83 



NATURE 



[May 28. 1903 



narrative occupying the first volume, and serving to 

 show that he was a good comrade and a brave explorer, 

 sharing all the discomforts of a somewhat rniserable 

 wintering without complaint. The translation, too, 

 is well done, running so smoothly that it is rarely re- 

 cognisable as a translation at all. Now and again, 

 however, little bits of awkwardness come to _ light. 

 A medical man would hardly write in English of 

 the " digestive tube," nor would a sailor refer to the 

 "' left side " or the " chimney " of a steamer — " it's no 

 a lum, it's a funnel," said "Wee Macgreeger " scorn- 

 fully on one occasion. Trifles of nomenclature also 

 show the want of first-hand knowledge; where the 

 form is so beautiful it jars one to run against a 

 *' Thompson " compass, a " Clement " Markham, or 



-The Polar Star after the Ice Pressure. (From " On the Polar Star in the Arctic Sea 



even an "Ommaney. " We wonder whether the 

 British public nowadays attaches any more definite 

 meaning to a dram as a unit of weight than it does 

 to a gramme ; and we are sorry for the task set to 

 poor Dr. Cavalli in weighing out 8oz. i3.o958dr. of 

 tinned meat for each man every day ; though we are 

 reassured in finding that the metric units quoted along- 

 side prescribe only the quarter of a kilogramme, and 

 we presume that he did not trouble himself to weigh 

 it to the fifth of a milligramme as the English version 

 suggests. This habit of translating foreign units by 

 some theoretical table is so common that it is really 

 time to put in a plea for the exercise of common 

 sense, which in this case would suggest 8|oz. as a 

 sufficient cauivalent for 250 grammes, and in another 



would delete a residuum of 4 drams in a weight of 

 nearly a ton. 



The narrative of the Italian expedition has already 

 been summarised in Nature (vol. Ixiv., 190 1, p. 158), 

 and it need not be repeated. The first of the volumes 

 before us supplies many additional particulars as to 

 the first navigation of Queen Victoria Sea, and the 

 long struggle with the ice before the Stella Polare 

 reached the northern limit of the Franz Josef Land 

 archipelago beyond Rudolf Island. It deals with all 

 the usual incidents of a winter sojourn in high lati- 

 tudes, made in this case unexpectedly hard by 

 the party being obliged to leave the ship,' which had 

 been specially prepared for wintering in, and to camp 

 instead in extemporised tents. There are few refer- 

 ences to scientific work, but observa- 

 tions were made and collections obtained 

 which are being discussed in a series of 

 volumes by Italian specialists. Enough 

 is said, however, to show that the ob- 

 servations must have been frequently 

 interrupted. The difficulties of high 

 wind and snowdrift proved much greater 

 than were expected with regard to the 

 meteorological instruments, in the 

 management of which some pre- 

 liminary experience at a high-level ob- 

 servatory in Europe would have been of 

 great assistance. The magnetic hut, 

 too, suffered from stress of weather; 

 but we hope that the results obtained 

 will yet prove of value. 



Most interest naturally attaches to the 

 second volume, which deals mainly with 

 Captain Cagni's fine attempt to reach 

 the Pole. This attempt proved more 

 nearly successful than any sledging ex- 

 pedition before or since, and it is 

 narrated by the captain himself. There 

 is no doubt that if the commander of the 

 expedition had sufficiently recovered 

 from the serious frost-bite from which 

 he suffered he would have led the ad- 

 vanced party to the farthest point. The 

 pluck and endurance of the Duke of the 

 Abruzzi have been amply proved, while 

 the fact that when himself disabled he 

 insisted none the less on his second in 

 command carrying out the programme 

 speaks volumes for his generosity and 

 patriotism. The expedition was a 

 private one, planned to gratTfy the laud- 

 able ambition of an illustrious person- 

 age, and no one could have reasonably 

 objected if the commander had changed 

 his plans and stopped the expedition 

 when he found he could go no farther. 

 Captain Cagni and the three Italian 

 alpine guides who accompanied him 

 were worthy of the confidence reposed in them, 

 and they were rewarded by being able to carry 

 the Italian flag a little nearer to the Pole than 

 the flag of any other nation has yet been taken. 

 Beyond observations of latitude, no scientific work was, 

 possible on this arduous journey ; but the result showed 

 clearly that, given a sufficiency of dogs, no piece of 

 polar 'travel need prove too difficult for resolute men. 

 The dogs of the Stella Polare not only drew the sledges, 

 but, as in Nansen's case, they furnished a food-supply 

 for their surviving comrades, and in this case towards 

 the end for the explorers themselves. It is curious 

 to find that the exhaustion of provisions, or even of 

 the petroleum used for fuel, excited comparatively 

 little interest so long as a few dogs were left to furnish 



NO. 



1752, VOL. 68] 



