April 2, 1903] 



NA TURE 



5i7 



work, have returned on board the Morning. Lieutenant 

 Mulock has replaced Lieutenant Shackleton, who is in- 

 valided. 



The sledge journey of Captain Scott, Dr. Wilson, and 

 Lieutenant Shackleton, which resulted in the farthest point 

 south being reached, took ninety-four days. 



After the explorers had left a depot which had been 

 previously established sixty miles south of the ship, the 

 snow became soft, and it was almost impossible to drag the 

 sledges along. Half of the sledges had to be hauled five 

 miles, and then the party returned and brought up the re- 

 mainder, each five miles covered thus involving fifteen 

 miles of travelling. This relay work lasted twenty-nine 

 days. 



The explorers established a depSt in latitude So° 30' south, 

 and then discarded all superfluous gear, and set out on 

 December 15 for a dash to the south. On January 1 they 

 reached latitude 82 17' south. The southernmost dep6t 

 was regained on January 15, and the ship on February 3. 



Lieutenant Armitage, second in command, on a sledge 

 journey which he made to the westward, and which lasted 

 fifty-two days, attained an altitude of 9000 feet. The party 

 descended an ice slide to a glacier 3000 feet below. At one 

 point of the journey they slid a distance of 1300 feet in one 

 minute ten seconds, hanging by straps to the backs of the 

 sledges. On the return journey Lieutenant Armitage fell 

 into a crevasse and hung thirty feet below the surface. If 

 he had not been harnessed to the others he would have fallen 

 a depth of 2000 feet. In some places the sledges had to be 

 lowered fifty feet, and then hauled up on the other side. 



Captain Colbeck's opinion as to the Discovery's 

 chances of getting clear of the ice is somewhat difficult 

 to understand, as the Morning transferred a large 

 quantity of stores to the Discovery, and had apparently 

 no difficulty in getting out again, while it may be 

 supposed that Commander Scott's decision to remain 

 for another winter was made deliberately in pursuance 

 of his original intention to spend two winters in the 

 Antarctic regions. Further details will be awaited 

 with great interest; the situation of the Discovery, as 

 well as the statement in the last paragraph of the 

 official report, emphasise the soundness of the policy 

 which led to the dispatch of a relief vessel. 



Even with the meagre information to hand, it is 

 abundantly evident that the National Antarctic Ex- 

 pedition has already achieved a great success, both in 

 the way of exploration and of scientific observation. 

 The " record " for south latitude has been " broken " 

 by one hundred miles, and, what is more important, 

 an unknown mountain region, extending to at least 

 83 20' S. lat. , has been discovered, suggesting, as Sir 

 Clements Markham has remarked, that " land stretches 

 to the Pole in a series of lofty mountains." The fact 

 that the Discovery wintered at a point four hundred 

 miles further south than any former expedition encour- 

 ages the belief that her observations will be of real 

 value to science — solving some of the crucial problems 

 of terrestrial physics. Even greater results may be 

 expected from the work still to be done, for Commander 

 Scott and his comrades have the experience of one 

 successful year to help them. 



The success of the British expedition makes us look 

 forward with the more interest to news from the 

 German and Swedish expeditions, which are working 

 in the " Weddell " and " Enderby " quadrants, and 

 from which we may hear at any time. The Scottish 

 Antarctic expedition will probably not be heard from 

 for a year, as the Scotia only left the Falkland Islands 

 on January 22, 1903, and Mr. Bruce, who is in com- 

 mand, has materially altered his plans, as appears 

 from the following letter which he has sent to Reuter's 

 Agency : — 



In a few hours we take our departure for the south. 

