GEOGRAPHY 99 



Wilson, Cal., in September 1910 was attended by 83 astronomers of 12 different nations. 

 It was decided to extend the scope of the Union to include Astrophysics generally; and 

 this decision following on the extension of programme of the International Committee 

 for the Astrographic Chart in 1909 practically arranges for a friendly partition of 

 astronomy between these two organisations. 



The Directors of National Ephemerides met in conference at Paris in October 1911 

 and adopted various unifying principles, as well as a general scheme of co-operation. 



Signals sent by wireless telegraphy from the Eiffel Tower have recently been observed 

 at Greenwich and at observatories on the Continent ; and a general scheme of longitude 

 determinations by this method is now being arranged. (H. H. TURNER.) 



GEOGRAPHY, EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL 



Antarctic. 1 The final conquest of the North Pole by Peary and the successes of 

 British and other expeditions in the South have shifted general interest in polar explora- 

 tion from the Arctic to the Antarctic. On February n, 1910 the French explorer Dr. 

 Jean Charcot arrived at Punta Arenas on his ship the " Pourquoi Pas?", having carried 

 on from his former expedition a coast survey as far as Adelaide Island. He discovered 

 a great gulf to the south, and saw the inaccessible coast of Alexander I Land. He had 

 wintered at Petermann Island, and made excursions thence in the South Shetlands; 

 afterwards, again turning south, he reached 126 W., sailing between 69 and 71 S.> 

 and discovering new lands to the west and south of Alexander I Land. His party suf- 

 fered from scurvy; the ship was damaged in collisions with ice, and food and coal ran 

 short. He reached Rouen in June, and results of his journey appeared later in the year 

 in Rapports preliminaires and Pourquoi Pas? dans I Antar clique (Paris). 



On June i, 1910 Capt. Robert Falcon Scott (b. 1868) despatched the "Terra Nova" 

 from London for his second Antarctic journey. She went by Cape Town (Sept. 2) 

 and Australia to New Zealand, and in these countries additions were received to the 

 funds or equipment of the expedition, towards which 20,000 had been granted by the 

 Treasury. The expedition left New Zealand for the south on November 29, 1910, with 

 a larger scientific staff than had ever previously been taken. It included Dr. E. A. Wil- 

 son (zoologist) as chief, surgeons G. M. Levick (zoologist) and E. L. Atkinson (bac- 

 teriologist and parasitologist), Lieut. H. L. L. Pennell for magnetic and meteorological 

 observations, Messrs. T. Griffith Taylor and R. E. Priestley (geologists), E. W. Wilson 

 and D. G. Lillie (biologists), A. C. Garrard (zoologist), C. S. Wright (chemist), Dr. G. C. 

 Simpson (physicist) and Mr. H. G. Ponting (photographer). Lieut, (afterwards 

 Commander) E. R. G. Evans was second in command, and Lieut. V. L. A. Campbell 

 was to lead the " eastern party " which was intended to land in King Edward VII land. 



The ship, after encountering heavy weather, entered the pack ice on December 9. 

 McMurdo Sound was safely reached and the main party was landed, to establish winter 

 quarters at Cape Evans. A western party was landed on the western side of the Sound. 

 The eastern party was prevented by ice-cliffs from landing on King Edward VII land 

 as was intended, but did so on February 18, 1911 at Cape Adare. From the " Terra 

 Nova " investigations were subsequently carried on in the neighbourhood of the Balleny 

 Islands, and new mountainous land was twice observed to the west of Cape North, about 

 69 50' 683o' S. and i632o' I58i5' E. Stewart Island was reached on the home- 

 ward journey on March 27, 1911. The ship returned south in the following summer, and 

 brought back news of the year's work. Campbell's party at Cape Adare had experi- 

 enced heavy weather, and had not apparently been able to proceed far afield, but mete- 

 orological and magnetic observations had been made. The " Terra Nova " embarked 

 them on January 4, 1912, and landed them again in Terra Nova Bay, Victoria Land, on 

 the 8th; it was intended that they should re-embark in February, after exploration over- 

 land, but this was impossible, and they would have to find their own way back to 

 McMurdo Sound. The western party had made important geological and other in- 

 vestigations; they were taken off by the ship on February 15. 



1 See E. B. xxi, 960 et seq. 



