Recent Antarctic Exploration 21 



Scott was able to improve on the road ; but he had abund- 

 ance of other difficulties to overcome, and he overcame them 

 most successfully. While he did not attain any greater height 

 than Mr Armitage, he pushed on beyond his turning-point, 

 and travelled over the continental plateau at a height of 8000 

 to 9000 feet for a distance of 12 of longitude, or 150 nautical 

 miles, preserving an average latitude of about 77 45' S. It 

 will be long before this achievement is surpassed. 



It has not been possible to notice the other expeditions 

 made by the crew of the " Discovery " ; but every member 

 was busy, and contributed his best to the great fund of new 

 knowledge which is the result of the two years' sojourn in 

 south-polar regions. At the end of Captain Scott's book 

 summaries of results of observations are given by himself 

 and several members of the staff which throw much new 

 light on these interesting regions, and at the same time raise 

 many questions which it is not easy to answer. 



The ice of the great tabular bergs was known to be 

 vesicular, belonging rather to the neve than to the glacier 

 type. The ice of the Great Barrier appears to be of this 

 character. This sheet consists, for at least a considerable 

 thickness below its surface, of snow, more or less consolidated 

 and passing into nv. Excavation showed many thin sheets 

 or crusts of solid ice intercalated with the snow ; and in this 

 respect it resembles the winter snow of the High Alps. To 

 what extent consolidation takes place in the deeper layers of 

 the ice is uncertain. Captain Scott's impression was that the 

 mass must throughout contain large quantities of air, an im- 

 pression supported by the examination of some ice taken 

 from the bottom of an overturned berg. Theoretically this 

 appears to us to be likely. According to Buchanan's theory 

 the motion of a glacier under the influence of gravity is 

 intimately connected with the melting and regelation, or 

 generally the metamorphosis, of the grains of which it is 

 composed, in a medium containing varying though minute 

 quantities of dissolved matter. The variation of the dilution 

 of the medium is accompanied by variation of its freezing 

 temperature. When ice is removed from it by freezing, the 



