NA TURE 



[December i, 1&9& 



drawings of this hollow in the belt will be almost as important, 

 therefore, as delinentions of the ellipse itself. 



Additional records of this character will serve to exhibit the 

 precise epochs when decided changes occurred in the rate of 

 motion of the spot or its surroundings. The mean rotation 

 period, as mentioned above, seems very well assured from the 

 materials already collected ; but it is most desirable to gain more 

 exact information as to the variations, so that the length of the 

 cycle suggested by the observations may be definitely found. 



102 City Road, Bristol, W. F. Denninc. 



November 25. 



Galvanometers and Magnetic Dip. 



While the variation of magnetic dip in Europe (from about 

 71° in Aberdeen to 58° in Rome) probably gives little, if any, 

 trouble to users of compasses and portable horizontal galvano- 

 meters with pivoted needles, the dip of about 58° /i> M<r w«//; 

 at the Cape is sufficient to disturb seriously .such instruments. 



I have seen several galvanometers which were useless until 

 readjusted ; these, having been sent out by makers of high 

 reputation, were thought to have received damage on the 

 voyage. I learn that it is a matter of routine in the Post Oftice 

 to correct all new instruments for dip. 



Small pocket compasses are not appreciably affected, because 

 the centre of gravity of the needle is generally well below the 

 point of support, and prismatic compasses escape, jnobably, on 

 account of the weight of the card. 



Instrument makers could easily arrange a small magnetic 

 field in their testing rooms, with a dip to the south of about 

 60', in which to adjust instruments intended for the Cape or 

 Australia. A. P. Tkoiter. 



Cape Town, November 9. 



Atropa Belladonna and Birds. 



For eight years I have had a large plant of Atropa growing 

 here in my garden amongst currants and gooseberries ; close by 

 it is a mountain-ash, and at a short distance a large cherry-tree. 



Birds, including the blackbird, build in the garden ; but 

 although the cherries, currants, gooseberries and raspberries 

 are annually stripped, the Belladonna berries are never touched. 

 The birds are encouraged, and the fruit can be spared. 



The Belladonna berries are conspicuous objects from July to 

 November ; there are hundreds on my plant every year, long 

 after other fruits have vanished— black, lustrous, luscious- 

 looking — but no bird ever touches them. \V. G. S. 



Dunstable. 



THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE IN THE 

 ANTARCTIC. 



THE President of the Royal Geogiaphical Society 

 has issued an urgent appeal to the Fellows for 

 funds to carry out a National Scientific Expedition to 

 the Antarctic regions on a scale worthy of the traditions 

 of the British nation. He states that a joint committee 

 of the Royal Society and of the Royal Geographical 

 Society has been formed for the iiurpose of obtaining 

 funds for this purpose, but that " the responsibility of 

 maintaining the credit of the nation in this respect 

 devolves upon the Royal (Geographical Society more 

 than on any other body." The Council has accordingly 

 set aside 5000/. out of the funds of the Society as a 

 nucleus, to which Mr. Harnisworth, one of the Fellows, 

 has generously added a like sum. and we understand 

 that smaller contributions are rapidly coming in. The 

 cost of a completely equipped expedition will be 

 great, too great we fear for a single Society, even so 

 large and so rapidly growing as the Geographical, 

 to provide, for it is estimated at 100,000/. Vet from the 

 point of view of the scientific results sure to be obtained, 

 and the number of the scientific public, the sum is by no 

 means unduly large. Doubtless there will be other 

 Fellows of the Society who can afford and who will not 

 shrink from sharing the position of preeminent generosity 

 now occupied by one of^ their number ; but the majority 

 of those interested in the scientific aspects of geography 



NO. 1518, VOL. 59] 



are not wealthy, and they will require assistance from 

 other friends of science. While the vastness of the blank 

 space on the map within the Antarctic circle is sufficient 

 to account for the almost personal feeling of responsi- 

 bility which .Sir Clements Markham and his colleagues ac- 

 knowledge, there are great gaps in all the natural sciences 

 which only Antarctic research can fill. The physicist, as 

 Prof. Riicker has recently stated, is in the anomalous 

 position of having a theory of terrestrial magnetism far 

 in advance of the facts on which it is based. The meteor- 

 ologist has two views of atmospheric circulation to 

 consider which can only be reconciled or resolved by 

 observations in the far south. There are geological 

 questions of an interesting kind awititing solution, in- 

 cluding the immensely interesting problem of the former 

 attachment of tlie southern continents to the land that 

 lies under the south-polar ice-cap. In chemistry uncer- 

 tainties exist as to the interactions between sea-water 

 and atmospheric gases on the one hand, and marine de- 

 posits on the other, which can be studied more fully in the- 

 Antarctic than elsewhere. Biology, apart from the certain 

 accumulation of many new species of marine organisms, 

 which might prove a burdensome boon, will find some 

 fascinating problems of environment. The question of 

 the bipolaroccurrence of identical species is not as yeto\ er- 

 burdened with data for its discussion ; but greater interest 

 centres in the life conditions of the vast icy continent — 

 certainly 4,000,000 squ.ire miles in area — and absolutely 

 isolated from all the rest of the land of the globe. The 

 climate of most of this land cannot be more rigorous 

 than that of parts of the north polar regions where land- ' 

 mammals exist ; and the biologist, with the exceptional 

 fauna of Australia in view, may reasonably desire to 

 know if there is animal life on Antarctica, and if so what 

 forms it assumes in the unique environment of isolation 

 and low temperature. Even the astronomer may look 

 forward to some return for his contributions to an Ant- 

 arctic expedition, for where on the land-surface of the 

 globe is there so fine and large a field for the reception 

 and preservation of meteorites? The anthropologist 

 alone can afford, it would appear, to receive the appeal « 

 impassively. I 



AH the great scientific societies have long ago ex- y 

 pressed their opinion that the time is ripe for a renewal 

 of Antarctic research. The whole newspaper press of 

 the country has applauded the proposal to give effect 

 to this opinion : almost the whole, we ought to say, 

 for a cynically selfish opposition has been offered by 

 one or two of the less influential papers representing 

 the "little Englanders" in science. We hope that all 

 scientific men who have given their approval to the 

 proposed expedition — and who has not ? — will ratify that 

 approval, and assist in enabling this country to co-operate 

 with Germany in 1900, and make the last year of the 

 greatest century of scientific advance the world has 

 known the most memorable of all in a field of science 

 whence a great harvest of new facts, but no material 

 return, is to be expected. 



Promises and subscriptions are invited to be sent to the 

 credit of the National Antarctic Expedition, to Messrs. 

 Cocks, Biddulph, and Co., Charing Cross, S.W., or to 

 the Royal Geographical Society, i Savile Row, W. 



THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. 



IT is a matter little creditable to English culture that it 

 has required some twenty years of agitation to bi-ing 

 a University for the most important city of the'iworld into 

 the region of practical politics. Within the last fortnight, 

 however, we are glad to know that the machinery of the 

 new Commission has been put in motion, and that in 

 quiries are being made and questior>s being inquired into 

 of the highest order of iin|)ortance. 



