January 25, 1906] 



NA TURE 



297 



force caused by the near passage of another body moving 

 with great velocity would account for the observed pheno- 

 mena. I am of the opinion that no forces except those 

 originally resident in the central body itself are essential 

 for the creation of such structures. 



As a supplement to my note in Nature for January 14, 

 11104, 1 now wish to offer a very simple theoretical explan- 

 ation of the manner in which the ejective force becomes 

 so very powerful. 



As a result of the decrease in temperature from the centre 

 to the surface of an incandescent mass exposed to the cold 

 of space, the surface-crust finally formed will be punctured 

 al various points by the imprisoned gases, thus also allow- 

 ing the more refractory matter from the interior to over- 

 v >w the region immediately surrounding each vent; the 

 increased weight of the locally thickened crust causes the 

 lower opening (of the channel formed) to be depressed 

 below the general level ; as the height of the surface-cone 

 increases the simultaneously formed inverted cone is forced 

 deeper and deeper into the regions of greater temperature 

 and pressure, where matter exists in the form of com- 

 pressed gases. The more easily volatilised materials of the 

 depressed mass will be dissipated, leaving only the more 

 refractory elements to form the inverted cone. 



So long as there is a free flow of gaseous matter, the 

 higher the volcanic cone the greater will be the ejective 

 and, owing to internal reactions, diametrically- 

 opposite vents will be most powerful. We therefore reach, 

 as it seems to me, the theoretical conclusion that in the 

 act of cooling, an originally incandescent body has the 

 r to create conditions which will enable it to remove 

 a part of its mass, in a finely divided stale, to distances 

 h may be far beyond the sphere of its own sensible 

 attraction. J. M. Sciiaeberle. 



Ann Arbor, January 8. 



On an Alleged New Monkey from the Cameroons. 

 I\ Nature for October 26, 1905, Dr. H. O. Forbes 

 described, as representing a new species, a monkey 

 ((■uenon) from the Cameroons, which he named Ccrco- 

 pithecus crossi in compliment to Mr. Cross, of Liverpool, 

 to whom it belonged. The description tallied so closely 

 with that of C. preussi, based by Matschie in 1898 upon 

 specimens also from the Cameroons, that I strongly 

 suspected the two species would prove to be identical. 

 '1 hat this is the case I have now no hesitation in affirming 

 after examining the type of C. crossi, which Mr. Cross 

 li ts sent to the Zoological Gardens in London. 



R. I. Pocock. 

 Zoological Society's Gardens, January 17. 



Sounding Stones. 



li may be of interest to add to the list of musical 

 stones provided by your correspondents another limestone, 

 viz. the very hard, crystallised, coral rock of the coasts 

 of British East Africa. Among the bizarre forms assumed 

 by these rocks under the erosion of the sea, isolated 

 pillars with projecting arm at the top, like a gallows or 

 an inverted capital " L," are common in places. This 

 horizontal arm in many cases gives a clear musical note 

 when struck with a stone or hammer, being thus a ready 

 suspended natural gong. Cyril Crossland. 



Broughton in Furness, January iS. 



Chinese Names of Colours. 

 Is Nature of January 11 (p. 246) Mr. A. H. Crook 

 refers to some colour terms used by Chinese. Ts'eng 

 (Cantonese) or ch'ing (Pekingese) is a vague Chinese term 

 applied to black, grey, "neutral tint," ocean green, sky 

 colour, blue, &c, but nearly always with a gloss or sheen 

 upon it. The fresh turnip-like pears of China are called 

 in Canton siit a li, or " snow-pears " (the small circle 

 following the ( indicating the " tone " of the word). 

 Williams's Dictionary of 1878 gives hsiieh-ch'ing 

 (Pekingese) or snt tt -ts'cng (Cantonese) as " a purple 

 colour," and the allusion is evidently to that bluish glassy 

 tinge that frozen snow takes, as seen in glaciers, icebergs, 

 and so on; in short, all " vitreous" or glassy hues, from 

 beer-bottles to mother-of-pearl, are ts'eng. 



