102 



NA TURE 



[March 25, 1909 



consensus of opinion among' medical men that the wet- 

 bulb temperature should not exceed 70° F. to 75° F., 

 and that operatives should not be called on to work 

 above this limit. 



In regard to ventilation, some surprise will be 

 expressed that the report recommends an increase in 

 the permissible amount of carbon dioxide to 12 volumes 

 in 10,000 instead of nine as formerly. Considering 

 the researches of Parkes, Pettenkofer, Angus Smith, 

 Carnelley, and others, all of whom recommend a much 

 lower limit, it is not surprising to find that the 

 committee brings forward a considerable amount of 

 evidence in support of what it evidently considers 

 may be regarded as a reactionary proposal, and it 

 must at once be admitted that there is a good deal to 

 be said in its support. The evidence submitted to 

 it shows that in coal mines the average amount 

 of carbon dioxide is 35 volumes in 10,000, and such 

 air does not appear to have an injurious effect on the 

 miners. No doubt this is explained by the fact that 

 this carbon dioxide is formed by oxidation of carbon, 

 and is not mainly due to respiration as it is in weaving 

 sheds. 



Eminent medical authorities, both in this country, in 

 America, and on the Continent, concur in stating their 

 belief that the ill-effects in crowded rooms are due to 

 excessive heat and humidity rather than to the amount 

 of carbon dioxide. Direct experiments by Haldane 

 and Lorrain-Smith showed that the condensed vapour 

 from respired air, when injected into animals, pro- 

 d,uced no injurious effects, and their further experi- 

 ments are " distinctly against the theory that a volatile 

 poison, other than carbonic acid, exists in expired 

 air." F'liigge has made an elaborate series of experi- 

 ments on this subject, and comes to the conclusion 

 that " Temperature, humidity and movement are of 

 enormously greater importance for our comfort and 

 health than the chemical composition of the air." 

 Valuable confirmation of these scientific results comes 

 from the practical experience of the operatives in 

 cotton mills. Thus in one mill, where both dry and 

 wet sheds were under the same roof, the health of the 

 workers was equally good in both, but there was a 

 general desire to transfer to the wet shed, in which 

 the carbon dioxide in the air varied between 34 and 

 41 volumes in 10,000. 



.Another point to which the attention of the com- 

 mittee was directed was the quality of the water used 

 for the supply of steam. If from an impure source, 

 injurious organic matter may be introduced, and it is 

 suggested that water used for this purpose should be 

 of a certain legal standard of purity. The other recom- 

 mendations of the committee may be surmised from 

 what has been said already. 



RETURN OF THE BRITISH ANTARCTIC 

 EXPEDITION. 

 'T^HE British Antarctic Expedition ship Nimrod has 

 -'■ returned to New Zealand with Lieut. E. H. 

 Shackleton and the other members of the landing party 

 safe on board. A long despatch received from Lieut. 

 Shackleton by the Daily Mail reports that he himself, 

 with three other members of the expedition, started 

 on an attempt to reach the South Pole from Ross 

 Island, at the western end of Ross's Great Ice Bar- 

 rier, on October 29 of last year. Ross Island was 

 reached again at the beginning of this month, the 

 explorers having achieved in the interval — 122 days — 

 a journey of 170S statute miles, in the course of 

 which they reached a point in latitude 88° 23' S. and 

 longitude 102° E., or onlv about in miles from the 

 South PoIp. 



Pushing beyond the most southerly point reached 

 by members of the National Antarctic Expedition on 



NO. 2056, VOL. 80] 



board the Discovery (82° 16' 33" S.), Lieut. Shackleton 

 found the high mountains of South Victoria Land 

 trending in a south-easterly direction across his route, 

 and was obliged to ascend a long glacier leading up 

 to a high tableland, on which the explorers (eventually 

 reached an altitude of 10,500 feet. Lieut. Shackleton 

 concludes that the South Pole is doubtless situated in 

 this plateau region. The motor-car, though proving 

 useful for transport purposes in the neighbourhood of 

 the winter quarters, was not employed on the southern 

 journey, but the Manchurian ponies were of great 

 assistance. 



Another party, under Prof. Edgeworth David, 

 F.R.S., professor of geology in Sydney University, 

 journeyed from the winter quarters northwards along 

 the coast of South Victoria Land to Terra Nova Bay, 

 in about 75° S., and then ascended to the high 

 plateau-land which stretches inland, and journeyed at 

 an altitude of more than 7000 feet to the south mag- 

 netic pole, the position of which was fixed, in the 

 neighbourhood of latitude 72° 25' S., longitude 

 154° E. 



On the return voyage, Lieut. Shackleton caught 

 sight of the mountainous northern coast of South 

 Victoria Land, stretching at least forty-five miles 

 south-west and west of Cape North, the previous limit 

 of observation. 



Throughout the expedition numerous and varied 

 scientific observations were recorded. 



Special interest promises to attach to the geological 

 studies of Prof. David, the biological work of Mr. 

 James Murray, and the meteorological and magnetic 

 observations. We shall hope to return to these when 

 more detailed reports have been received. In some 

 fresh-water lakes near Cape Royd, Mr. Murray found 

 abundant microscopic life. Rotifers were found of 

 remarkable vitality, capable of living for years in the 

 ice of the lakes. Large sheets of a fungus-like plant 

 were found in the lakes, and the vegetation on Ross 

 Island included many lichens and a few mosses. 

 Systematic records were kept of all the appearances 

 of the Aurora australis. .\n ascent was made of 

 Mount Erebus, 13,120 feet high, by a party under 

 Prof. David, and the old crater of the volcano, which 

 was reached at an altitude of more than 11,000 feet, 

 was found to be filled with large felspar crystals, 

 pumice, and sulphur. The south magnetic pole seems 

 to have been located with much exactness. 



Judging from the interesting communication to the 

 Daily Mail, a large amount of valuable work has 

 been accomplished. Lieut. Shackleton and the other 

 members of the expedition are to be congratulated 

 upon their remarkable achievements. 



UNIFORMITY IN MATHEMATICAL NOTATION 

 AND PRINTING. 



THE subject of establishing a better understanding 

 between mathematical workers and printers 

 has for some time engaged the attention of the 

 council of the Royal Societ}'. It is desirable that the 

 amenities of printing should be considered by authors, 

 so that when there are several ways of writing a 

 formula that one should be employed which is easiest 

 printed and looks best in the published work. It 

 is especially undesirable that different ways should 

 appear at random in the same volume, or even on 

 the same page. 



In his anniversary address to the Royal Society on 

 November 30, Lord Rayleigh incorporated a memo- 

 randum on this subject, drawn up in the first instance 

 by Prof. Larmor, as an appendix. After recounting 

 earlier efforts in this direction made by a committee of 

 the British Association in 1S75, the paper offers the 



