534 
NATURE 
[January 8, 1914 
logical programme with Mr. R. C. Mossman is 
strongly advised. 
kind at the base station and, so far as possible, 
on, the cross journey will fall in with other work 
that, has been done; in both these departments 
of science it would be specially profitable to have 
other expeditions in the field synchronously. 
Local zoological and botanical work will also be 
of great interest. But, undoubtedly, solving some 
of the many great topographical and geological 
problems is the leading work to be done both in 
the vicinity of the base station and in the interior. 
According to evidence at present at our dis- 
posal, Shackleton, if he penetrates southward from 
Coats Land, will gradually rise without much 
interruption over completely and heavily ice-clad 
land—over inland ice, in fact—until he reaches 
the South Pole, an ice-field that continues until 
it reaches the Beardmore Glacier and Axel Heiberg 
Glaciers. It would be a great triumph if, after 
Shackleton reached the South Pole, he could 
strike a new route, say, to the west of the moun- 
tains of South Victoria Land; but if this sacrifices 
the life or even limbs of the party, it is not worth 
attempting. Another expedition can carry out 
that work in time to come from the Pacific side. 
The intrinsic value of the expedition is to seek 
and find out what lies between Coats Land and 
the South Pole. 
The route will probably be to the east of the 
antarctic continuation of the Andes, but possibly 
Shackleton may have to cross another range— 
the continuation of the South Victoria Land 
Mountains—but all is new, and all depends upon 
whether previous conceptions have been based on 
sufficient facts. It is expeditions such - 
Shackleton’s that we require as the only way of 
obtaining data for the solution of many theories 
founded on too few facts. We therefore wish 
him all possible success, and trust that he will 
receive all the support he requires. The 50,000l. 
provided by a generous friend is an absolute mini- 
mum; 70,0001. is nearer the figure, and may we 
also trust that even another 10,0001. will be forth- 
coming to enable the gallant leader to have the 
scientific results of the expedition described in 
detail; for an expedition of this kind is not com- 
pletely successful unless the technical results of 
the work are published. Wittiam S. BRUCE. 
DR. WEIR MITCHELL. 
R. SILAS WEIR MITCHELL died at Phila- 
delphia on January 4, and in him has passed 
away one of the most remarkable men of 
America. At different times in his life he took 
a place in the very first rank of experimental 
physiologists, of practical physicians, and of 
novelists. 
Dr. Weir Mitchell was born at Philadelphia, 
February 15, 1829, and was educated at the 
University. of Pennsylvania and the Jefferson 
Medical College. He began researches on various 
physiological subjects in 1852, and in 1860 he pub- 
lished his researches ‘‘On the Venom of the Rattle 
NO. 2306, VOL. 92] 
Magnetic work of the usual. 
Snake,” a work which, even at this day, remains 
a perfect model of: what an investigation into: the 
physiological action of a poison ought to be, and 
is of itself sufficient to establish his claim to a 
front rank among'st American physiologists, past 
or present. age 
During the American Civil War Dr. Weir 
Mitchell had charge of a hospital in which cases 
of injury to nerves by gunshot wounds were 
specially treated. In 1872 he published a book on 
the effect of such injuries. After the war was over 
his patients were scattered over many parts of 
the United States, and he was thus enabled to 
make some very extraordinary observations upon 
the effect of weather upon disease. He was struck 
by the fact that one day, for example, he would 
get a batch of letters from California, a day or 
two afterwards from Denver, and a day or two 
later from Chicago, in which the patients com- 
plained of pains in their old wounds. These coin- 
cidences led him to inquire into the cause of the 
pain, and on communicating with the meteoro- 
logical office he found that a wave of rain and a 
wave of pain were passing simultaneously over 
the American continent from west to east at 
the same rate. The ‘rain area” and the “pain 
aréa’’ were concentric, but the pain area was 
much larger than the rain area. The radius of 
the rain area from the storm centre was 550 to 
600 miles, while the radius of the pain area was 
150 miles greater than this. As a consequence of 
this, patients in the rain area felt pains, and, seeing 
the rain, concluded that their pains were due to 
change of weather. ‘Those in the pain area felt 
pains, but saw no rain, and could not under- 
stand why they were suffering, although the real 
cause of their pain was the climatic disturbance. 
He afterwards extended his observations to the 
effect of weather on chorea and infantile paralysis. 
The curve of cases of infantile paralysis closely 
corresponded with the curve of temperature, but 
no such relationship could be noticed in the case 
of chorea either with temperature, height of baro- 
meter, or relative humidity. But a very close 
relationship indeed could be observed between the 
number of attacks of chorea and the number of 
storm centres within a radius of 400 or even 
750 miles of Philadelphia. 
Dr. Weir Mitchell’s attention having been thus 
directed to diseases of the nervous system, he 
was led to give special attention to the’ treatment 
of nervous diseases in women, and more especially 
to hysteria and neurasthenia. In the treatment 
of these diseases he effected a complete revolution, 
introducing the system of seclusion, rest, massage, 
and feeding, which is now known as the Weir 
Mitchell treatment. It has been extraordinarily 
effectual in very many cases which would have 
otherwise proved hopeless, and establishes his 
claim to rank as one of the greatest practical 
physicians of his time. 
From the published catalogue of his works it 
appears that he did not begin to write novels 
or poems until 1880, when he published “Three 
Tales of the Older Philadelphia,” and in 1882 he 
