104 
NATORE, 
| NOVEMBER 29, 1906 
of publication. Dr. Mill closes his volume with pro- 
posals for an international scheme of Antarctic re- 
search, to be undertaken with the help of an inter- 
national committee, the functions of which 
poses should be advisory. He recommends the use 
of three or four whalers and light motor-cars, but no 
balloons, the uselessness of which has been twice 
proved. The actual organisation of the expeditions 
should be left to those responsible for the money, and 
he holds that ‘‘ the price of a battleship would conquer 
all the secrets of the South, . .. not without risk, 
but still with far less risk than in say ten years of 
football.’’ The book is illustrated with an excellent 
map of the Antarctic regions by Bartholomew, by 
many photographs of the scenery and ice-forms, and 
an excellent series of portraits of the chief actors in 
the Antarctic field. The frontispiece, an instructive 
picture of Antarctic ice, has been contributed by Prof. 
von Drygalski. 
Fic. 1.—View of Elephant Island, one of the South Shetlands, in d’Urville’s ‘‘ Atlas.” 
The latest original contribution to Antarctic litera- 
ture is ‘* The Voyage of the Scotia,’’ the narrative of 
the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. The ex- 
pedition was organised and commanded by Mr. W. S. 
Bruce, who after a voyage to the Antarctic in a 
Dundee whaler in 1892-3 had persistently advocated 
the despatch of an expedition to the Weddell Sea, 
and by careful training had rendered himself fit for 
its command. He had made several visits to the 
Arctic, and from 1894 to 1896 had been in charge of 
the Ben Nevis Observatory, so that he was an expert 
in meteorological observation. The funds available 
for the expedition were comparatively small, and 
were mainly due to the generosity of Mr. Jas. Coats, 
of Paisley. The expedition left the Clyde on 
November 2, 1902, and the Falkland Islands on January 
26, 1903. It was already late in the season, and the 
ice appears that summer to have been unusually 
thick in the Weddell Sea; but the Scotia, commanded 
by an experienced Arctic navigator, forced its way | 
NO. 1935, VOL. 75 | 
he pro- | 
through the peck to the latitude of 70° 25/ S., and 
though several times beset, it escaped and returned 
to the South Orkneys. Suitable winter quarters were 
found in Scotia Bay, on Laurie Island; a house and 
magnetic observatory were built ashore, and the 
winter spent in active work. On the return of spring 
sledging expeditions explored the island and deter- 
mined the Ordovician age of its rocks by Dr. Pirie’s 
discovery of Pleurograptus and Discinocaris in the 
slates of Graptolite Island. 
As soon as the Scotia could be freed from the ice 
it sailed for Buenos Aires for stores, &c., while Mr. 
Mossman, with five men, remained at the station to 
continue the meteorological work. The Scotia re- 
turned on February 14, bringing with it a party of 
observers sent by the Argentine Government, which 
had wisely undertaken to maintain the meteor- 
ological station; Mr. Mossman remained to help the 
Argentine party during its first winter, and the 
From ‘‘ The Siege of the South Pule. * 
Scotia left on February 21 with the rest of the Scotch 
expedition for its second cruise in the Weddell Sea. 
Here the expedition achieved its two great geo- 
graphical successes. It discovered a new land, 
Coats Land, which, judging from the boulders 
dredged off it, is composed of continental rocks, 
granite, gneiss, schist, sandstone, slate, and lime- 
stone. This land is probably the edge of Antarctica, 
which therefore occurs 400 miles farther north than 
the position suggested for it on Sir John Murray’s 
sketch map. Murray had extended the Weddell Sea 
thus far to the south, as the natural inference from 
the reported soundings, which had been greatly ex- 
aggerated by Ross’s primitive appliances. Where 
Ross reported no bottom at 4000 fathoms, the Scotia 
found blue mud at the depth of only 2660 fathoms. 
The Scotia has removed Ross’s Deep from the chart. 
During the return voyage the Scotia visited Gough 
Island, which was found to be volcanic, and after 
calling at Cape Town, Saldanha Bay, and various 
