June 30, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



919^ 



It has been decided that the Imperial School 

 for the Study of Tropical Diseases, the estab- 

 lishment of which is due to the suggestion of 

 Professor Koch, is to he settled at Hamburg. 

 Professor Koch originally wished to have it in 

 Berlin, but reasons of convenience have led to 

 the substitution of Hamburg, where patients 

 can be landed directly. The institution is for 

 the present to be equipped to receive 30 

 patients. 



Major Ronald Ross, I. M.S., inaugurated 

 his iirst course of lectures on Tropical Medicine 

 at University College, Liverpool, on June 12th, 

 by an address on the ' Possibility of Extirpating 

 Malaria,' in which he dealt in detail with the 

 means of exterminating malaria-bearing mos- 

 quitos. 



A REPRESENTATIVE of Reutcr's Agency has 

 had an interview with Doctor Henryk Arc- 

 towski, the Polish mineralogist and geologist of 

 the Belgica Antarctic expedition. The Belgica 

 expedition entered the Antarctic circle from 

 the opposite direction to that in which the 

 British expedition under Mr. Borchgreviuck 

 is now working, Lieutenant Gerlache, with the 

 Belgica, going via Cape Horn and the South 

 Shetland Islands, while the British expedition 

 started from Hobart for Victoria Land. Dr. 

 Arctowski said that their first object was to 

 make a voyage in the Antarctic, but beyond this 

 there was on starting no definite program. It 

 was intended to examine the various scientific 

 conditions. On leaving Staten their object was 

 to go direct to the south and to explore in the 

 region of Grahamsland and Palmer Land, on 

 which no landing had been made since 'their 

 discovery, in the early part of the century. On 

 February 13th, four weeks after leaving Staten 

 Island, they left the newly-discovered land 

 which they named Danco Land and in three 

 days sighted Alexander I. Land. On the 28th 

 the Belgica ran into the Antarctic ice pack. 

 The temperature fell and the Belgica stuck fast. 

 For a whole year she remained immovable, and 

 for the first time human beings prepared to 

 spend a winter in the Antarctic. They had 

 quite expected to winter in the south polar re- 

 gion, but they had hoped to do so on land. 

 For that purpose they had everything prepared, 



as it was their intention to build an observatory 

 and depot. They were, however, quite unable 

 to find land on which to establish a depot, and 

 and had to remain on the ship. The Antarctic 

 winter lasted two months, but owing to the bad 

 weather that prevailed they did not see the sun 

 for three mouths. They spent the winter in scien- 

 tific work. All of them suffered a good deal dur- 

 ing the Antarctic night, owing to defective circu- 

 lation and heart trouble. All pulled through ex- 

 cept Lieutenant Danco, who succumbed to 

 heart failure in June of last year, and his re- 

 mains were buried beneath the ice. The only 

 other member of the expedition to lose his life 

 was Carl Wieucke, a Norwegian sailor, who 

 was lost overboard between Staten Island and 

 the Antarctic. At the beginning of the present 

 year they began cutting a channel through the 

 ice for the Belgica. After much hard work they 

 cut a passage 900 meters in length, the ship got 

 free of ice on March 14th last. As soon as they 

 got free of the ice they steamed direct for Cape 

 Horn, and reached Punta Arenas, Patagonia, on 

 February 27th. The scientific results were satis- 

 factory and were quite what was expected. 

 Unlike the Arctic the Antarctic has no animals. 

 The only signs of life found on land were a 

 number of very small insects, which were dis- 

 covered among the penguin rookeries. In the 

 water there was plenty of life. There were far 

 more seals than in the north polar regions, a 

 great quantity of small whales and an abun- 

 dance of penguins. The Antarctic land they 

 found to be entirely mountainous, absolutely 

 glaciated — covered with snow and ice. In some 

 places, where the cliflTs were too precipitous for 

 ice and snow to lodge, lichen and moss were 

 found. Dr. F. A. Cook, of Brooklyn, surgeon 

 and anthropologist of the expedition, has re- 

 turned to New York and has given similar ac 

 counts to the press. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



By the will of the late R. C. Billings, of Boston, 

 Harvard University, The Massachusetts Insti- 

 tute of Technology and the Boston Museum of 

 Fine Arts each receive $100,000 and an addi- 

 tional $50,000 is given to the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology for scholarships. The 



