A 
o 
94 
NATURE 
[ FEBRUARY 25, 1904 
climatic conditions were generally adverse, the violent 
gales and great cold experienced during the first winter 
equalling, if not surpassing, those w hich so hampered 
the work of the Newnes Expedition to Victoria Land. 
During a whole fortnight in May and June the velocity 
of the wind aver raged 45 miles per hour, and, worse 
than all, it was “these south- westerly gales which 
brought with them the lowest temperatures. Thus 
the stormiest day (mean velocity 63 miles) was also 
one of the coldest (mean —24° F.). The mean 
temperature for the year was about 10.2 2° F., the same 
as in Hudson Strait or at Yakutsk, the two coldest 
places in the north, while ane summer showed the 
exceptionally low mean of 28.2° F., the coldest so far 
known. In the summer, hoe ever, the gales became 
very much more moderate, being insufficient, in fact, 
during the first year, to break up the ice—the reason 
for the failure 
of the Antarctic to reach the winter 
Scottish Expeditiona===<=<=— German Expedition —_ 
Fic, 
station ; and whereas in winter the snow was all blown | 
away by the gales, in summer a great accumulation 
of snow was observed on the ice at sea-level. During 
the whole two years not a single aurora was observed. 
From a geological point of view the most interest- 
ing discove y was that of numerous fossil bones of 
Seer Oratc animals, some of great size, 
remains of plants were 
the far north, the 
also found, proving that, as in 
climate was once mild, and that 
there existed large forests of leaf-bearing trees where 
birds sang and strange large animals fed on the 
herbage. The fossils in the islands round the station 
were all of Mesozoic or Tertiary age, but Dr. Anders- 
son had discovered, in the neighbourhood of his 
winter quarters, a rich fossil flora of a very different 
type, belonging to an older geological epoch. 
Mr. Bruce likewise had much to contend against in 
while abundant | 
Swedish Expedition «sesssees 
1.—Routes of Scottish, German and Swedish Antarctic Expeditions. 
ceptionally unfavourable during 1903. The results of 
the work of his party consist “mainly—in addition to 
the full records of magnetic and meteorological observ- 
ations kept up throughout the winter—of a series of 
soundings and other scientific observations carried out 
during a cruise of more than 5000 miles in seas never 
before visited by a scientific expedition, and of observ- 
ations on the zoology and botany of the South Orkneys. 
The result of the soundings was to confirm the con- 
clusion derived from Ross’s:single sounding further 
east, showing that between 60° and 71° there is a deep 
sea with a more or less uniform depth of 2500 fathoms. 
During this cruise the heaviness of the pack—the ice 
being real Polar ice, sometimes 15 to 20 feet thick— 
proved a serious obstacle, and it was only by working 
eastward along the outer edge of the pack, ‘sometimes 
north, sometimes south of 60°, that it was at last 
possible to make a clear run to the south, which took 
the ship to 70° 21’ S., 17° W., where 
a sounding of 2543 fathome was 
obtained. This was towards the end 
of February, after which winter 
quarters were sought in the South 
Orkneys, the position chosen being 
a bay on the south coast of Laurie 
Island. Here the ship remained 
frozen in for eight months, a fact, 
Mr. Bruce says, ‘* perhaps one of the 
most remarkable in the history of 
Polar exploration—that in an oceanic 
island in so low a latitude as 60°-61° 
it was possible to be ice-bound for 
so long a period.’’ It was probably 
due to the continuous ice-sheet which 
formed between the islands and 
Graham’s. Land, which had_ the 
same effect, temporarily, as the 
vicinity of a continent. Eventually 
the ice broke up and cleared out in 
a single day (November 23). At the 
winter station a solidly built stone 
dwelling house was erected and 
special magnetic observatory (named 
after Prof. Copeland), the observ- 
ations at which, as also the meteor- 
ological work, were carried on by 
Mr. Mossman. Survey work, sound- 
ings and tidal observations were 
also carried on by Mr. Bruce, Mr. 
Wilton, and the ship’s crew. During 
the spring, foggy and _ cloudy 
weather was very prevalent, causing 
many hindrances, while the rapid 
variations in temperature—some- 
times as much as 40°-60° F. in a 
single day—were also very trying. 
All the land is described as very precipitous, rising 
sheer out of the water, but in spite of this the 
penguins manage somehow to ascend. Among the 
zoological facts collected, it was ascertained that the 
shae which inhabits Antarctic islands is the blue-eyed 
shag. It is hoped the work of the expedition may be 
continued for another year. 
As regards the German expedition, 
Dr. Drygalski’s 
_ preliminary report issued last summer has been supple- 
the climatic conditions, which seem to have been ex- 
NO. 179 1, VOL. 69| 
mented by the publication of the first instalment of 
the scientific results, while a general account of the 
expedition has also been given before the Berlin Geo- 
graphical Society and printed in the Zeitschrift of that 
body (1904, No. 1). It is again in the field of meteor- 
ology that some of the most important work has been 
achieved. The climatic conditions at the winter 
station of the Gauss showed clearly that the zone of the 
west winds had been left behind and a new climatic 
