20 



DISCOVERY 



number of pit-props rcquircil. Mining continues 

 throughout the year, the winter coal being stocked for 

 export during the summer months. 



Of course vessels have to go in ballast to Spitsbergen 

 to load coal, as there arc no northward cargoes except 

 mining and building material, and food, but the dis- 

 tance from Norwegian ports is short, so tliat this is not 

 a serious drawback. In fact, the chief difiiculty in 

 mining in Spitsbergen is not a material one, but lies 

 in the prejudice against a land in the Arctic which the 

 prevalent Mercator maps show apparently at a great 

 distance from Europe. 



It is too early, perhaps, to write of the other possible 

 use of Spitsbergen, namely as a health resort, but it 

 fulfils all the conditions required by people suffering 

 from lung troubles. Some day this will be realized, 

 to the benefit of many sufferers. 



The sovereignty of Spitsbergen, after being discussed 

 on many occasions since iS7i,was given to Norway 

 last year by the Paris Conference. On the whole 

 the decision was an equitable settlement of a difficult 

 problem. Norway's sovereignty is not absolute over 

 the whole country, for pre-existing estates belonging 

 to non-Norwegians are practically exempt, each being 

 under its own administration, and Norway has no 

 power to interfere with the development of those 

 estates. 



BOOKS 

 Spitsbergen : its Exploration, Hunliiig, and Mineral Riches, 

 by R. N. Rudmose Brown, D.Sc. (London : Seeley 

 Ser\-ice, 1919.) (Includes early and modem historj'.) 

 Ko-man's Land, by Sir Martin Conway. (Cambridge Univer- 

 sity Press, 1906.) (Early history of Spitsbergen.) 

 First Crossing of Spitsbergen, by Sir llartiu Conway. (London : 

 Dent & Co., 1897.) 



Reviews of Books 



South. By Sir Ernest Sh.'vckleton. (Hcineniann, 

 25s. net.) 



This is a book of adventure, a good book, and one that 

 ought to be widely read. It is the story of Shacldeton's 

 expedition of 1914 — 17 to the Antarctic, and as a 

 chronicle of " high adventure, strenuous days, lonely 

 nights, and unique experiences," it is one of the most 

 remarkable ever \vritten. 



The object of the expedition was to cross the Antarctic 

 Continent on foot from Weddell Sea to Ross Sea, finding 

 out as much about everything as possible en route. To 

 this end the main party, under the leader, started off from 

 the Weddell Sea side, and a second party commenced from 

 Ross Sea. What the results would have been, had the 

 plan of campaign succeeded, we do not know, though we 

 can guess, but unfortunately, from the point of view 

 of getting scientific information of Antarctica, the plan 

 did not succeed. Shacldeton's ship, the Eiidurai:ce, got 

 smashed in the ice of Weddell Sea, and he and his men had 

 to leave it and take to the ice. After terrible experiences 



and great privations they reached Elephant Island. 

 I"rom this place Sir Mrnest and a few of the party set out 

 in a small boat over the sea to South Georgia, a nightmare 

 of a journey, and then on foot over the hills and glaciers 

 to Stromness, a whaling station. The rest of the party 

 remaining on Elephant Island were rescued by Shackleton 

 after three unsuccessful attempts to do so, and afterwards 

 he went to the help of the other party which had com- 

 menced work from Ross Sea. There was, unfortunately, 

 some loss of life, but most of the men and their leader 

 returned safely to Europe and the war. 



This is a book to enjoy before a fire. It has all the 

 things we like to read alxjut or see in books of Polar 

 exploration — the p)cnguins, the pack-ice, the sleigh-dogs, 

 and the photographs. Owing to the failure of the enter- 

 prise, no great scientific work was able to be done. Many 

 important problems, however, arc raised, if not solved, 

 by the voyage, and some important meteorological results 

 are given in the text and in the appendi,x. But why 

 should we worry over the lacuna: in our knowledge of 

 those Southern parts, when such a failure has given us 

 this record of adventure ? 



Side Lights on Shakespeare. By H. Dugdale Svkes. 



(Shakespeare Head Press, 7s. bd. net.) 

 The Problem oj Hamlet. By J. M. ROBERTSON. (Allen 

 & Unwin, 5s. net.) 



When one has become rusty in a subject tlirough 

 absorption in other interests, there are two simple ways 

 in which one may easily regain the former knowledge, 

 and revive the interest in it. 



One of these is by taking down from the shelf the old 

 textbook on the subject, and commencing again at 

 page I ; the other is by taking up a book which is not 

 a compilation, but a critical study of some small part of 

 the subject, and being led on by it and twoks of a like 

 nature, till one has enveloped the old subject in a new ■wa.y. 



By actual experience we have found the second of these 

 methods the less depressing, the less likely to make us 

 feel that intellectually we have gone very far downhill, 

 and for those who think with us we recommend a re-study 

 of Shakespeare and his times, beginning with a book like 

 this one by )Mr. Sykes, or with Mr. Robertson's excellent 

 essay. 



The object of the former book is to show that certain 

 plays traditionally attributed to Shakespeare, and which 

 in the general opinion of scholars may not be wholly his 

 work, may be ascribed to definite men who were writing 

 in Shakespeare's time. Mr. Sykes attempts to show that 

 Henry VIII , notwithstanding its place in the first folio, 

 is not Shakespeare's work at all. The Two \oble Kinsmen 

 he attributes to Massingcr ; .4rden of Feversham to Kyd ; 

 King John and King Lear to Peele ; A Yorkshire Tragedy 

 and the first two acts of Pericles to Wilkins. 



Mr. Sykes arrives at these conclusions not from a 

 discovery of new documents, or from any objective piece 

 of evidence, but from the internal evidence of the plays 

 themselves. By comparison of the supposed work of 

 Shakespeare with the works of his contemporaries, he 

 presents a number of remarkable parallels of plirases, 

 words, rhymes, and tricks of writing, and, from these 

 resemblances patiently tracked out, he draws his con- 

 clusions. 



One must be on one's guard against this sort of thing. 

 It may be all right, but then, again, it may not. But it 

 is unfair to an author to conclude, because in the past 

 a few poseurs and quacks have tried their hands at this 

 type of research, that all who do it are such. 



Mr. Sykes has tackled his problem with considerable 

 insight and mature judgment, and has spared no pains 



