal of
civilization is here nearly wholly wanting. It is self-evident from
this that I would not be disposed to neglect the first opportunity
for renewed investigations in the direction indicated, our
involuntary rest at the drift-ice field offered.

[Illustration: HAIRSTAR FROM THE TAIMUR COAST. _Antedon Eschrichtii_,
J. MUeLLER. Three-fifths of the natural size. ]

Immediately after the _Vega_ lay-to, I therefore went down on the
ice in order to see whether here too some such metalliferous dust,
as I had before found north of Spitzbergen, was not to be found on
the surface of the ice. Nothing of the kind, however, was to be
seen. On the other hand, Lieutenant Nordquist observed small yellow
specks in the snow, which I asked him to collect and hand over for
investigation to Dr. Kjellman. For I supposed that the specks
consisted of diatom ooze. After examining them Dr. Kjellman however
declared that they did not c