r 



October 5, 1893] 



NATURE 



555 



sympathised with the desire to determine the best line of cleav- 

 age between tlie two contiguous portions of science, but had to 

 acknowledge that any line which might be definitely formulated 

 would, to a brge extent, be artificial and arbitrary. 



Several papers on physical geography were read to the Section, 

 but they did not approach the geological border. Mr. J. Y. 

 Buchanan communicated the preliminary results of some new 

 experiments he has been conducting on the eftect of land, water 

 and ice on the temperature of the air, which promise, when 

 completed, to extend our knowledge of climatology. Dr. H. R. 

 Mill summarised the effect of different degrees of isolation from 

 oceanic influences on the seasonal changes of temperature in the 

 water and air of the Clyde Sea area, and Mr. H. N. Dickson 

 communicated a brief preliminary note on the results of his 

 recent trip In H.M.S. Jackal for the Fishery Board for Scot- 

 land, in the course of which he had examined the temperature 

 and salinity of the water between the north of Scotland and the 

 Fiiroe Islands. Dr. Schlichter submitted a piece of solid work 

 in pure physical geography in the form of a series of ten vertical 

 sections drawn across northern and central Africa from, west to 

 east. These sections exhibit graphically the relative heights of 

 the continent as far as they have been ascertained, and by the 

 blanks which occur where fixed points are wanting, they bring 

 into sharp prominence the regions which are still practically un- 

 explored. 



Papers on the latest explorations were read by Mr. E. G. 

 Ravenstein, who traced the opening up of Msiri's country by 

 the Katanga Company's expeditions, and by Mr. E. Delmar 

 Morgan, who communicated an admirable summary of recent 

 exploration in Tibet. Mr. W. M. Conway described his work 

 in the Karakoram mountains. Dr. H. R. Mill referred to the 

 work which he and Mr. Heawood had carried out this year in 

 the "unexplored England" of the lake-beds. 



Most interesting amongst the explorational papers were the 

 brief accounts, given by Mr.W. S. Bruce and Dr. C. M. Donald, 

 of the cruise of the Dundee whalers BaUrna awA Active toward 

 the Antarctic regions. 



Mr. Bruce's communication may be summarised as follows: — 



" After a boisterous passage of over a hundred days on the 

 steam whaler BaUcna, from Dundee, we met the first iceberg 

 on December i6, 1892, in 59° 40' S. 51° 17' W. We con- 

 tinued on a more or less southerly course, passing to the east of 

 Clarence Island. Danger Islets were sighted and passed on 

 December 23, and on Christmas Eve we were in the position 

 Ross occupied on New Year's Day, 1S43. Until the middle of 

 February we remained roughly between 62° S. and 64° 4c' S. 

 and 52' and 57° W., the western limit being Terre Louis 

 Philippe and Joinville's Land. 



"All the land seen was entirely snowclad except on the 

 steepest slopes, which were of black, apparently igneous, rocks. 

 The few specimens of rocks obtained from the ice and from the 

 stomachs of penguins bear this out; Prof. James Geikie find- 

 ing olivine; basalt, basalt lava, and possibly gabbro among 

 them. Rock fragments and earthy matter were seen on some 

 of the bergs and ice. On January 12 we saw what appeared to 

 be high mountainous land and glacierr; stretching from about 

 54° 25' S. 59° 10' W. to about 65° 30' S. 58° 00' \V. I believe 

 this may have been the eastern coast of Graham's Land, which 

 has not been seen before. 



"The whole of this district south of 60° S. is strewn with 

 bergs, and south of 62' S. they become very numerous. No 

 entire day was recorded when bergs were not seen ; as many 

 as 65, all of great size, to say nothing of smaller ones, were 

 counted on one day. The longest we met was about 30 miles 

 long, one was about 10 miles long, and several from I to 4 miles 

 in length. The highest the Balnna sighted could not have been 

 over 250 feet high, and many were not over 70 to 80 feet high. 

 All the bergs were tabular, or weather-worn varieties of that 

 form. The base of the bergs is coloured brown by marine 

 organisms. 



" The pack ice is said not to be heavier than that of the north, 

 and is similar in nature. It is frequently coloured brown by 

 Corythrum criophyllum, a very abundant diatom. We first 

 met pack ice on December 14, in 62' 20' S. 52° 20' W. ; it was 

 dense, and ran east and west. In January we met the pack 

 edge running east and west in 64° 37' S. from about 54° to 56° W. 



"A few oijservations for the Ireczing and melting-point of ice 

 were made, and .';ome sea temperatures recorded. The lead was 

 cast in the vicinity of Danger Islets, and some bottom samples 

 obtained, the depth varying from 70 to over 300 fathoms. 



