28o 



NATURE 



[June i, 1916 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for 

 opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither 

 can he undertake to return, or to correspond with 

 the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for 

 this or any other part of Nature. No notice is 

 taken of anonymous communications.] 



Meteorological Conditions of a Blizzard. 



I AM glad to see Mr. Bostwick's protest against the 

 current use of the word " bhzzard," and agree with 

 him that the British Isles, excluding mountains like 

 Ben Nevis, cannot produce the conditions for a real 

 blizzard. 



There can be no comparison between the pheno- 

 menon as it occurs in North America and the polar 

 regions and the very mild imitation commonly called 

 a blizzard in the English daily Press. In most cases 

 the latter consists of a mixture of snow and rain, 

 perhaps not amounting to more than o-io in. in all, 

 and a wind not exceeding a strong breeze. 



The only approach to a blizzard in the S.E, of 

 England during the last fifty years was on January i8, 

 1881. On that occasion the dry snow and the gale 

 .were present, but not the low 

 temperature. Much inconveni- 

 ience was caused by the drifts 

 iand stoppage of traffic, but 

 hundreds of thousands of persons 

 probably made their usual out- 

 door journeys on that day in their 

 usual clothing without danger, a 

 thing they could not have done 

 had the third condition of a really 

 low temperature been fulfilled. 



W. H. DlN,ES. 



Benson, Wallingford. 



public service should obviate the creation of a new 

 "Central Imperial Bureau." The deficiency of in- 

 formation has long been due to public ignorance of the 

 value of the material brought together by public ser- 

 vants, an ignorance unhappily shared by many who 

 pose as mine prospectors. 



Grenville a. J. Cole. 

 Geological Survey of Ireland, 



14 Hume Street, Dublin, May 27. 



ANTARCTIC PHYSIOGRAPHY.^ 



DR. GRIFFITH TAYLOR, physiographer to 

 the Commonwealth of Australia, accom- 

 panied Capt. Scott's last Antarctic Expedition as 

 its chief physiographer, and in this interesting 

 volume he records his experiences, gives brief 

 summaries of his observations and conclusions, 

 and describes the daily life and incidents of the 

 enterprise. His scientific results will be given 

 more fully and connectedly in the special volumes 

 on the work of the expedition. His narrative is 

 mainly of interest as a preliminary statement of 

 his conclusions, and for his racy account of the 



Economic Work of the Geological 

 Surveys. 



The note on Sir Robert Had- 

 field's address to a Committee of 

 the Advisory Council for Scien- 

 tific Research, given in Nature 

 for May 25 (vol. xcvii., p. 264), 

 suggests that the speaker was ill- 

 informed as to the recent history 

 of the Geological Surveys of our 

 islands. The activities of what 

 Sir Robert Hadfield styles 

 " the Geological Survey " have 

 "restricted" as regards Ireland, 



Fig. I Photo from the ship of Cape Evans, January 26, iqii. The Tunnel Berg appears on the right. 



Behind is the daik line of the Ramp, and twelve miles awaj- thecone of Krrebus with a small steam 

 cloud. From " With, Scott : The Silver Lining."* 



naturally been 

 since the Geo- 

 logical Survey of that country was placed under the 

 Irish Department of Agriculture and Technical In- 

 struction so far back as 1905. So soon as the need 

 for more detailed information as to our mineral re- 

 sources became apparent, through the pressure of mili- 

 tary operations, the staff in Ireland was devoted to 

 the preparation of a reference index to all known 

 mines and mineral localities in the country, and the 

 inquiries that are almost daily dealt with already 

 show the utility of the material thus brought together. 

 The remark quoted from Sir Robert Hadfield's 

 address as to the basis on which our knowledge of 

 Irish minerals rests must surely refer to some officer 

 in England. The Department of Agriculture in Ire- 

 land employs, in addition to the staff of its Geological 

 Survey, an officer entitled the " Economic Geologist," 

 possessed of special mining qualifications, whose ad- 

 vice is always at the service of those who may be 

 desirous of developing mineral industry in the country. 

 Surelv the combined work of the Geological Surveys 

 and of the mining officials already employed in the 



NO. 2431, VOL. 97] 



life of the expedition and pleasing picture of the 

 good humour and happy comradeship between all 

 its members. 



Dr. Taylor's chief contributions to the history 

 of the expedition are his accounts of the voyage 

 from New Zealand to Macmurdo Sound, of the 

 winter's life at the base there, and of the two 

 expeditions under his command to the mainland 

 on the western side of Macmurdo Sound. During 

 his sledge journeys in that area he was able to 

 supplement the observations of Ferrar, David, 

 and Mawson, and by combining all the materials 

 available has produced the most detailed map of 

 any part of eastern Antarctica. It is an area of 

 special interest, as the glaciers descend towards 

 the coast through a series of remarkable valleys 

 which notch the edge of the Antarctic plateau. 

 Dr. Taylor's party followed the Ferrar Glacier 



1 "With Scott : The Silver Lining." By Dr. Griffith Taylor. Pp. xiv+ 

 464. (London : Smith, Elder, and Co., 1916.) Price 181. net. 



