468 



NATURE 



[March 14, 1901 



the iron spectrum, with the exception of a weak one at 

 X 5276. There is only a trace of this, line in the spectra 

 of either the Nova or a Canis Majoris which have been 

 compared. In the spectra of the Nova obtained with 

 lower dispersion, however, a line is distinctly shown in 

 this position, though it is considerably weaker than the 

 four lines previously mentioned. 



The absence of the strong lines which are familiar in 

 the arc spectrum and in the ordinary spark spectrum in 

 this region is to be ascribed to higher temperature ; 

 experiments which are in progress show that under cer- 

 tain conditions the two lines XX 5018*6 and 5169 are by 

 far the strongest lines in the spectrum of iron between 

 X 500 and D, while that at X 4924'i is distinctly stroncfer 

 than any of the well-known group of four arc lines in 

 which it falls. 



The published wave-lengths of the lines of Nova Aurigge 

 show that the same lines were present in that star. 

 Further investigations of the spectrum of Nova Auriga; 

 have strengthened the conclusion that most of the lines, 

 after we pass from those of hydrogen, are enhanced lines 

 of a comparatively small number of metals. 



When the inquiry is extended into the regions more re- 

 frangible than H/3, the evidence in favour of the similarity 

 of the spectra of the two Nova; with that of a Cygni is not 

 so conclusive, because of the greater breadth of the lines 

 (since the spectra have been obtained by the use of 

 prisms) and because of the fact that in this region the 

 enhanced lines of iron frequently occur in groups. 



In the region between HS and Hy, however, there is a 

 well-marked enhanced line of iron at X 4233"3, and also 

 two doubles at XX 41737, 4i79"o, and XX 42967, 4303'3, 

 and a comparison of a Cygni with Nova'Persei indicates 

 that these fall on broad bright bands of the Nova 

 spectrum. Norman Lockyer. 



MR. BORCHGREVINK'S ANTARCTIC 

 EXPEDITION.^ 



TV/TR. BORCHGREVINK succeeded in an enterprise 

 ^^ of which he may be justly proud. Unknown and 

 without external influence, by the force of his immense 

 ambition and determination, he obtained the support of a 

 man of great wealth, and unaided, if also untrammelled, 

 by Government, learned societies or committees of any 

 kind, he equipped an expedition, selected a scientific 

 staff, spent a winter on land in the Antarctic regions for 

 the first time in history, and made his way to a poiiit 

 nearer the South Pole than had ever been reached before. 

 For doing this he deserves praise and honour. With 

 his motives we have no concern ; they appear to have 

 been partly commercial and partly scientific, but in these 

 columns we can only treat the expedition from a purely 

 scientific point of view, forming our opinions from the 

 facts placed before us in the book. 



Mr. Borchgrevink chose his ship well, and she proved 

 to be as stout and powerful a steam-whaler as ever put 

 out from Norway. He chose his scientific staff well, and 

 they appear to have worked conscientiously and to have 

 obtained results which cannot fail to advance knowledge 

 if they are properly discussed and published. He chose 

 his sailing master. Captain Jansen, well, and he appears 

 to have conducted the expedition without a hitch or any 

 trace of insubordination. Mr. Borchgrevink was able to 

 repeat in his steamer Sir James Clark Ross's sailing-ship 

 voyage, and saw agam Mounts Erebus and Terror ; he 

 landed on the southern ice, and advanced a few miles 

 beyond the edge of the previously known world. 



The book is short— an excellent thing in accounts of 

 travel ; the author has a certain power of observation and 



1" First on the Antarctic Continent; being an account of the British 

 Antarctic Expedition, 1898-1900." By C. E. Borchgrevink, F.R.G.S., 

 Comminder of the Expedition. With portraits, maps, and 186 illustrations. 

 i'p. xvi+334. (London : George Newnes, Ltd., 1901.) 



NO. 1637, VOL. 63] 



description, as the chapter on the habits of penguins and 

 many little episodes of personal adventure show. His 

 illustrations are remarkatily fine, admirable reproductions 

 of good photographs, and they are introduced with a 

 lavish hand. 



This is the bright side of the medal ; the reverse is 

 not so pleasing. Mr. Borchgrevink would have done 

 better if he had had another chronicler, for his literary 

 style does him less than justice. We can excuse an 

 author, whose forte is action rather than study, for attri- 

 buting incorrect titles to English men of science, but he 

 might surely be expected to give correctly the names of 

 his own distinguished countrymen, amongst whom Dr. 

 Hjort appears as Hjorth, and Dr. Reusch in one place as 

 Reush and in another as Riisch. Although the book is 

 small we can hardly attribute these slips to anything but 

 haste in correcting the proofs. We wish we could find 

 an equally satisfactory explanation of other errors of a 

 more serious kind. 



We fear that Mr. Borchgrevink did not set his ambition 

 high enough, and did not endeavour to make himself 

 acquainted with the elementary principles of the various 

 sciences which the members of his staff were pursuing. 

 During the long Antarctic night he might easily have 

 learned from his skilled assistants more than sufficient to 

 have enabled him to give an intelligible sketch of the 

 work of his expedition, even if time had been wanting 

 at an earlier period. That he did not do so is to be 

 inferred from the following circumstances, to which we 

 call attention with real regret and which we would have 

 passed over gladly were it not that the objects of the 

 expedition have been generally spoken of as scientific. 



On p. 63 there is given what purports to be a fully 

 worked example of the calculation of the longitude from 

 observations of the sun taken near Balleny Island,^ 

 by means of a Gary lo-inch sextant. The index error 

 was found to be "14 in." off the arc — a possible 

 printer's error for 14", one would think ; but further 

 down the error is given as 14' o". However, the sun's 

 semidiameter is also estimated at the excessive value of 

 16° 17' i", and this gives us a clue to the system of nota- 

 tion employed for the corrections, though not for the 

 instrumental reading. It is simply to write minutes as 

 degrees, seconds as minutes and decimals of a second 

 as seconds. Working out the calculation on this 

 assumption the final corrected altitude is obtained as 

 stated. On p. 64 the curious blunder of " Lysin Sq," 

 probably intended for " Log Sin^," and several others 

 equally absurd have escaped the author's vigilance, and 

 the logarithms set down are not what we would expect. 



Is this an elaborate joke played by the author on the 

 public, or is it a joke played on the author by some person 

 unknown and not detected by him ? We cannot think 

 that it was meant seriously, and we cannot see why the 

 example was ever given, as no one has any interest in 

 disputing the position of Balleny Island. The actual 

 figures and working of the really critical observation 

 which convinced Mr. Borchgrevink that he had got 

 further south than Sir James Ross might have been 

 quoted reasonably enough, but are not. If any credence 

 is to be given to the position of the expedition at any 

 date, the serious question raised by this worked specimen 

 must be answered. 



On p. 136 we read, " Only Jupiter and its stars and 

 Centauri were visible." So much for astronomy. 



With regard to meteorology the same indifference to 

 figures occurs. In more than one place the height of the 

 barometer is given in the form " 29.7.1," although else- 

 where the readings are expressed in the usual way. The 

 vaguest references are made to instrumental observa- 

 tions ; for instance, a graphic account is given of the 

 difficulty of placing a thermograph at 2000 feet on Cape 



1 Balleny Island is stated, on p. 3, to be a volcano 12,000 feet high ; here 

 there is evidently some confusion with Mount Erebus. 



