aa 
- occurred. 

JUNE 2, 1923] 
NATURE 
759 

of the party. “‘ We all associate Scott’s disaster with 
the terrible Barrier blizzards, and in the end a blizzard 
did prove fatal, but at this time a blizzard, a succession 
of blizzards would have been the salvation of them all.” 
The temperatures experienced by Scott on the 
south of the Barrier were between 10° and 20° F. 
below the normal for the time of year. In these 
conditions the returning party struggled on, becoming 
weaker and more dispirited every day. On March 16, 
Oates made his heroic sacrifice in order to give his 
companions a chance of safety. Then at last—on 
March 20—the blizzard did come. But it came too 
late, and continued too long. When it commenced 
the party had food and fuel enough to reach the 
dep6t at One Ton Camp only eleven miles away, but 
as the blizzard continued to rage day after day the 
fuel was used and food consumed. 
“ There is little doubt that this blizzard removed 
the cold stagnant air and the conditions over the 
Barrier became much better for sledge travelling. 
But it was too late; by the time the blizzard ceased, 
every man of the polar party had passed away, and 
in doing so had left a record and created a tradition of 
which every Englishman is, and always will be, proud.” 

Movements of the Earth’s Crust. 
ROF. HANS STILLE of Géttingen has issued, 
under the title of ‘‘ Die Schrumpfung der Erde”’ 
(Berlin: Borntraeger ; price 1s. 8d.), a ‘‘ Festrede” 
given to his university, in which he aptly reviews old 
and new theories as to the effect of the earth’s con- 
traction on the features of the surface. He holds that 
the conception of a general contraction towards the 
interior is well founded ; but there are many ways in 
which it may become manifest by wrinklings of the 
outer crust. He finds that what G. K. Gilbert styled 
“epeirogenic ’’ (now written ‘“ epirogenetic ’’) move- 
ments, the sinking or uplifting of the crust over wide 
areas, are more in need of explanation than the folding 
of mountain-ranges, which has been differentiated as 
“ orogenetic.’’ The rhythmic pulsation, however, that 
causes mountain-building to occur simultaneously and 
even catastrophically over the whole earth presents an 
unsolved problem. Prof. J. Joly has suggested in a 
recent lecture (NATURE, May 5, p. 603) that the heat 
generated by radioactive minerals accumulates at 
intervals of some millions of years and so causes a 
catastrophe. Cooling of the uplifted layers by their 
being brought into proximity with the overlying oceans 
starts a new era of quiescence. 
We may ask, with an equal sense of adventurous 
speculation, if the pulsation may not be still more 
rimordial and connected with the beating of the last 
eart of an undivided universe. Prof. Stille keeps us 
from any such rash imagining ; but he points out that 
the facts of orogenetic episodes are opposed to the 
uniformitarian doctrines of von Hoff and Lyell, which 
are applicable only to the intervals between great 
crustal foldings. Epirogenetic movements occur 
during these intervals, and characterise the epoch 
in which we live. On the whole, the earth loses 
heat by radiation faster than it acquires it by con- 
traction ; in this remark we recognise an adherence 
to views that some geologists regard as quite old- 
fashioned. 
Prof. Stille’s ten pages of ‘‘ Anmerkungen "are almost 
as readable as the text of the pamphlet, since he adds 
to a wide range of references critical observations 
on many of the opinions cited. He remarks that 
Wegener’s epochs of continental drift do not coincide 
with those in which orogenetic movements actually 
In these notes the author writes, as others 
have lately done, “ Thetys”’ for Suess’s well-chosen 
NO. 2796, VOL. 111] 
name “ Téthys,” possibly by a confusion of Thetis, 
daughter of Nereus, with the wife of Okeanos, lord 
of the great outer seas. A. Sander’s. review of 
diastrophism and earth-history (Geol. Rundschau, 
yol. 13, p. 217, November 1922) should be read in 
connexion with Stille’s memoir. Its author con- 
eludes similarly in favour of the contraction-theory, 
but regards epirogenetic movements as not necessarily 
very slow. Fike Stille, he points out that we are 
moving a little way back to the views of the 
catastrophists. 

' The Steel Works of Hadfields, Ltd. 
Visit or H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES. 
UCH scientific interest is attached to the visit 
paid by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales to the 
works of Messrs. Hadfields at Sheffield, on May 29, 
when he started up the new 28-in. rolling mill, 
which has been installed at the firm’s East Hecla 
works. This marks an important phase in the 
transition from war to peace production of this great 
establishment, the head of which is Sir Robert 
Hadfield, whose discovery of manganese steel in 
1882 may justly be said to have originated the 
development of modern alloy steels. The new 
feversing 28-in. blooming and finishing mill is 
unique in several respects, having been designed 
to deal satisfactorily with steels of special nature, 
and in particular it is equipped with all the necessary 
improvements and labour-saving devices to obtain 
the most economical production. The mill motor 
has a maximum rating of 11,600 horse-power, and 
is supplied with current from a fly-wheel motor 
generator set, the cast-steel fly-wheel of which is 
11 ft. 6 in. in diameter and 30 tons in weight. The 
mill motor is capable of being reversed from full 
speed in one direction to full speed in the other 
direction in three or four seconds. The rolls are 
28 in. in diameter, and from 6 ft. 6 in. to 7 ft. long, 
being manufactured by Messrs. Hadfields of their 
special forged steel, and the mill is capable of rolling 
I5-in. square ingots, weighing 25 cwt., and reducing 
them to 24-in. square billets at one heat. It will 
also be used for rolling special alloy steels, and rails 
up to their heaviest sections and 55 ft. long in 
Manganese steel. The rolling plant accessories are 
all of the most modern type, including the necessary 
appliances for special treatment of manganese steel. 
he whole works show that British engineering is 
quite capable of designing, manufacturing, and 
funning rolling mills and other steel plants second 
to none in the world. In addition to the 28-in. mill, 
the rolling plant also includes r1-in. and 14-in. mills 
for rolling round and square bars of alloy and other 
Special steels. 
An interesting feature of the Prince of Wales’s 
Visit was that he cast his own portrait on a plaque 
or medallion 22 in. in diameter of Hadfield manganese 
steel. The medallion was designed by Mr. S. 
Nicholson Babb, who has several sculptures in this 
year’s exhibition of the Royal Academy. In the 
course of his tour the Prince was shown a number 
of exhibits illustrating the scientific work of the 
Hadfield Research Department. These included a 
complete equipment for all branches of the mechanical 
testing of iron and steel, and the latest apparatus 
in use for iron, steel, and fuel analysis, and oil testing. 
The scientific instruments used in the exact control 
of the heat treatment of special steels were also 
shown, and it is of interest to note that at one time 
mo less than 15,000 pyrometer readings per week 
were taken in the works in the various steel making 
and treating departments. A demonstration was 
