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NATURE 



lApril 24, 1913 



ton in the antarctic regions. He thought the action 

 of the Canadian Government was to be applauded, 

 and served as an example to other Governments on 

 this side of the Atlantic. 



Mr. • Bridgeman gave a note on the Crocker Land 

 expedition, as well as an interesting eulogy on Ad- 

 miral Peary, entitled "Peary: the Man and His 

 Work." Mr. Bridgeman showed a most beautiful 

 series of slides of arctic scenery. Among other arctic 

 papers was one by Dr. O. J. Skattum, of Christiania, 

 on the map of Spitsbergen. Excellent as is the recent 

 work of the Norwegians in Spitsbergen, he made a 

 serious omission by making no reference to the highly 

 detailed geodetic work ; n Prince Charles Foreland 

 that has been done by Dr. W. S. Bruce and Mr. John 

 Mathieson in 1906, 1907, and 1909. Neither did he 

 acknowledge the financial and other help given to the 

 Norwegians by the Prince of Monaco, who has also 

 helped the Scottish expeditions. Dr. Skattum should 

 spell "Spitsbergen" with a central "s" and not "z." 

 the word being of Dutch and not German origin. 



An arctic paper of great interest and importance 

 was given by General de Shokalsky, who also made 

 several other important communications. It was on 

 the work carried out by the officers of the Russian 

 Navy and the Russian Geographical Society during 

 the last twelve years. This work includes much de- 

 tailed and valuable geographical research, on strictly 

 scientific lines, that has been done along the arctic 

 shores of Russia and Siberia, and seas adjacent. His 

 paper on the new hypsometrical map of the Govern- 

 ment of Moscow on a scale of 1 : 168,000 might also 

 be regarded as an important contribution to arctic 

 geographical research. 



Antarctic Research. 



Dr. W. S. Bruce gave an account of his plans for 

 another Scottish Antarctic expedition, which have 

 already been given in detail at a meeting of the Royal 

 Scottish Geographical Society, and for which the 

 treasurer of the society is receiving subscriptions 

 amounting already to a considerable but, as yet, by 

 no means adequate amount. The plans, it will be 

 remembered, are to carry out further extensive oceano- 

 graphical research in the region of the Weddell Sea, 

 to explore the continent in the neighbourhood of 

 Coats Land, and to complete a sectional survey of 

 Antarctica, by a journey across from the Atlantic 

 to the Pacific side of the continent. The plans were 

 very strongly supported by Admiral Peary, who urged 

 the special importance of a journey to the south pole 

 on the Weddell Sea side of Antarctica, and the im- 

 portance of detailed oceanographical research. He 

 agreed with Dr. Bruce that there was plenty of room 

 for many nations to work together in the antarctic 

 region, and hoped that the United States would take 

 part in the south polar campaign. Mr. G. G. Chis- 

 holm, secretary of the Royal Scottish Geographical 

 Society, said that the plans had the hearty support 

 of that society. The plans were also cordially sup- 

 ported by Prof. Penck, of Berlin, who referred to the 

 work of Lieut. Filchner and his important discovery 

 of an extension of Coats Land to the south-west. 

 Dr. Otto Nordenskjold's was the other antarctic con- 

 tribution, namely, "A Comparison of the Inland Ice 

 of Arctic and Antarctic Lands," an important con- 

 tribution to glaciology. 



Dr. Gerhard Schott, of Hamburg, gave an account 

 of recent German oceanographical research in the 

 Atlantic Ocean, and Prof. Drechsel, of Copenhagen, 

 dwelt on the importance of continuous and periodic 

 hydrographic researches carried on at definite stations, 

 such as has been carried out recently by the Prince of 

 Monaco and Dr. Richard in the Mediterranean. Prof. 

 NO. 2269, VOL. 91] 



J. Thoulet, of Nancy, dwelt on the construction and 

 utility of bathy-lithogical submarine charts, a paper 

 that was in many respects very suggestive. Miss 

 Owens's account of the geysers of Yellowstone Park 

 was an important contribution. 



On the whole the papers were of good quality, and 

 showed the result of steady geographical research 

 during the past four and a half years. But there is 

 little doubt that the congress was seriously affected 

 by the postponement on account of the Turco-Italian 

 war, many who had offered contributions withdrawing 

 them and presenting them to various geographical 

 societies in the meantime. 



It was resolved to hold the next congress at St. 

 Petersburg on the invitation of the Russian Govern- 

 ment, presented to the congress by General de 

 Shokalsky. 



A rather heated discussion arose on the question 

 of introducing Spanish as an official language, but 

 this proposal was withdrawn, a special veto being 

 given to the proposal by General de Shokalsky 

 threatening to introduce Russian as an official 

 language if the proposal were insisted on. 



INTERNA TIONAL METEOROLOGY. 

 A MEETING of the International Meteorological 

 **■ Committee was held in Rome on April 7-12, at 

 the invitation of Prof. Palazzo, director of the Italian 

 Meteorological Service. The meeting was attended by 

 Dr. W. N. Shaw, president of the committee, 

 Gehcimrat Hellmann, the director of the Prussian 

 Meteorological Service, secretary, and the following 

 members, representing the meteorological services of 

 their respective countries : — France, M. Angot ; Por- 

 tugal and Azores, M. Chaves; Holland, M. van 

 Everdingen ; Sweden, M. Hamberg; Switzerland, M. 

 Maurer ; Italy, M. Palazzo; Denmark, M. Ryder; 

 Russia, M. Rykatcheff; and Canada, Mr. Stupart. 

 There were also present Prof. Hergesell, the president 

 of the International Commission for Scientific Aero- 

 nautics, and Prof. Bjerknes, who had made important 

 proposals, at the meeting of this commission held in 

 Vienna in 1912, regarding the form in which meteoro- 

 logical data for the upper air should be published. 

 At the opening meeting letters expressing regret at 

 their inability to attend the meeting were read from 

 Prof. Mohn, Norway ; Prof. Willis Moore, United 

 States of America ; Prof. Nakamura, Japan ; and Dr. 

 G. T. Walker, India. 



It is the function of the International Committee 

 to deal with questions of organisation in which inter- 

 national cooperation is required. A considerable 

 number of such questions has become ripe for con- 

 sideration by the committee in the three years which 

 have elapsed since the last meeting, held in Berlin 

 in 1910. 



After the conclusion of the formal inaugural business 

 the first meeting was devoted to the consideration of a 

 letter which had been received from the president of the 

 International Institute of Agriculture, asking for the 

 assistance of the committee in furthering questions 

 connected with the influence of the weather in agri- 

 cultural affairs. Apart from questions connected with 

 weather forecasting, there are many problems con- 

 nected with the influence of weather on the yield or 

 quality of crops or the suitability of particular climates 

 for particular crops which are capable of advancement 

 by statistical methods, but as yet little progress has 

 been made in this direction. The committee finally 

 appointed a permanent commission to undertake the 

 further working out of these questions. M. Angot 

 was asked to act as president of this commission, 

 and MM. Bornstein, Brounow, Louis Dop, Hergesell, 



