SUMMARY. 
99 
except near the top, where, at a height of nearly 7000 feet above sea-level, fossil 
plant-remains were found. Unfortunately, owing to decay of the plants and to 
changes produced by a neighbouring sheet of dolerite, their characters are almost 
indeterminate. This intrusive dolerite, though it gives no evidence of surface-flows, 
forms the highest peaks of the Royal Society Range. The plateau- features are still 
obvious, but the original plateaux seem to have been dissected prior to the earth- 
movements which dislocated the sandstone. 
Chapters VIII, IX and X, describe the ice as met with in the Ross Sea area. 
The thickness, salinity and behaviour of the sea-ice, the shore-ice (ice-foot), and the 
glaciers are described. The inland-ice, local ice-caps and piedmont-glaciers are con- 
trasted with those that have been observed in the Arctic regions. Temperatures in the 
ice at various fixed depths were determined ; they show that at these depths the 
ice remains permanently some degrees below its melting point. Ice-slabs, or glaciers 
which have slipped away at their heads owing to decrease in the supply of 
water-substance, occur among the foothills of the Royal Society Range, and appear 
to be of a type not yet observed elsewhere. 
There is one fact on which most of the observers, in both the Arctic and Antarctic 
regions, seem to agree, viz., the recession of the ice. Tyndall* foretold that the 
ice would be tending towards a minimum when the condensation on both poles 
was about equal ; whereas J. D. Whitney f maintains that only general glaciation 
can occur when there are bi-polar ice-caps, and that we are now entering upon 
a glacial epoch. The ice in the ‘ Discovery ’ area was found to be developed on 
a comparatively small scale, the steep-sided valleys providing almost ideal rock- 
exposures. 
In Chapter XI the agents of denudation are discussed. The wind plays a 
comparatively important part in this dry area, while the effects of water-action are 
conspicuous by their absence. Chemical action is very pronounced in some localities, 
while frost-action, owing to the small amount of precipitation, is almost quite absent. 
The geological action of the ice is only briefly touched on. 
In an Appendix are given some brief notes relative to Macquarie and Auckland 
Islands, at which brief stays were made during the voyage. 
It is my pleasant duty to express my thanks to the many kind friends who 
have assisted me in my work. To Captain R. F. Scott, R.N., C.Y.O., D.Sc., and 
the officers of the ‘ Discovery,’ my thanks are due for the interest taken in my work 
* Tyndall, ‘Heat: a Mode of Motion,’ 1898, 11th edit., p. 231, and ‘The Forms of Water,’ 1892, 
11th edit., p. 154. 
f Whitney, ‘ The Climatic Changes of later Geological Times,’ Mem. Mus. Harvard Coll., 1882, vol. vii, p. 321. 
