2l8 



NATURE 



[August 17, 191 1 



reached the margin of an ice-clad land; but as he 

 thought otherwise it would be rash to lay stress 

 upon a iliihTi-nt interpretation of the tacts he de- 

 scribed. The best clues as to the southern border of 

 the Pacific have been obtained from Graham Land; 

 but though the recent expeditions in that area have 

 revealed the structure and character of the South 

 Shetlands and of the north-western part of Graham 

 Land, there has been no modern extension oi 

 geographical knowledge far to the south-west. The 

 Peter I. Land of Bellingshausen, and the Adelaide 

 Island of that stout-hearted whaler Bisco, remained 

 the only sure evidence of the westward extension of 

 the land. 



Geographers accordingly waited with keen interest 



Course of the French Antarctic Expedition. 



lie return of Dr. Charcot's expedition, which forced 

 it- way for more than 50 westward into the unknown. 

 A preliminary report of the results has been issued by 

 the French Academy of Sciences, prefaced by a short 

 summai 5 In Prof. Joubin, of the Oceanographic Insti- 

 tute. Dr. Charcot describes the general course of 

 the expedition. It left Punta Arenas, in Patagonia, 

 on the Pourquoi-Pas?, on December 10, 1908. h 

 spent the first summer in geographical and other work 

 in Graham Land, to the west of the region so well 

 explored by the Belgian and Swedish expedi- 

 tions. It wintered on Petermann Island, one ol the 

 islands of the Palmer Archipelago, at the south- 

 western end of Gerlache Strait. At the close of the 

 winter it returned for stores to Deception Island, one 

 of the South Shetlands, and was there generously 

 XO. 2 l8l, VOL. 87] 



supplied with coal by whalers of the "Sociedad 

 ballenera Magellanes." The expedition thence started 

 south-westward, and, passing Graham Land, pushed 

 westward into the South Pacific. It passed to the 

 north of Peter Island, and kepi along the latitude of 

 about 70 S. from 72 W. to 124° W. The end of 

 the season and the approaching exhaustion of sup- 

 plies compelled the badly damaged Pourquoi-Pas? to 

 return to South America. 



Dr. Charcot describes the western lands he ex- 

 plored as penetrated by a network of fiords filled with 

 ice. The most important of the new lands explored is 

 a group of islands which he calls Alexandra I. Land. 

 Still further into the unknown he saw another land 

 which he has left unnamed. 



The results of the radiographic, 

 pendulum, astronomical and seismo- 

 graphic observations are summarised 

 by M. Bongrain. The preliminary 

 conclusions from the determinations 

 of gravity at five localities differ 

 somewhat from the theoretical re- 

 sults from Helmert's formula. The 

 1 in 'graphic observations made on 

 Deception Island are said to promisi 

 interesting results ; the instruments 

 recorded seismic storms at ;lu 

 winter quarters in March and Sep- 

 tember, 1 1. 



M. R. Godfrey contributes a report 

 on the tidal observations, coastal 

 hydrography, and the chemistry of 

 the air ; careful determinations of the 

 nitrates and ammonia in thi 

 were prepared at winter quarters. A 

 short account of the observations on 

 meteorology, oceanography, and at- 

 mospheric electricity is given by 

 M. M. Rouch. The meteorological 

 instruments were read every four 

 hours, or more often while the ship 

 was al sea or when more detailed 

 records seemed desirable. The work 

 on terrestrial magnetism and actino- 

 metrv was undertaken by M. 

 Senouque, who determined the mag- 

 netic elements at four stations — 

 Deception, Petermann, and Jenny 

 Islands, and Matha Bay. Dr. Gour- 

 don describes the geological observa- 

 tions ; he found no sedimentary 

 rocks or fossils, but widespread 

 igneous rocks similar to those pre- 

 viously recorded from the lands to 

 the north-east. M. Jacque Liouyille 

 gives a summary of the zoological 

 log of the expedition, which shows 

 that a most valuable collection was 

 made. Especial attention seems to 

 have been devoted to parasitic zoology. The results of 

 the dredgings during the summer voyage are described 

 as having been very fruitful. M. Gain, the botanist, 

 had a very limited field of work open to him on land, 

 where he found some lichens, mosses, and the grass 

 Air a antarctica; the plankton promises a rich harvest 

 from the sea, while on shore M. Gain worked at 

 bacteriology, and has brought back sealed prepara- 

 tions of fecal matter for culture in Europe. By tying 

 coloured badges upon some of the birds he was able 

 to show that they not only returned to the same 

 rookery, but to the very same part of it. 



The results of most general interest were gained in 

 the voyage into the South Pacific. The first impres- 

 sion is one of regret that the expedition could not 

 follow the land in that direction, but the thick ice 