 Contrary to my previous intention, I am going to winter 

 the ship if we find a suitable winter harbour, for, on account 

 of the lateness of the season, there will not be time to set 



NO. 1744, VOL. 67] 



up a separate house and set the ship free. We had a most 

 successful passage south, having accomplished the voyage in 

 fifty-nine days, in contrast to ninety-two days that we took 

 in the Balaena in 1892. Systematic hydrometer observ- 

 ations and temperature observations of the surface of the 

 sea from 30° N. have been taken, and those of the River 

 Plate should prove of exceptional interest, since there are 

 most remarkable and rapid changes both in density and 

 temperature associated with strong currents. We have 

 inspected and set up the meteorological station at Cape 

 Pembroke, which should be as ffood as any in the Southern 

 Hemisphere. This should form a very important sub- 

 Antarctic station. We have sufficient funds to enable us 

 to do this one year's work in the south. Now that we are 

 on a solid basis it would be a great pity to come home before 

 our work is really complete. A second winter, during which 

 the ship could be kept going free, as well as the station, 

 would be most valuable." 



NOTES. 

 The presidents of the sections of the British Association, 

 for the meeting to be opened at Southport on September 9, 

 are as follows : — Mathematical and Physical Science, Mr. 

 C. V. Boys, F.R.S. (Chairman of Department for Astro- 

 nomy and Meteorology, Dr. W. N. Shaw, F.R.S.) ; 

 Chemistry, Prof. W. N. Hartley, F.R.S. ; Geology, Prof. 

 W. W. Watts; Zoology, Prof. S. J. Hickson, F.R.S. ; Geo- 

 graphy, Captain Ettrick W. Creak, C.B., F.R.S. ; Economic 

 Science and Statistics, Mr. E. W. Brabrook, C.B. ; 

 Engineering, Mr. C. Hawksley ; Anthropology, Prof. J. 

 Symington ; Botany, Mr. A. C. Seward, F.R.S. ; Educational 

 Science, Sir William de W. Abney, K.C.B., F.R.S. On 

 Friday, September n, a discourse on " Man as Artist and 

 Sportsman in the Palaeolithic Period " will be delivered 

 by Dr. Robert Munro, and on Monday, September 14, Dr. 

 Arthur Rowe will lecture on " The Old Chalk Sea, and 

 some of its Teachings." 



The Times of Monday contained in its latest intelligence 

 columns two telegrams from the United States, one dated 

 March 28 and the other March 29, both of which had been 

 transmitted " By Marconigraph." This starts, as the 

 Times says in a leader, a day-by-day transmission of news 

 between the New and the Old World, undertaken on a 

 contract basis, and thus distinctly marks a step forward in 

 the development of wireless telegraphy. Mr. Cuthbert Hall 

 stated to a representative of the Westminster Gazette that 

 until the Post Office has granted the land connection for 

 which the Wireless Co. ask (which has been granted in 

 Canada and the United States), it is impossible to extend 

 generally to the public and the Press the facilities afforded 

 to the Times. Nevertheless, Transatlantic wireless tele- 

 graphy may now be considered on a practical com- 

 mercial footing, since it is evident that the Marconi Co., 

 and the Times also, feel confident of its trustworthiness if 

 they make it the basis of an arrangement of this kind. We 

 offer our sincere congratulations to Mr. Marconi on this 

 advance. We have frequently commented in these columns 

 on the extreme rapidity with which the practical develop- 

 ment of wireless telegraphy has progressed in Mr. Marconi's 

 hands ; the present occasion affords another instance in point. 

 There is pleasure in the remembrance of the part which pure 

 science has played in leading to this development. 



The following have been elected fellows of the British 

 Academy : — Dr.. B. Bosanquet, Prof. E. G. Browne, Mr. 

 Arthur Cohen, K.C., Mr. F. C. Conybeare, Prof. F. Y. 

 Edgeworth, Dr. C. H. Firth, Prof. A. Campbell Fraser, 

 Sir Edward Fry, Dr. F. J. Furnivall, Prof. P. Gardner, 

 Dr. Henry Jackson, Dr. M. R. James, Dr. V. G. Kenyon, 