E. H. Parker. 



NO. I 89 I, VOL. 73] 



THE WORK OF THE NATIONAL ANTARCTIC 

 EXPEDITION. 1 



CAPTAIN SCOTT is warmly to be congratulated 

 on the two interesting volumes in which he 

 describes the work of the National Antarctic Expedi- 

 tion and gives his conclusions as to its results. 

 The book, naturally dedicated to Sir Clements Mark- 

 ham, is a most valuable contribution to the know- 

 ledge of what will probably always be one of the 

 most interesting parts of the Antarctic continent. 

 It is written in a charmingly easy and fluent 

 style ; the narrative is modest and frank ; and the 

 story is always pleasant reading, from its evidence 

 of the uniform good temper which prevailed through- 

 out the expedition, of Captain Scott's capacity for 

 handling his men, of his sympathetic appreciation of 

 their high endeavour, and of his keen interest in all 

 branches of the work. The book is illustrated by a 

 series of fine photographs, many of which were taken 

 by Lieut. Skelton, and its value is greatly increased 

 by the beautiful sketches of Dr. Wilson. 



"The story of the expedition is full of incident and 

 adventure in most of which Captain Scott had a 

 large share, as he exposed himself to its greatest 

 risks. The two main achievements of the expedition 

 are Captain Scott's fine sledge journeys with Dr. 

 Wilson and Lieut. Shackleton to the farthest south, 

 and with Evans and Lashlv t.. tin- farthest west that 

 was reached in Victoria Land. Both these under- 

 takings were daring and arduous in the extreme. 

 The sledge journey to the south reached the latitude 

 of 82 16' 33" from 77- 51', and this spirited per- 

 formance would probably have been even more 

 successful but for the death of the dogs. The journey 

 westward on to the plateau of Victoria Land Captain 

 Scott describes as even more severe than that to the 

 south, and regarding it he says : — " I cannot but 

 believe we came near the limit of possible perform- 

 ance." 



The scientific results of the expedition cannotyet 

 be fully stated, as the collections and observations 

 have not been worked out; and we shall have to 

 wait in most cases for the reports of the experts to 

 whom the material has been entrusted. Captain 

 Scott's book contains accounts of the chief work in 

 geography, in vertebrate zoology, and in geology. 

 The Antarctic mammals and birds are described in an 

 interesting chapter by Dr. Wilson, in which the most 

 important contribution is the account of the life- 

 history of the emperor penguin, which was studied 

 on its breeding-grounds by himself and Lieut. 

 Skelton. The volumes contain no technical inform- 

 ation about the invertebrates, &c, and it is disappoint- 

 ing to learn that we cannot expect any additions to 

 the deep-sea fauna of the Southern Ocean. The 

 wealth of new material collected by the Challenger 

 in its one deep haul in the Antarctic, led to 

 hopes that valuable results would be achieved 

 by the powerful deep-sea equipment of the Dis- 

 covery ; but apparently it was very little used, 

 ow-ing to the short time spent at sea, and possibly 

 on account of the limited coal supply. One 

 dredging is referred to at the depth of 610 fathoms, 

 another at 100 fathoms, and a third, also in shallow- 

 water, off the great ice-barrier. The invertebrate 

 fauna, of which Mr. Hodgson has already described 

 elsewhere some of the more interesting discoveries, 

 seems to have been chiefly collected under the ice in 

 Mc.Murdo Sound by means of his very ingenious 

 devices. 



The principal geological results are stated in a 

 1 " The Voyaee of l\x Discovery." By Captain R. F. Scott, C. V.O. Vol. i. 

 Pp. XX4-556. Vol. ii. Pp. xii + 508 ; with two maps and 272 illustrations. 

 (London : Smith, Elder and Co., 1905.) Price 42J. net. 



