Sir George Baden-Powell writes to yesterday's Times to point out
that two of Dr. Nansen's predictions were fulfilled with curious accuracy by Dr. Nansen's journey, and by tie adventures of the Pram,' after he and Lieutenant Johansen had left her. He predicted (1) that if he left the 'Fram,' he should probably come out by Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya. He did leave the Pram,' and he came out to the eastward of the Franz Josef Islands. (2) That the 'Fram' herself would come out between Spitzbergen and Greenland, which was exactly what actually happened. And as to the direction of the Polar currents he was absolutely right, though English Arctic explorers disputed his views tenaciously. So much is quite true, and does great credit to Dr. Nansen's insight. But he seems to have been mis- taken in thinking that the winter current would carry the vessel as far as the Pole, or even so far that he could easily reach the Pole on the ice. In that he failed, though he came much nearer to the Pole than any of his predecessors. Was it that that northward current fell off, and That the southward current began to take effect, sooner in 1893-96 than in ordi- nary years ? Or was it that he over-estimated the power of the northern current and under-estimated that of the southern?
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