6l2 



NA TURE 



[April 25, 1901 



The determination of the oceanic circulation as shown 

 by the varying temperature, salinity, specific gravity and 

 refractive index of the sea water will be the most arduous 

 part of the oceanographic work. Owing to the import- 

 ance and difficulty of this research, independent methods 

 will be used concurrently. In the aerial temperature 

 •determinations we hope, like the German expedition, to 

 have the assistance of a platinum thermometer, arrange- 

 ments for which are being made by Prof. Ayrton. The 

 mechanical difficulties in the management of the cable 

 renders it indispensable that a full equipment of mer- 

 curial thermometers shall be carried ; but electric 

 thermometry has reached a stage at which we may hope 

 that in determining temperatures under the great pres- 

 sures of oceanic depths we need not rely on a method 

 dependent on volume. 



The tidal work will be done at the shore station, where 

 a tide pole will be erected and observations taken for at 

 least three months. Tidal observations on the Antarctic 

 shores, according to Prof. G. H. Darwin, " would be of 

 especially great interest, since this is the only region of 

 the earth in which the water is uninterrupted by land." 



Biology. 



The biological work of the expedition will be mainly 

 at sea ; for the ancient maxim that " Nature loves life" 

 •does not appear to apply to the Antarctic lands. The 

 inain biological duty of the expedition is to make as ex- 

 tensive a collection of the fauna and flora of the Antarctic 

 Ocean as the ship's storage will admit. As the German 

 expedition proposes to limit its dredging to work of less 

 than a thousand fathoms, it is all the more advisable 

 that the Discovery shall dredge in the deep basins as well 

 as in the shallower seas ; for though the latter may be 

 richer in individuals, they will probably be comparatively 

 poor in species ; whereas the deeper parts of the Antarctic 

 will probably be rich in novelties, and will afford the 

 most valuable materials for the solution of the problem 

 of bipolarity. 



Sir John Murray's suggestive views as to the relations 

 of the Arctic and Antarctic faunas are too well known 

 to need re-statement here. His theory is based in the 

 main on the Challenger collections, and much further 

 material is required before it can be settled whether the 

 resemblances between the Arctic and Antarctic faunas 

 are homoplastic or homogenetic. 



In the zoological work Mr. Hodgson will devote his 

 attention mainly to the invertebrates, and Dr. Wilson to 

 the vertebrates. Mr. Koettlitz will be the botanist of 

 tlie expedition, and will study especially the phyto-plank- 

 ton and bacteria of the Antarctic seas. 



Geology. 



The Antarctic continent being often described as 

 buried completely under a pall of ice and snow is not 

 regarded as a hopeful field for geological work. But 

 though the conditions may be unfavourable, the geo- 

 logical problems of the Antarctic are exceptionally 

 interesting. 



Stratigraphically we may expect Wilkes Land to show 

 us a continuation of the rocks of the Australian plateau ; 

 and as part of the South Australian coast is at least of 

 Lower Cainozoic age, we may hope for marine deposits 

 of the same age on the northern face of the Antarctic 

 lands. That Palaeozoic sediments and limestones occur 

 there is now certain, and they ought to yield fossils if the 

 right zones are exposed. Palaeozoic fossils will be of 

 value, but the discovery of Cainozoic land fossils would 

 be of far wider interest. The Biological Committee has 

 called attention to the importance of geological work on 

 the Antarctic lands, and that alone can settle the problems 



NO. 1643, VOL. 63] ' ;. : :; ' 



of zoological distribution in South America, South Africa 

 and Australia during Cainozoic times. 



It is, however, the way with fossils to occur in soft j 

 beds which have been worn into hollows and buried in 

 a country that has been roughly used by the elements. 

 Hence the palaeontological results may be meagre, 

 and the palaeontological and physical branches of geo- 

 logy will probably gain most from a preliminary : 

 traverse. 



The glacial work, including the character and distribu- 

 tion of the different ice-agents, the relations of the valley ; 

 glaciers to the main ice-sheets, the physics of glacier ice, 

 and especially the relation of shearing planes to the 

 orientation of the ice-grains ; the distribution of morainic 

 and intraglacial material and the rate of flow of the 

 glaciers are all problems which it is recommended that 

 the members of the expedition should study. Prof, von 

 Drygalski's work in Greenland has called renewed atten- 

 tion to the theory that glacial flow is due to repeated , 

 melting and reg elation ; whereas Miigge's experiments 

 on the shearing planes in ice support the view that 

 plasticity is an essential property of ice. Further experi- 

 ments on this question will be conducted during the 

 winter on blocks of glacier ice. 



The nature of the inland ice is a problem that can only 

 be directly solved by sledge journeys ; and if sufficient 

 dog transport be provided, it is hoped that two sledge 

 parties will start from the land station in the early spring. 

 One party will naturally strike westward to cross the 

 mountain range, and the other to the south. How far 

 these parties may be expected to penetrate into the 

 interior will depend on the amount of sledge-hauling 

 power available and on the structure of the country. 

 The westward party would, it is hoped, cross the volcanic 

 mountain chain to the plateau that probably lies beyond 

 it. If the station be established at McMurdo Bay, the 

 southern party ought also to penetrate beyond the coast 

 ranges and discover what lies between the Parry Moun- 

 tains and the South Pole. On the hypothesis that the 

 South Pacific coast is on the Pacific type of coast struc- 

 ture, then we may expect that the greatest elevations on 

 the Antarctic Lands will lie along the Graham's Land - 

 Victoria Land line, and will be near the sea. To the 

 south of the main mountain range there may be an undu- 

 lating ice-covered region descending slowly across the 

 Pole to the shore of the Weddell Sea. The main ice- 

 drainages would then be not from the Pole radially in all 

 directions ; the ice-shed would run along the Pacific 

 shore with a short steep northern face and a long gradual 

 slope southward to the Pole and across it northward to 

 the Atlantic. That the main ice discharge from the 

 Antarctic lands is into the Weddell Sea is probable, since 

 the biggest of the Antarctic icebergs, including those 

 described as sixty miles long and forty miles broad, are 

 apparently discharged from the Weddell Sea. As these 

 bergs are discharged intermittently, it has been suggested 

 from earthquake action, the Weddell Sea route to the 

 south probably varies greatly in different years, and 

 success in penetrating to the coast-line there might yield 

 comparatively barren results, for the ship would probably 

 be stopped against the stranded border of a vast ice- 

 sheet, and find neither land for a shore station nor 

 harbour for a ship ; and travel over the ice-sheet would 

 be unprofitable. As Sir Clements Markham has expressed 

 it, "the Weddell route offers the minimum of results 

 with the maximum of risks." 



The Erebus and Terror region, on the other hand, 

 offers a known base of operations, for a landing has 

 already been effected on its shore. And the available 

 geographical, geological and meteorological data all 

 point to it, as in the critical part of the Antarctic 

 lands. 



J. W. Gregory. 



