January 13, 1910] 



NA TURE 



315 



KOTES. 



Three British expeditions are litcely to be engaged in 

 the exploration of the Antarctic before long. In April last 

 Dr. W. S. Bruce described his plans for a Scottish 

 .Antarctic expedition ; in September Captain R. F. Scott 

 appealed for support for an expedition which will leave 

 London in July next ; and Sir Ernest Shackleton, who 

 has been presented with the Nachtigall gold medal of the 

 Berlin Geographical Society, announced in a speech at 

 Berlin on January 9 that he proposes to begin the pre- 

 parations for a new expedition when he has completed 

 his work and lectures relating to the achievements 

 ot the last expedition. Captain Scott has just received 

 a letter from the Treasury informing him that Parliament 

 will be asked next session to vote a sum of 20,000/. 

 towards the cost of his expedition to the South Pole. The 

 sum he asked for in appealing for funds was 40,ooo(., 

 and the total amount now subscribed and promised is 

 3i,oooi., so there should be no difficulty in raising tlie 

 additional goooi. before the expedition starts. In all 

 probability the" amount originally asked for will be con- 

 siderably exceeded. The expedition will sail in the Terra 

 Nova, and the money already subscribed is sufficient to 

 equip the vessel for her voyage. After departing from 

 London the ship will call at Cardiff for coal, and will 

 then proceed south via the Cape and Australia and New 

 Zealand, and will leave the last-named place for Antarctic 

 regions early in December. Though the undertaking is 

 described by Captain Scott as " an all-British expedition," 

 it is unfortunate that the announcement of the proposed 

 Government grant of 20,000/. has been received with 

 mixed feelings by geographers in Scotland. A circular 

 letter which has reached us from Mr. J. G. Ferrier, 

 secretary of the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory, 

 Edinburgh, deplores the fact that last November Dr. Bruce 

 was refused a Government grant toward the equipment 

 of an Antarctic expedition then being organised in Scot- 

 land, though in the words of Prof. James Geikie, presi- 

 dent of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, " no 

 one is better fitted to carry such an enterprise to a 

 successful conclusion, and the scientific results he has 

 obtained have not been surpassed in interest or import- 

 ance by the work of any living explorer in high latitudes." 

 While we gladly acknowledge that Dr. Bruce has done 

 splendid work in Antarctic regions with limited means, 

 and regret that Government support for the proposed 

 Scottish expedition has not been forthcoming, we think 

 that in a matter of this kind it is undesirable to appeal 

 to the Scottish public " to stand up for this and other 

 Scottish rights." The claims of an expedition to support 

 from the State for Antarctic exploration must surely be 

 scientific and not political. Because we have confidence 

 in Dr. Bruce 's scientific ability and experience we trust 

 that the funds will be provided for the expedition he is 

 organising. Three British expeditions approaching the 

 highest southern latitude from different bases would make 

 for national credit and scientific progress. 



The annual general meeting of the Iron and Steel 

 Institute is to be held at the Institution of Civil Engineers, 

 London, on May 4 and 5, and the autumn meeting at 

 Buxton on September 27-29 next. The council of the 

 institute will proceed shortly to award Carnegie research 

 scholarships, and application must be made before 

 February 28. The awards will be announced at the 

 autumn meeting. 



A COMPANY is being formed in .America by Dr. -Aaron 

 Aaronsohn, a Turkish agronomist, to investigate the agri- 

 NO. 2098, VOL. 82] 



culture of Palestine with the view of finding plants that 

 will resist drought in the United States. The inquiries 

 will be carried on through an experiment station at 

 Haifa, which will exchange information with the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture at Washington. 



TiiE death is announced at Bayonne, New Jersey, of 

 Mr. WiUiam .Abner Eddy, in his sixtieth year.' In 1890, 

 while engaged as an accountant, he began the aerial 

 experiments which made his name widely known. These 

 included some of the earliest attempts at photography from 

 kites and at measuring by the same means the tempera- 

 ture at various heights. In 1903 he experimented with 

 model aeroplanes dismissed from the lines of kites in mid- 

 air. Mr. Eddy also invented various devices for measuring 

 the tremors of the earth. 



The Civil Service Commissioners announce that an open 

 competitive examination for not fewer than three situa- 

 tions as cartographer in the Hydrographic Department of 

 the Admiralty will be held in July next, and that copies 

 of the regulations and syllabus may be obtained at once 

 from the secretary. Civil Service Commission, Burlington 

 Gardens, London, W. Forms of application for admission 

 to the examination will be ready for issue towards the end 

 of January, and will then be obtainable on request, by 

 letter, addressed to the Secretary of the Civil Service 

 Commission. 



The opening lecture on January 6 of a course on 

 parasitology, which Prof. R. Blanchard is delivering at 

 the Paris Medical School, was made, the Paris" corre- 

 spondent of the Times reports, the occasion of a demon- 

 stration of the cordial relations existing between French 

 and British men of science. Prof. Blanchard devoted the 

 lecture to an account of the progress made by British men 

 of science, and especially by the Liverpool School of 

 Medicine, in parasitology and in the treatment of tropical 

 diseases. Since the foundation of the Paris Institute of 

 Colonial Medicine in 1902 through the initiative of Prof. 

 Blanchard, friendly relations have been maintained between 

 it and similar institutions in England and in Brussels, 

 Hamburg, Lisbon, Naples, and Philadelphia. In 1903 

 pupils of the Paris institute visited the London school 

 under the guidance of Prof. Blanchard, who has been to 

 London and Liverpool several times. Sir Rubert Boyce, 

 professor of pathology in the University of Liverpool, was 

 present, and met with a flattering reception. In express- 

 ing his thanks, he dwelt on the importance of the work 

 of Prof. Blanchard and his pupils in furthering the advance 

 of parasitology. 



Bv the death of Colonel George Earl Church, on 

 January 4, science has lost one of the most striking re- 

 presentatives of geographical studies in this country. He 

 was born in Massachusetts, U.S.A., in 1835, and was 

 educated as a civil engineer. In his twenty-third year he 

 took part in a scientific expedition to South America, and 

 was in later life closely associated with that continent. 

 After distinguished service in the .American Civil War and 

 the Mexican campaign of 1866-7, he devoted himself to 

 the problem of opening up communication between Bolivia 

 and the Atlantic, and reached the Bolivian plateau by way 

 of the Madeira and Mamore. Having satisfied himself 

 that by the construction of a short line of railway round 

 the cataracts of the Madeira a large area of Brazil and 

 Bolivia would be opened to commerce, he obtained a con- 

 cession, funds were raised, and work commenced. Un- 

 fortunately, as a result of malaria, financial and political 

 intrigues and litigation, it was found impossible to carry 



