468 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



rough, that inclose the polar region, the floating ice advances on the 

 average as far as latitude 55° N. (latitude of Konigsberg) and to 

 latitude 35° S. toward Africa. All the expeditions from the time 

 they encounter the first icebergs until thej^ meet the inland continental 

 glacier have traversed many series of ice formations, the study of 

 which is highly interesting, not only because it has revealed rare and 

 peculiar phenomena unknown in arctic regions, but also because it 

 helps to explain what happened north of our continent during the 

 Quaternary age. M. Ch. Rabot, in his excellent study in La Geog- 

 raphic (1907), emphasized the exceptional importance of observa- 

 tions on this subject. The observations by the Scotia, the Discovery^ 

 and especially by Doctor Philippi of the Gauss, and the fine photo- 

 graphs accompanj'ing the account by Von Drygalski deserve to be 

 closely examined.* 



. All observers agree that there is a general retreat of the glaciers in 

 the Antarctic, a result in accord with observations in the Arctic 

 regions and in glaciers of all latitudes. In West Antarctide the expe- 

 dition of the ship Antarctic found traces of a larger extension of the 

 ice over the banks of Orleans Strait, over I'Esj^erance Baj^, and to 

 the east of Graham Land, where the lowering of the ice cap measures 

 300 meters at the " nunatak " Borchgrevink.^ At the summit of 

 Mount Gauss large blocks of gneiss indicated to Von Drygalski that 

 the ice had once covered the entire mountain. Judging by the appar- 

 ent recent formation of the moraines extending to the foot of the 

 mountain, he thinks that it is still in the glacial epoch.'' On the coast 

 of Victoria Land Borchgrevink found that the great ice barrier has 

 retreated 50 kilometers since J. Ross and Scott figured it. Scott was 

 impressed by the fact that the melting rate exceeded that of forma- 

 tion. His photographs also show the local importance of the summer 

 streams, when the enormous masses of snow that the stormy winds 

 have tossed about over the smooth surface of the inland ice are swept 

 toward the base of the slopes without gain to the glaciers. The fev/ 

 clear places that the expedition visited all show recent moraines. The 

 glacial terraces of Mount Terror, reaching to a height of 240 meters, 

 suggest the impression that the great ice barrier at no distant time 

 reached to that height, and its debris held by the shoals could be seen 



''These phgtograplis, very numerous and of perfect workmanship, not only 

 show the various general aspects of the ice ; they are an " anatomic " study of 

 altogether new icy formations. See, for instance, the plates where are repro- 

 duced the different kinds of snowfall (snow sheets, rolling drifts, and dunes 

 formed by the winds, etc.), and especially those that show the interior structure 

 of the fresh-water ice (striated, ribboned, etc., p. 461). 



^0. Nordenskjold : Op. cit., p. 258. 



''Zum Kontiuent des eisigen Siidens, p. 311. 



