TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION FE. 805 
enormous amount of time, and besides, if they are to be of any use, the distribu- 
tion of iron in the ship has to be arranged under such restrictions as to interfere 
materially with the usefulness of the ship in other directions. On land the 
magnetic observations would occupy a first place, also pendulum observations 
for the determination of the intensity of gravity and tidal observations, 
It has been the general experience of Antarctic navigators that the heavy 
ack ice is met with at a considerable distance from land, and between it and the 
and there is comparatively open water The ice which would cover this water in 
winter would probably loosen earlier than the heavy pack, and the ship, if winter- 
ing inside, might be able to move much earlier than it would be pos-ible for her 
to pass the pack; and this would be an additional advantage of finding winter 
quarters for the ship. 
Perhaps the most important work to be done is to obtain a complete meteoro- 
logical record during the whole of the sojourn of the expedition in Antarctic 
regions, whether at sea or on land. At present, any view as to the meteorological 
conditions on the Antarctic land may be held, because we have no facts by which 
to regulate our speculations. The expedition should be fully supplied with instru- 
ments for this purpose, and especially with self-recording instruments. 
As the station must necessarily be on land, and not on ice, geological observa- 
tions will be made as a matter of course. 
What distinguishes the Antarctic regions above everything is the development 
of ice as a geological feature, whether it is met with at sea as icebergs, or on land 
as glaciers, or a continuous covering. It is almost certain that any station on 
land will be within easy reach of a glacier, and means should be taken to establish 
marks as early as possible which will enable its motion to be observed before 
darkness sets in and after the sun reappears. The Greenland glaciers appear to 
move about three times as fast as the Swiss ones. Do the Antarctic ones move 
faster still? In Spitzbergen the glacier streams sometimes take very large pro- 
portions. How does it stand with the Antarctic ones in this respect? The 
‘erain’ of the Spitzbergen glaciers does not seem to be larger than that of the 
principal Swiss glaciers. The Antarctic land ice must be dissected with a view to 
the determination of the size and the articulation of the grain, It is, therefore, of 
the first importance that the chemist and physicist should have spent some time 
both in summer and in winter examining for himself the conditions of one of the 
Swiss glaciers. This is quite as necessary for him as having spent a certain time 
in a chemical or a physical laboratory. 
The ordinary work of a chemist and physicist at sea is now so well understood 
that it is hardly necessary to say much on it. The temperature and density of 
the surface water are observed at stated intervals. Whenever it is possible the 
temperature of the water at the bottom and at intermediate depths is observed 
and samples obtained. The gases dissolved in the water at the surface, at the 
bottom, and at intermediate depths, should be boiled out and preserved for analysis 
as often as possible. The proportion of oxygen to nitrogen in the gas gives an 
idea of the extent to which the dissolved atmosphere has been wsed, or of the 
amount of animal life which it has supported. 
The apparatus for use on deck and in the laboratory is so various, and has been 
so often described, that little more remains to be said about it than that most 
observers prefer their own apparatus. 
With regard to the district which would fall to the English expedition to 
explore, I should welcome an arrangement which would enable it to follow to its 
Antarctic source the remarkable stream of very cold water which the Challenger 
found flowing at the bottom of the depression which runs along the eastern coast 
of South America from the River Plate to the equator. This work would also 
carry the expedition in the direction of Weddell’s highest latitude, and of Ross’s 
deepest sounding. The base of the English expedition would then be the 
Falkland Islands. ' 
Much more might be said about the work which a chemist and physicist may 
find to do under various circumstances ; but it is to be assumed that whoever is 
appointed will know his business. His principal duty, in a new region like the 
