DISCOVERY 



219 



Various solutions of the problem have been put for- 

 ward. Dr. W. H. Steavenson, at the May meeting of the 

 Roval Astronomical Society, suggested that some con- 

 fusion had arisen over the two stars 69 and 70 Cygni. 

 " Some of the smaller star atlases show only one star in 

 this region, so that either might well be taken for a nova." 

 In a letter addressed to Sir Frank Dyson, dated May 15, 

 however. Dr. Anderson reiterated his conviction that he 

 had made no mistake, having seen 69 and 70 Cygni, 

 as well as the nova. " That in the early hours of the 

 9th inst.," Dr. Anderson wTote, " a great stellar outburst 

 was visible near 69 and 70 Cygni, I am as sure as that 

 I am now sitting here at Thurston Mains wTiting this 

 letter to you." " This Nova Cygni has certainly faded 

 away, I admit, with miraculous rapidity ; but if there 

 are novse which, like Eta Carinae (Argus), take centuries 

 to go through their evolutions, or like the great nova of 

 1572 take years, or like the majority of them take months, 

 or like the Nova Coronae Borealis of 1866 take six weeks, 

 why may there not be stars whose temporary outbursts 

 are ended within a few hours ? " 



Dr. Anderson's high reputation as an observer certainly 

 militates against the possibility of a mistake on his part, 

 so for the meantime the mystery must remain a mystery. 



A New Astrophysical Observatory 



It is announced that the Australian Government has 

 resolved to erect an astrophysical observatory near 

 Canberra, the new federal capital. Two telescopes have 

 been secured, and building operations are likely to start 

 at an early date. The erection of another large modern 

 observatory in the southern hemisphere will supply some- 

 thing that has been needed greatly during recent years. 



Hector M.-\cpherson. 



Reviews of Books 



ANTARCTIC ICE FORMATIONS 



British Antarctic (Terra Xova) Expedition 1910-13. 

 The Physiography of the McMurdo Sound and 

 Granite Harbour Region. By Griffith T.wlor, 

 D.Sc, etc. 



Glaciology. By C. S. Wright, M.C, M.A., and R. E. 

 Priestlev, M.C, B.A. (Harrison & Sons, for the 

 Committee of the Captain Scott Antarctic Fund.) 



No part of the Antarctic has been more carefully 

 explored or figured more in scientific memoirs than the 

 McMurdo Sound region of South Victoria Land. We 

 have already elaborate geological papers from the first 

 Scott expedition and from the Shackleton expedition. 

 Even these are eclipsed in voluminous detail by these 

 memoirs of Scott's last expedition. One who has served 

 on a polar expedition knows well the many interruptions 

 that scientific work has to suffer, from weather, travelling, 

 the call to manual work, and so forth. In the face of 

 such difficulties, with which no doubt they had to con- 

 tend, the amount of scientific research accomplished by 



Messrs. Griffith Taylor, C. S. Wright, and R. E. Priestley 

 is a monument to their enthusiasm. Dr. Taylor's 

 monograph, w-ritten in his customary vigorous style, is 

 devoted to the physiography of the " southern Ant- 

 arctic " littoral and hinterland, and deals especially 

 with the action of water in the sculpturing of the land. 

 He believes that ice is a less effective agent than ice 

 plus water, and he adheres to the "thaw and freeze" 

 school of glaciologists with leanings at times to the 

 " protective glacier " school. The volume to some extent 

 o\-erlaps the second and larger volume, but that was 

 ine\-itable and is really an advantage. Messrs. Wright 

 and Priestley have collaborated in the most exhaustive 

 memoir on Antarctic glaciology which has yet appeared, 

 and one that must take its place as a standard work on 

 the subject. Among the fourteen papers in this volume, 

 a few deal \s-ith the Antarctic in general and Victoria 

 Land in particular, and some have wider relations. 



The classification of land-ice formations has several 

 times been attempted, but not infrequently on too narrow 

 a basis. It is very doubtful if a glaciologist w-ho has no 

 personal experience of Antarctic ice is in a position to 

 tackle this problem, for there is no glacerisation (we 

 use the authors' ugly but useful word) elsewhere to com- 

 pare with that of Antarctica. The classifications of von 

 Drygalski and O. Nordenskiold, both of whom have 

 experience of both polar regions, have much in their 

 favour : both are mainly topographical. W. H. Hobbs's 

 classification, on the other hand, though comprehensive, 

 lacks analysis of the major ice formations, and dwells 

 mainly on the minor ice formations of the closing stages 

 of the recession period of a glacial cycle. G. W. Tyrrell 

 lately suggested a new classification based mainlj'- on 

 a study of Spitsbergen glaciers and depending cliiefly on 

 the difference in glacier form, motion, wastage, etc., in 

 regions of high relief compared with those of low relief, 

 but this classification is not discussed by Messrs. W'right 

 and Priestley. Their own classification is genetic, and 

 depends on the factors concerned in the degree of glacerisa- 

 tion of a land surface ; temperature, precipitation, slope, 

 and denudation or wastage. Thus there are three main 

 types characterised respectively by predominant supply, 

 predominant movement, and predominant wastage. Some 

 forms resulting from a balance between these conditions, 

 and dependent upon their position at sea level, are grouped 

 together as a fourth type. Each type is subdivided 

 partly on the degree of glacerisation, but more especially 

 on the relief of the land. All land-ice formations can 

 be fitted into this classification, and it is certainly 

 admirably suited to a region of advanced but receding 

 glacerisation like Antarctica ; but in a region of growing 

 glacerisation — of which, however, the globe does not 

 appear to afford an example at present — it might be less 

 applicable. The outline of the classification is as follows : 

 I. Ice formations of area of predominant supply. 



(a) Continental ice masking irregularities of 

 surface (Inland Ice), such as the Antarctic or Green- 

 land ice sheets. 



(6) Island ice : a similar cap covering a small, 

 isolated land mass. 



