DISCO VKRY 



195 



IVithin the Atom. A Popular View of Electrons and 

 Quanta. By John JIills. (George Routledge & 

 Sons, Ltd., 6s.) 



Tlie Tutorial Chemistry. Part II, Metals and Physical 

 Chemistry. By G. H. Bailey, D.Sc, etc. Edited 

 by William Briggs, LL.D., etc. Twelfth Impression. 

 Fourth Edition. (W. B. Clive : University Tutorial 

 Press, Ltd., 6s. 6d. 



Correspondence 



LOST ISLANDS OF THE SOUTHERN OCEAN 



To the Editor of Discovery 



Sir, 



May I be allowed to point out one or two slight 

 inaccuracies in Dr. Rudmose Brown's very interesting 

 .article " Lost Islands of the Southern Ocean," in your 

 April number ? 



I am afraid that what Dr. Rudmose Brown calls " the 

 most remarkable part of the story " of Dougherty Island 

 is partly a m>-th. I had occasion recently to consult the 

 file of the Otaso Daily News, which is the principal autho- 

 rity for Stannard's report of having sighted it, and I 

 discovered that th, statement which has often been made 

 (e.g. in the Admiralty Xew Zealand Pilot) that he saw the 

 Island twice, in i886 and 1890, has no foundation. By 

 his own account he saw it in 1886 only, and the second 

 date has its origin in a mistake committed by one of the 

 other disputants in a controversy over the existence of 

 the island. The error has been rectified in the latest 

 supplement to the New Zealand Pilot. 



With regard to Norris's " Thompson Island," this has 

 ■bsen seen at least once since his time, by Captain Fuller, 

 ■of the Francis A lien, an American sealer, in 1 893 . Captain 

 Fuller also saw Bouvet Island, and this latter was seen 

 by Captain Williams, of the American sealer Golden Jl'esf, 

 in 1878, who landed upon it, and by Captain Church, of 

 the Delia Church, in 1S82, so that it was sighted at least 

 three times between Norris's visit in 1823 and its " redis- 

 covery " by the Valdivia in 189S. 



Ross's failure to find tliis island in 1S43 was not due to 

 commencing his search, as Cook did, too far to the east- 

 ward. He started in longitude 2° W. (over 5° westward 

 of the island) and ran along the parallel of latitude 

 54° 15' (approximately) as far as longitude 6° 30' E. 

 In these circumstances, and considering that he hove-to 

 every night so as to prevent his either passing or running 

 ashore on the island in the darkness, it seems at first 

 sight incredible that he did not sight it. Recently, how- 

 ever, on plotting the tracks of the Erebus and Terror 

 afresh, from their logs, I found that shortly before they 

 would have fallen in with it they were carried to the north- 

 ward by a slant of wind (Ross says nothing about this in 

 his book) and passed about eighteen niiles north of the 

 island, regaining its parallel a few miles farther on. 



Incidentallv, the fact that Cook began his search too 

 far to the eastward was pointed out at the time by Le 

 Monnier, who based his argument on the discrepancy 



i "-tween the variations observed by Cook and by Bouvet. 

 This was contested by Wales, Cook's astronomer in the 

 Resolution. There is a resume of the controversy in the 

 iirst volume of Cook's third voyage. 



Yours, etc., 

 Rupert T. Gould, 

 Lieut. -Commander, R.X. (Ret.), F.R.G.S. 

 Admir.\lty, S.W.I, 

 May 17, 1922. 



Sir, 



To the Editor of Discovery 



The notes contributed by Lieut. -Com. Gould are 

 of considerable interest, and I welcome them as additions 

 to ni}^ article. Voyages of sealers are seldom easy to trace. 

 I have met Canadian sealers at the Falkland Islands 

 ^\•ho had made many discoveries at the South Sandwich 

 group that they never put on record, partly through 

 indifference and partly for fear of attracting rivals. For 

 my statements about Dougherty Island I found sufficient 

 authority in the New Zealand Pilot. Now Lieut. -Com. 

 Gould's painstaking researches have shaken my faith a 

 little in the accuracy of Sailing Directions, but at the same 

 time " the most remarkable part of the story," namely 

 the circumstantial account of the visit in 1886, seems 

 still to hold good. 



I am quite aware that Ross began his general search 

 for Bouvet Island well to the west of that island, but he 

 reported that, when in longitude 6" E., he stood S. 

 55' E. in the hope of finding it. Of course he failed, as 

 I pointed out in my article, because he was already east 

 of the longitude of the island. Lieut. -Com. Gould has, 

 no doubt, found the true explanation of how Ross missed 

 Bouvet Island when he was in the correct longitude. 



Yours, etc., 

 R. N. Rudmose Brow.ni. 

 The University, Sheffield. 

 May 25, 1922. 



TAX.ATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT 



To the Editor of Discovery 



biR, 



At least one of your regular readers would welcome 

 the more frequent appearance of articles similar to 

 Professor Knoop's very interesting analysis of the relations 

 between " Taxation and Unemployment." A true under- 

 standing of the various aspects of the Economic and Social 

 sciences is becoming more and more necessary if we are 

 to gather satisfactory fruits from the great inventions of 

 the past and present centuries. 



In Section III of liis article Professor Knoop, while 

 doubting whether a modest reduction in taxation would 

 help to stimulate employment, suggests that it might 

 lead to a sufficient increase in trade to prevent the revenue 

 suffering any actual loss. I think that while assessment 

 to Income Tax remains on the present basis of the three 

 years' average the revenue must suffer — and rather 

 severely — in the first year of the reduction. Although 

 profits might increase with growing trade, the first effects 

 of the improvement could not be felt until the foUowiug 

 rear. This being so, the Government would be obliged 



