122 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 161. 



profit to those undertaking the burden of 

 schemes suggested. Mr. Bull is virtually 

 the organizer of the cruise of the ' Antarc- 

 tic ' in the years 1894-95, when a landing 

 was effected on the assumed Antarctic Con- 

 tinent at Cape Adare, and his opinions and 

 estimates are deserving of respectful con- 

 sideration. He confidently assumes that a 

 joint commercial and scientific expedition 

 could be arranged so as to render its out- 

 come largely profitable to investors, even to 

 the extent of £500 or more, and yet so direc- 

 ted as to place it mainly to the purposes of 

 scientific investigation. In his various esti- 

 mates, however, which cover the purchase 

 of one or more suitable steamers, the abso- 

 lute hiring of full officers and crews, the 

 amount of capital required is so large, £9,- 

 000 to £14,000, as to render an association 

 in this form of combined enterprise doubt- 

 fully desirable. Your Committee believe 

 that an expenditure of $40,000 to $50,000, or 

 perhaps even less, would sufBce to construct 

 an independent scientific expedition of its 

 own, which would be in every way, if we 

 may judge by past experience and results, 

 to be preferred to an expedition whose as- 

 sociations must be largely commercial. 

 Your Committee believe that independent 

 subscriptions to the extent of $40,000 or 

 $50,000 could be obtained at this time only 

 with great and united effort, and yet it is 

 by no means impossible that patrons of ex- 

 ploration may be found who would gener- 

 ovisly contribute to the fund of a properly 

 organizing expedition. And it is almost 

 certain that Arctic and Antarctic enter- 

 prises, despite the generous criticisms which 

 are meted out to them in various quarters, 

 will, for a long time, receive the favor of 

 American good-will and protection. It 

 seems very probable, also, that a selected 

 number of scientific associations and in- 

 stitutions of general learning, such as uni- 

 versities and colleges, might be induced to 

 cooperate to a common end, sending repre- 



sentatives to an expedition proportional to 

 amounts of cash subscriptions. 



Your Committee, if so desired, will be 

 pleased to still further prosecute their in- 

 quiry. It is with satisfaction that they re- 

 port the departure of the Belgian Antarctic 

 Expedition under command of Lieutenant 

 Gerlache, and with it the association of the 

 American explorer. Dr. F. A. Cook, a promi- 

 nent member of the Peary Expedition of 

 1891-92. 



Respectfully submitted, 



Angelo Heilpein. 

 Chairman Committee on Antarctic Exploration. 



ELIZABETH TS031PS0N SCIENCE FUND. 



At a meeting of the Board of Trustees, 

 held at Boston January 13, 1898, reports 

 were read from the recipients of previous 

 grants, and the record of the following 

 grants was closed, the authors having pub- 

 lished their investigations : 



No. 54. Samuel H. Scudder, Esq., of 

 Cambridge, Mass., $250, granted June 29, 

 1894, for a monograph on the caliptenoid 

 series of North American Acridians. The 

 publication is : ' Revision of the Orthop- 

 teran group Melanopli (Acridiidse) with 

 special reference to North American 

 Forms.' Proceedings U. S. National Mu- 

 seum, Vol. XX., p. 1-421, PI. I.-XXVI. 



No. 64. Dr. Julius Elster and Dr. H. 

 Geitel, Wolfenbiittel, Germany, $185, 

 granted April 8, 1895, for photo-electric 

 investigations with polarized light. The 

 publication is : ' tleber die Abhangigkeit 

 des Photoelectrischen Stromes vom Ein- 

 fallswinkel und der Schwingungsrichtung 

 des erregenden Lichtes und seine Bezie- 

 hung zu der Absorption des Lichtes an der 

 Cathode.' Annalen der Phys. u. Chem. 

 N. F., Bd. 61, p. 445-465. 



The following new grants were made : 



No. 72, 5150 to Professor J. McK. Cattell, Garri- 

 son-on-Hudson, New York, for the Study of fatigue 

 in relation to mental conditions. Application 737. 