NO. I 249, VOL. 48] 



" Periods of finecalm weather alternated with very severe gales, 

 usually accompanied by fog and snow. The lowest air tempera- 

 ture recorded was 20'8° F. on February 17, and the highest 

 37-60° F. on January 15. December showed an average of 

 3ri4° F., January 3rio°F., and February ag'Ss" F. The 

 barometer never rose above 29 '804 inches. 



" No whale resembling Baltvna mysticettis, i.e. the Bowhead or 

 Greenland black whale, was seen ; but many finbacks, some 

 hunchbacks, bottlenoses, grampuses, and several kinds of seals, 

 the hunting of which in default of whales was the object of the 

 voyage." 



Messrs. Bruce and Donald showed a very creditable collection 

 of observations, but the main outcome of their papers was a de- 

 monstration of the immense value of the results which would 

 accrue from a purely scientific expedition to Antarctic waters. 

 Mr. Bruce announced that he was prepared to spend a year, with 

 an assistant who had volunteered to accompany him, on South 

 Georgia or on Grahamsland, if he could be landed there, and to 

 undertake systematic scientific work during that time, if his 

 passage-money and maintenance were paid for. Mr. J. S. Keltie, 

 Mr. H. O. Forbes, Mr. Coles, Dr. H. R. Mill, Mr. Ravenstein, 

 Sir George Bowen, Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., Colonel Fred. 

 Bailey, and others, pointed out the immense importance of 

 Antarctic exploration to geography, geology, meteorology, and 

 other sciences, and warmly commended Mr. Bruce's resolution 

 to conduct a series of preliminary observations. The audience, 

 which included Dr. Burdon Sanderson, the president of the 

 Association, received the papers and discussion with enthusiasm, 

 and a subscription list was started in order to supplement any 

 grants which might be obtained from learned societies to pro- 

 vide a scientific outfit for Mr. Bruce and his assistant. A com- 

 mittee of Section E was charged with the necessary arrange- 

 ments, with Mr. Clements R. Markham as chairman, and Dr. 

 H. R. Mill as secretary. The Committee of Recommenda- 

 tions voted a grant of ^50 for the purposes of this committee. 

 The question of Antarctic exploration was supported by a letter 

 from Sir Erasmus Ommaney, enclosing an appeal from the 

 Australian Antarctic Explorations Committee, suggesting that 

 the British Association should take steps to induce the Austra- 

 lian Government to subsidise southern sealing voyages. A col- 

 lection of water-colour sketches, by Mr. W. G. Burn-Murdoch, 

 of Edinburgh, who was a passenger on the BaUcna, illustrating 

 the scenery and incidents of the voyage, was arranged round the 

 meeting room, and attracted a great deal of attention. Ti.e 

 collection has already been shown in Dundee, and arrangements 

 have been made for exhibiting it in London in the map room of 

 the Royal Geographical Society. Unfortunately, there were no 

 press representatives in the meeting-room during the greater 

 part of the Antarctic discussion, and it has consequently almost 

 entirely escaped attention in the daily papers. 



Papers on special parts of the world, summarising results of 

 travellers and geographers, were read by Mrs. Lilly Grove, 

 on the Chiloe Islands ; by Mr. Howard Reid, on the rela- 

 tion of Lake Tanganyika to the Congo ; and by Mr. Cop 

 Whitehouse, on the Lower Nile Valley, with refer- 

 ence to the various delineations of it in Ptolemaic and later 

 maps. Mr. E. Heawood read a paper recounting his ex- 

 periences in the Bengal Duars, with special reference to the 

 settlement of Santal colonists in that region. Mr. Heawood 

 said : — 



"The term 'Duars' is applied to a tract of country 

 lying along the foot of the Himalayas of Bhutan, and includ- 

 ing the 'doors' or passes into that country. The first ranges 

 here rise like a wall, wooded to their summits, from an undu- 

 lating plain of slight elevation, which embraces a strip of forest- 

 clad ' Terai ' and a more open country further south. Over a 

 great part savannahs of gigantic grass alternate with patches of 

 forest, sal on the higher and lighter soils, and mixed forest 

 fringing the streams. The grass is burnt down annually, and the 

 trees with which it is dotted are usually quick growing and shed 

 their leaves annually, and are thus less affected by the burnings. 

 The tiger, leopard, bear, elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, bison 

 (so-called), pig, and several kinds of deer inhabit the jungles. 

 The peacock, jungle-fowl, fiorikan, parrots, and a handsome 

 pigeon are the most prominent birds. The rainfall is very great, 

 and the climate unhealthy, though this improves with clear- 

 ing. The tract is sparsely inhabited, except in the 

 southern and newly-sellled parts, ly Mechs, a tribe of 

 Mongolian affinities who can thrive in spite of the 

 malaria. They are of wandering habits, cultivating by 



