2«2 



NATURE 



[May 5, 192 1 



false perspectives created by the very irregular 

 treatment of different expeditions. 



In dealing with the northern journeys of Admiral 

 Peary, Sir Clements Markham takes a strongly 

 adverse view of the ability of that explorer to fix 

 his latitude near the Pole (not to put the case too 

 high), and in this he differs from the considered 

 judgment of the Royal Geographical Society, 

 which, after testing the observations, presented 

 Peary with its gold medal, the highest possible 

 mark of confidence in his ability and integrity. 

 The statement on p. 229 as to Kane's description 

 of the Arctic Highlanders being the best ignores 

 the exhaustive anthropometric work of Peary and 

 his comrades during their years of residence with 

 the tribe. At the other end of the earth Borch- 

 grevink is also treated with scant sympathy, and no 

 stress is laid on the fact that he was the first to 

 face the unknown conditions of a winter on Ant- 

 arctic land, nor is the great discovery of his ex- 

 pedition, that the Ice Barrier of Ross had retreated 

 many miles since it was first seen, even mentioned ; 

 but that discovery is actually credited to Scott's 

 expedition (c/. pp. 433 and 457). 



An obvious oversight in reading the second 

 voyage of Captain Cook has led Sir Clements to 

 credit that great navigator with having been the 

 first to see the continental land of Antarctica when 

 at his extreme south position, 71° 10' S., in the 

 Pacific. Cook, however, distinctly states that he 

 saw no land on that occasion. He believed in the 

 existence of an Antarctic continent on theoretical 

 grounds, and said that "it is probable we have 

 seen part of it," referring undoubtedly to his dis- 

 covery of Sandwich Land south-east of his Isle of 

 Georgia ; but the insularity of that land was shown 

 by Bellingshausen, to whom, or to Wilkes, or to 

 Dumont D'Urville is due such credit as a first 

 glimpse may convey. As Sir Clements left those 

 parts incomplete, Dr. Guillemard gives a 

 fairly proportioned description of the work of 

 Roald Amundsen in the North-west Passage and 

 at the South Pole, and also of Sir Ernest Shackle- 

 ton's first expedition. The history stops short of 

 Sir Ernest Shackleton's great adventure in the 

 Endurance, which, however, is noted in the 

 chronology. 



As to future work. Sir Clements Markham indi- 

 cates that Antarctic advance can be made most 

 easily along coasts which face the east. This is 

 undoubtedly trUe in the case of Victoria Land, but 

 we cannot agree with the view that it is so in 

 Graham Land, where the western side has always 

 been found more accessible than the eastern. The 

 lead of an east-facing coast is not a sufficieat 

 guide for explorers, and we hold to the view that 

 the -next Antarctic expedition should be an. effort. 

 ' :> : ' Nbi 2688, VOL. 107] ' ' ■" " ' 



to circumnavigate Antarctica, following the coast 

 westward from- Queen Mary Land to Coats Land, 

 and from the west side of Graham Land to King 

 Edward Land. 



Hugh Robert Mill. 



Marine Deposits. 



Geologie des Meereshodens. By Prof. K. Andr^e. 

 Band ii. : Die Bodenbeschaffenheit und nutzbare 

 Materialien am Meeresboden. Pp. xx -I- 689 4-7 

 Tafeln. (Leipzig : Gebriider Borntraeger, 1920.) 

 92 marks. 



THE geology of the sea-floor is geology in the 

 making, since the most important and signi- 

 ficant sedimentary rocks were laid down in the sea. 

 The study of these deposits received a great 

 impulse on the disc(^ery by the Challenger Ex- 

 pedition of the unexpected contrast between the 

 marginal and deep-sea formations ; and the mono- 

 graph by Murray and Renard on the deep-sea 

 deposits ranks as one of the most epoch-making 

 of the Challenger reports. Since its appearance 

 the literature on the subject has been voluminous 

 and is unusually scattered, for the processes of 

 marine sedimentation involve large parts of 

 oceanography, physical geography, and geology, 

 and, in addition to the literature of those sciences,, 

 essential data are contained in *he serials of 

 applied science and in fugitive newspaper reports. 

 The geology of modern marine deposits, 

 has now been resurveyed by Prof. Andree in 

 a summary of current knowledge of the 

 subject", which this volume completes by a 

 detailed description of marine deposits and 

 by a short account of their economic pro- 

 ducts. The work is the more convenient for 

 reference as it follows the ordinarily accepted 

 lines of treatment. The first sections deal with 

 marine sedimentation, including the study of wave 

 action and shore deposits, coastal transport, ajid 

 the mineralogical and organic structure of shore 

 sands, mud, coral reefs, and serpula-atoUs. The 

 salt beds thrown down by the evaporation of sea- 

 water are grouped as the Halmyrogene products,, 

 adopting Krummel's term. In this section of the 

 book Prof. Andree discusses, among other prob- 

 lems, those of coral reefs ; and he maintains that 

 recent investigations and the borings at Funafuti 

 have brilliantly and firmly established Darwin's 

 theory of the origin of coral islands. Passing tO; 

 the coastal shelf, he describes its deposits, and 

 summarises modern evidence as to the depth of 

 current action; he accepts it, on the evidence of 

 the exposure of hard rocks, which he explains as 

 swept clear of mud, at depths of. more than 5000 ft.^ 



