636 



NATURE 



[February 12, 1920 



on extensive prospecting- work, especially in the 

 western mountain ranges, are very sceptical as to 



excellent and doubtless contribute to its high 

 price, but the two maps are comparatively poor. 



Fig. 



-Temple Mountain from Bjona Haven. The Prince of Monaco's yacht, the Princess Alice, at anchor. One of the most important British 

 estates in Spitsbergen is situated here. From "Spitsbergen." 



workable mineral resources, except coal, as may 

 be gathered from a perusal of recent correspond- 

 ence in the Mining Magazine. A 

 fierce but feeble answer to these 

 letters by a representative of a 

 British company interested in 

 Spitsbergen fails to meet the facts 

 brought forward by the Nor- 

 wegian geologists, especially in 

 regard to metalliferous ores. The 

 reviewer believes that mining 

 development in Spitsbergen will 

 rest largely upon coal, with per- 

 haps oil and oil-shale, obtained 

 from the flat-lying rocks of the 

 central tracts. 



The later chapters of the book 

 discuss certain German schemes 

 for the exploitation of Spits- 

 bergen, now happily brought to 

 naught, its modern history, and 

 its political status. Spitsbergen 

 is no longer a No Man's Land, 

 and the last chapter of Dr. 

 Brown's book is therefore already 

 outdated by the decision of the 

 Supreme Allied Council to assign 

 the sovereignty of Spitsbergen to Norway. 

 The twenty-two plates illustrating the book are 

 NO. 2624, VOL. 104] 



Mistakes and misprints are commendably very 

 few. "Ordovician" is misspelt on p. 216, and 



Longyear Mine, Advent Bay. Wire ropeway from the mine, coal dtiiiip, and ietty with a 

 vessel loading alongside. From " Spitsbergen." 



there is a discrepancy in the story of Klaus Thue's 

 wintering on p. 106. A bibliography of the more 



