April i, 1909J 



NA TURE 



13: 



;jio\v expect, will be conclusively settled, as the expedi- 

 ,'tion fortunately had with it Prof. Edgeworth David, 

 of Sydney, who determined the monoclinal structure 

 of eastern New South Wales. The first geological 

 information regarding South \"ictoria Land announced 

 h\ the Discovery suggested that the country was a 

 typical reprcsentativ-e of the Pacific coast type ; but 

 this conclusion has been regarded as improbable by 

 Dr. Prior and Herr Emil Philippi on petrographic 

 grounds. I?ut that evidence will not give the final 

 test, and the data collected by the National Antarctic 

 Expedition render it probable that the coast of South 

 \'ictoria Land is of the sub-Pacific type, agreeing 

 essentially with that of the eastern coast of Australia. 

 As the greatest authority on the geology of that coast 

 was a member of the expedition, he ma\' be trusted 

 to give this question its final solution. 



The expedition is a great triumph for Lieut. 

 ShacUlcton. The greatness of his results is not 

 merely due to the distance by which he surpas.sed 

 previous southern records, but to his having, in the 

 far soiuh, left the low-level ice and climbed on to 

 the plateau and discovered its nature in close 

 proximity to the Pole. He would probably have 

 added little further of scientific value by going 

 another one hundred miles southward, for he no doubt 

 saw enough to justifv his belief that the ice plateau 

 continued across and beyond the Pole. The results 

 of his journey show him to be a great leader as well 

 as a bold pioneer. He inspired his colleagues with 

 implicit confidence, and the rich harvest secured in one 

 short season's work is due not only to his energy and 

 personal courage, but to his full use of the capacities 

 cf every member of his stafi. He had the nerve as 

 a commander to run great risks bv scattering his 

 forces, and the judgment that enabled him to avoid 

 disaster. The messages of congratulation which 

 have been sent to him by the King and Queen, the 

 Royal Society, and the Royal Geographical Society, 

 represent the warm feeling of national pride and 

 satisfaction at the remarkable achievements of the 

 expedition. 



(2) The South ISL^gnetic Pole. 

 The position obtained by the Shackleton expedi- 

 tion for the south magnetic pole is lat. 72° 25' S., 

 long. 154° E. It may be of interest to com- 

 pare the position thus indicated with earlier results. 

 The first observational data enabling an approximate 

 position to be assigned were those obtained by Sir 

 J. Ross about sixty-five years ago. General Sabine's 

 Antarctic declination chart based on these observations 

 places the pole at about 73^° S., 147^° E. In chart vi. 

 attached to vol. ii. of Prof. J. C. Adams's " Collected 

 Papers," the position deduced from Ross's data is 

 about 73° 40' S., 147° 7' E. The next observational 

 data are those of the Southern Cross expedition of 

 1S9S-1900, consisting of dip observations made by 

 the magnetic observer, Mr. L. C. Bernacchi. In the 

 discussion of these by Mr. Bernacchi and the prese^t 

 writer the approximate position deduced for the Pole 

 at the epoch 1900 w-as 72° 40' S., 152° 30' E. The 

 National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-4 provided a 

 much more copious series of observations. The dip 

 and the declination observations, treated independently 

 by Commanders L. W. P. Chetwynd, R.N., and 

 F. Creagh-Osborne, R.N., gave almost identical posi- 

 tions, the mean finally accepted' being 72° 51' S., 

 156° 25' E. The position of the pole undergoes pre- 

 sumably slow secular change, and unless the regular 

 diurnal and the irregular changes of terrestrial mag- 

 netism in its immediate neighbourhood are totail} 

 difterent in character and size'from those a few hun". 



' National Ant.-irctic E.\pedition, 1901-4. Physical Observations, p. 156. 

 NO. 2057, VOL. 80] 



dred miles away — an unlikely contingencv — there iu 

 probably a more or less regular diurnal change of 

 position, in which the pole (if defined as the spot 

 where the dipping needle is vertical) describes an oval 

 curve several miles in diameter. Superposed on this 

 are doubtless irregular excursions, which may occasion- 

 ally be of much larger amplitude. Owing to the low 

 directive force on the compass needle, and the extent 

 to which it is afTected near a magnetic pole by 

 irregular disturbances, the members of the expedition 

 were probably well advised in using a dip circle, 

 especially if they observed in two perpendicular planes, 

 so as to get rid of the uncertainty in the position of 

 the magnetic meridian. Magneticians will await with 

 interest a detailed account of the method of observa- 

 tion adopted, and the exact nature of the results 

 obtained. C. Chree. 



(3) Meteorologic.vl Observations. 

 The information available in the summary of the 

 results of Lieut. Shackleton 's expedition does not 

 enable us to go much further into the interesting 

 question of the Antarctic anticyclone, but it is note- 

 worthy that Lieut. Shackleton, like Capt. Scott in 

 his journey to the south, experienced strong- and per- 

 sistent southerly winds. From the time he reached 

 the plateau at an altitude of about 10,000 feet on 

 December 26 until the return to the ship we find 

 constant mention of a " southerly blizzard," the wind 

 behind the party greatly facilitating the return 

 journey. From the observations of temperature, 

 which must, of course, be scanty until sufficient time 

 has elapsed for mails to be received, it would appear 

 as though the surface temperature on the barrier ice 

 and that on the high plateau were not very different, 

 notwithstanding the difference of 10,000 feet in 

 the altitude. In ordinary climates this difference 

 means a fall of 33° F. in the temperature. On 

 reaching the summit the temperature ranged from 



— 5° to —38°. The blizzard which detained the party 

 during January 7, 8, and 9 had a temperature of 



— 40° (rather a different kind of thing, probably, from 

 the so-called English blizzards of which we have 

 heard so much of late). On the barrier-ice tem- 

 peratures of —18° and —35° F. are given, so that 

 the conditions do not seem to have been more 

 severe at the greater altitude. In the Alps, and the 

 rule is probably general, a small vertical temperature 

 gradient is associated with anticvclonic conditions; if 

 full information, when it is received, bears out this 

 inference of the slight or non-existent fall of tem- 

 perature with height, it will go far to establish the 

 belief in an Antarctic anticyclone. 



But the persistent southerly winds are hard to ex- 

 plain, though we can hardly now doubt their existence 

 on the western part of the great ice barrier. On the 

 slope to the southward they may be due to the same 

 causes that make a wind blow down a valley at 

 night, and on the barrier ice, as Mr. R. H. Curtis 

 has stated, an east or south-east wind may be de- 

 flected into a south wind by the range of mountains 

 to the westward. On the plateau neither explanation 

 will serve. It is just possible that the south is not 

 the prevailing wind there, since a month is not long 

 enough to show the prevailing direction. 



Probably the blizzards of these regions are ex- 

 tremely shallow, for it was noted during the expedi- 

 tion of Capt. Scott that the motion of the barometer 

 was of ven.' little use in foretelling the weather, and 

 the winds, therefore, cannot be of the same character 

 as those to which we are accustomed. 



Lieut. Shackleton and his companions are certainly 

 to be congratulated on the excellent results they have 

 achieved, and on their safe return. Many Arctic 

 and .Antarctic expeditions have shown that, apart 



