66 



NATURE 



[Nov. 26, 1874 



account of the habits and appearance of the larger fauna, 

 which is so plentiful that no expedition need suffer from 

 want of food ; the geology of the coast and islands was well 

 investigated, and coal was found to abound in some dis- 

 tricts ; dredging also was occasionally carried on, but with 

 no very fruitful results. Clavering, forty years ago, met 

 with a considerable number of natives in this part of East 

 Greenland ; not one is now to be found, though the 

 remains of their huts, burial-places, weapons, and utensils 

 abound. The map shows that careful and frequent 

 soundings were taken, and the book contains some very 

 valuable observations on the nature of the ice of these 

 regions, and especially |on the difference between the 

 Greenland glaciers and those of the Alps. We find also 

 that a spectroscopic examination was made of the deep 

 blue light of the ice, the result of which is, however, not 

 given. Indeed, those who want to obtain full details of 

 the scientific results of this expedition must go to the 

 original German account, as the English edition has 

 evidently been mainly abridged by the omission of scien- 

 tific details. 



Altogether, the results of the second German Arctic 

 Expedition are such as to reflect the very highest credit 

 upon its members, and must be very gratifying to its pro- 

 moters. There is yet much to be done ere the east coast 

 of Greenland is adequately e.xplored, and although this 

 expedition has clearly proved that there is no road to the 

 pole from that side, still there is undoubtedly on the east 

 coast of Greenland a fertile field for further discovery. 

 All this is admitted by Capt. Koldewey in his conclusion, 

 and we coincide with him in believing that if an English 

 expedition to West Greenland through Smith's Sound, and 

 a German one to East Greenland, started at tlie same 

 time, they would, with our present experience and means 

 of assistance, certainly lead to very rich results. Happily, 

 an English expedition on an adequate scale is being 

 organised ; let the German Government emulate the 

 liberality of ours, and send out an equally well-equipped 

 expedition, to continue, if not to complete, the woik of 

 thi Gcnnania on the other side of Greenland. If it so 

 please the Germans, let it be a race to the pole, and let 

 Dr. Petermann be umpire. 



The Gcnnania left her winter-quarters on July -2, and 

 after coasting about for some time — it was then the large 

 Fjord was discovtred — turned homewards, and reached 

 bremerhaven safely on Sept. 11. 



The translation and editing are carefully done, and the 

 numerous and well-executed illustrations add greatly to the 

 value of the work, which well deserves a wide circulation. 



DRAYSON'S "PROPER MOTION OF THE 

 FIXED STARS," ETC. 



Tlic Cause of ike Sttpposcd Proper Motion of the Fixed 

 Stars, and an Explanation of the Apparent Accelera- 

 tion of the Moon's Mean Motion ; with other Geome- 

 trical Problems in Astronomy Ititherto Unsob'cd. A 

 Sequel to the Glacial Epoch. By Lieut.-Col. Urayson, 

 R.A., F.R.A.S. (London : Chapman and Hall, 1874.) 



THIS book, the author tells us, is a sequel to "The 

 Cause, Date, and Duration of the Last Glacial 

 Epoch," of which we published a short notice last year. 

 The last work was founded on misconception and igno- 



rance,^and in this respect the one may fairly be called a 

 sequel to the other. In our remarks on " The Glacial 

 Epoch " we objected to the author's attempt to solve a 

 problem in physical astronomy by geometry alone. The 

 author, however, is unconvinced. His geometry, it is 

 true, is a much more powerful instrument than anything 

 of the same name which we have had the fortune to meet 

 with so far. On p. 4 of the present work he thus com- 

 pares the powers of observation and geometry : — " Mere 

 observation can never arrive at any result until the whole 

 cycle, and perhaps many cycles, have been observed. 

 For example, if the sun's mid-day altitude were observed 

 on the 1st of January of any year, and again on the 1st of 

 February and 1st of March, observation alone could tell 

 us nothing more than that there was a certain increase in 

 this meridian altitude. Geometry, however, could analyse 

 this rate of increase, and would probably be able to pre- 

 dict what would be the sun's meridian altitude for every 

 day in the year." Perhaps the author could, by his geo- 

 metry, if he knew the height of the reviewer at the ages 

 of ten, twelve, and fourteen, predict his height at the age 

 of fifty or sixty. The geometry which could solve the 

 one problem would surely be able to solve the other. 



Lieut.-Col. Drayson is not only unconvinced ; he is 

 unblushingly self-confident. On p. 33 we find : " When, . 

 then, it happens that the number of persons capable of I 

 judging independently of an original and difiicult problem 

 in geometrical astronomy, are to the number who are the 

 mere blind followers of ' authorities in science ' as about 

 one to ten thousand, we find ourselves in a considerable 

 minority." 



On the other hand, the amount of reliance which he 

 places upon the intelligence of other persons is very 

 slight, as may be seen from the following quotations : — 



"To a person unacquainted with geometry there seems 

 nothing unsound in stating that the centre of a circle can 

 vary its distance from the circumference and yet stili 

 alv\\iys remain the centre ; and this is the statement now 

 put lorward as correct by certain theorists." 



" In our work, ' The Cause, &c., of the Glacial Epoch,' 

 we called attention to the fact that it seemed improbable 

 that the centre of a circle could vary its distance from its 

 circumference and yet remain the centre, alihough it had 

 been agreed during nearly two hundred years that it could 

 do so." 



Of course it would seem unsound, improbable, impos- 

 sible, and absurd to anyone who had formed his ideas of 

 a circle from Euclid's definition ; and to us it seems almost 

 inconceivable that anyone can really believe or profess to 

 believe, what the author here and in almost innumerable 

 other passages in his books so confidently asserts, that 

 this absurdity is taught or even thought of. The author 

 certainly never proves that such is the case. The special 

 views of Lieut.-Col. Drayson with reference to the move- 

 ment of the axis of the earth in space we will let him 

 state for himself : — 



" It is here demonstrated that during 230 years we can 

 calculate what the obliquity was to within one second ; 

 ihat is to say, the actual curve traced by the pole of the 

 heavens relative to the pole of the ecliptic during 230 

 years does not differ one second from the circumference 

 of a circle having a radius of 29° 25' 47", and its centre 6° 

 from the pole of the ecliptic. In other words, the curve 

 traced by the pole of the heavens during 230 years zVpart 

 of a circle such as that defined above." 



