NOTES 295 



the Quest. He is accompanied by six members of his former expeditions, 

 including Capts. F. Wild, F. Worsley and J. R. Stenhouse, Dr. A. H. Macklin 

 and Mr. L. Hussey, and will carry on oceanographical and meteorological 

 work throughout the voyage. To this end he is provided with a full 

 equipment for deep-sea soundings, pilot balloons, and a specially-constructed 

 Avro seaplane. The main object of the expedition is the exploration of the 

 Antarctic coastline between Drygalski's Wilhelm Land and Bruce's Coats 

 Land, the only portion within these limits known with any certainty being 

 Enderby Land, which was discovered in 1831, but which has never yet been 

 visited. It is also hoped to visit a number of isolated islands {e.g., Bouvet 

 Island, which is quite unknown and said to be inaccessible) and to search for 

 others whose existence is still doubtful, such as Keates Island and Tuanaki 

 in the South Pacific. The expedition is financed by Mr. J. Q. Rowett and 

 has received considerable support from Mr. F. Becker. It will be known as 

 the Shackleton-Rowett Oceanographical and Antarctic Expedition. 



The Annual Report for 19 19 of the New South Wales Technological 

 Museum, which has just reached us, shows that those in charge of the 

 Museum do their best to make it of real assistance to the industrial life of 

 the continent. A notable instance is provided by the building trade, which 

 seems to have been quite ignorant of the beauty and durability of the 

 Australian marbles until attention was drawn to them by the publication 

 by the Museum authorities of a volume on Building and Ornamental Stones. 

 The result has been that the bulk of the marble used in the continent is now 

 obtained locally, while before it was all imported. The policy of the Museum 

 staff has been to carry out experiments and tests in anticipation of commercial 

 demand and not merely when such demand has arisen. Then, when inquiries 

 are made, full economic data are furnished, and no time is lost in the placing 

 of the goods on the market. As soon, for instance, as a new marble is located, 

 specimens are at once procured, tested, labelled, and placed in the collection ; 

 again, when a scarcity begins to develop in a building or cabinet timber, this 

 Museum has ready efficient substitutes ; and this policy obtains right through 

 the whole of the economic resources of the State in particular and Australia 

 in general. The report contains some interesting photographs of many of 

 the original models of monoplanes made by Laurence Hargrave about 1890-91. 

 These were driven by compressed air and bear a remarkable resemblance to 

 the early types of the modern aeroplane — even to the revolving cylinder 

 engine. A Hargrave box-kite is preserved in the Museum ; but his classic 

 collection of box-kite models was secured by Germany, although it had been 

 offered to the N.S.W. Government and accepted by them. 



The Ministry of Health reports that, as a result of the Burns Exemption 

 Act, the number of unvaccinated children has increased from 39,925 in 1901 

 to 277,558 in 1919. Thus only 40-6 per cent, of the children born in the 

 country are now being treated. That this will ultimately lead to a serious 

 epidemic is shown by the present figures for the Nottingham outbreak : 

 50 cases, 45 of them in unvaccinated persons. Dr. Drury in the July 

 number of The Fight against Disease refers to an even more remarkable 

 outbreak at Ossett in 1902. Smallpox was introduced into the school by one 

 of the children, and as a result 37 out of 77 unvaccinated children caught 

 the disease, and only 5 out of the 92 vaccinated ones. Of these 5, not one had 

 been treated mthin the previous ten years. In the class into which the 

 disease was first introduced all the unvaccinated children fell ill, and not 

 one of those who had been vaccinated ! 



We have received from the Director of the Science Museum, South 

 Kensington, a copy of the second edition of the classification of works on 

 Pure and Applied Science in the Science Library. The sub-division of the 

 various subjects by means of the familiar decimal indexing has been carried 

 out thoroughly and adds considerably to the value of the book, though, to 



