FEBRUARY 25, 1904] 
NATURE 
593 
phosphorescence, and many allied subjects will probably be 
accounted for by the discussion of resonance and forced | 
oscillations, to which the system is susceptible. | 
The above results were communicated to the Physico- | 
mathematical Society of Tokyo in December last; the de- | 
tails of calculation will probably appear in the Philosophical 
Magazine in the near future. H. Nacaoka. 
Physical Laboratory, Tokyo University, January 18. 
Science in the Navy. 
In view of the important articles which appeared in 
Nature last year on the question of science in the navy, 
it seems desirable to inquire into the amount of encourage- 
ment which is now given to young lieutenants to adopt 
either of the more scientific branches of their profession. 
Apart from zeal for the service and the love of know- 
ledge, the most potent incentive to their doing so lies in 
the promise of early promotion to commander. Now, of 
the thirty-five lieutenants promoted on January 1 last, the 
following analysis will show that the more scientific officer 
has no advantage over his fellow as regards promotion. 
The periods between promotion to lieutenant and to com- 
mander were :— 
12 Lieutenants of the general service 10°8 years. 
Lieutenants j 8 a Gunnery officers TOLOM ss 
of special 6 a Torpedo __,, TO nts 
attainments { 9 5A Navigating ,, eyiRo) 
From the above it is evident that no advantage accrued 
to those who had the ability to attain the scientific know- | 
ledge required for their respective branches, whilst the 
future of those who selected navigation was marred by 
having to wait a year longer than any other officer. 
Lastly, it may be remarked that it argues well for a 
service in which science is courted by so many in spite of 
the small encouragement given in this matter of promotion. 
Ne Gabe 3 
/ 
Organisms and Meteorites. 
I sHouLtp. be glad to know whether anyone has ever 
attempted to test the hypothesis of Helmholtz and Lord 
Kelvin that meteorites are possibly the carriers of organised 
matter. By pulverising a portion taken from the interior 
of a meteorite it would, I should suppose, be easy to dis- 
solve out and detect any organic matter that was there. 
The result in any particular case would probably be 
negative; still, wilder experiments have been tried before 
now. 1 James Warp. | 
Trinity College, Cambridge, February 15. | 
| 
The Gordiide in Folk-lore. 
Tue sudden appearance of the Gordiidz or hair worms in 
puddles of water or similar situations has caused the primi- 
tive peoples of many countries to evolve a theory of their 
seemingly mysterious origin. In parts of Scotland they are 
believed to be the intermediate stage in the development of a 
horse-hair into an eel ; in Iceland and the FzerGes, and also in 
some of the Malayan islands, they are thought to come down 
with the rain; in the Malay Peninsula they are said to be 
the offspring of an unnatural union between an earthworm 
and a female mantis, and to turn into a fern (Lygodium sp.), 
| various directions. 
| the 
| during two winters, 
| two 
the creeping rhizome of which some of them (for example, 
Chorodes montoni, Camer.) closely resemble. (I found that | 
a very large proportion of the true Mantidz were infested | 
by them in the Malay States.) In the same country, by an | 
application of the principle of the doctrine of signatures, 
they are used in the manufacture of a hair-wash. I have 
thought that it might be interesting to trace out the beliefs | 
held about them among different races, but I find references | 
to them extremely scanty in ethnographical or general | 
literature. If any of your correspondents could furnish in- | 
formation of the kind I would be extremely grateful, for I | 
believe that an interesting contribution to the biological | 
philosophy of savages ‘might be made by collecting and | 
analysing the different theories held by primitive peoples re- | 
garding a small and easily recognised group of animals like | 
the Gordiide. NELSON ANNANDALE. | 
34 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh. | 
NO. 1791, VOL. 69] 
| minent peak of Mount Haddington, 
THE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITIONS. 
ORE or less detailed accounts have now been pub- 
lished of all the three expeditions—German, 
Swedish, and Scottish—which, following the lead of 
the British party in the Discovery, have during the 
past two years striven to extend the bounds of know- 
ledge in the far southern regions. Some idea can 
therefore be gained of the scientific results obtained in 
It is a remarkable illustration of 
the independence of climatic conditions on mere lati- 
tude that, while each of the expeditions wintered out- 
side the Antarctic circle, the rigours experienced have 
hardly been exceeded in the case of expeditions which 
have wintered more than to° nearer the pole in both 
hemispheres. 
To begin with the worlx of the Swedish party under 
Dr. Nordenskjéld, of which summaries have been given 
both in the Times and in the Geographical Journal, it 
is mainly of the contributions to meteorology and geo- 
logy that it is yet possible to speak, though when 
magnetic observations have been worked out, 
results of no less importance may be expected. The 
value both of the meteorological and magnetic work 
has been greatly enhanced by the enforced detention 
a much more effective basis of 
cemparison with the observations of other expeditions 
and stations being thus supplied. Some useful work 
| from a purely geographical point of view has also been 
accomplished, our knowledge of the contours of the 
land masses to the south of South America having 
received welcome additions, mainly as the result of 
two separate sledge expeditions undertaken during the 
winters. The winter station,’ it will, be re- 
membered, was established on the eastern side of Louis 
Philippe Land, the northern extremity of the mass 
known further south as Graham Land. It was itself 
on an island lying to the east of the main mass, but 
although this appears to be fringed on this side by a 
regular archipelago of islands separated by wide 
channels, it was demonstrated—and this is one of, the 
chief geographical results of the expedition—that ‘the 
larger mass runs continuously southward from Louis 
Philippe Land to King Oscar Land. It is formed by 
a high range of mountain peaks separated by large 
glaciers, and further inland passing into a level ice- 
covered plateau. Within the outer limit of the archi- 
pelago an ice-sheet extended, bounded by a formidable 
ice barrier running from east to west in the neigh- 
bourhood of Christensen Island (an extinct volcano). 
The conditions of this ice-sheet recalled those of Ross’s 
great ice-barrier on the opposite side of the Antarctic, 
and, as was found by Captain Scott and his com- 
panions on their great southern sledge journey, it was 
separated from the land by wide, deep, and impassable 
crevasses. This was ascertained during the first 
winter expedition, which lasted from September 30 to: 
November 7, 1902, and had its furthest point in 66° S., 
62° W. During the second winter the leader, with one 
companion only, explored the channels leading north 
behind the islands towards Erebus Gulf. The scenery 
here was found to be of the grandest kind; on one 
side was the magnificent range of King Oscar Land, 
on the other a large archipelago forming a remark- 
| able contrast to the former, and made up of tufaceous 
volcanic rocks, with sounds, 
tories, all dominated by 
glaciers, and promon- 
the shining blue-white pro- 
probably formed 
by a mighty crater. It was during this expedition 
that Dr. Nordenskjéld luckily fell in with Dr. Anders- 
son and Lieut. Duse, who had left the Antarctic 
before the disaster which befel it, and had spent the 
winter in that inhospitable region with only a summer 
| outfit. 
Throughout the time spent in the far south, the 
