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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 167. 



neously at several stations, by expeditions 

 of various nationalities. He strongly ad- 

 vocated international cooperation, and this 

 suggestion was warmly supported by the 

 meeting. Antarctic exploration must be 

 advocated, and strongly, on purely scien- 

 tific grounds. Practical results to human- 

 ity would follow, as they always had fol- 

 lowed scientific research in the past. 

 Terrestrial magnetism was positively at a 

 standstill for lack of data, from the Antarc- 

 tic. Dr. Neumayer pointed out, from the 

 few observations made, the intensity of 

 magnetism on the Australian side of the 

 Antarctic compared with what had been 

 found on the opposite side, and the curious 

 coincidence of this with intensity of au- 

 roral phenomena. He spoke of Gauss's 

 famous mathematical theory of magnetism, 

 which had stood the test till now ; but we 

 were absolutely unable to form a physical 

 theory until we obtained the necessary data 

 from Antarctica. 



Sir Clements Markham, President of the 

 Eoyal Geographical Society, fully concurred 

 with every word spoken by Dr. Murray on 

 the subject of the scientific results, and 

 more especially of the geographical results of 

 an Antarctic expedition. It was quite suf- 

 ficient to point out the vast extent of the 

 unknown area ; and that no area of like 

 extent on the surface of the earth ever 

 failed to yield results of practical, as well 

 as of purely scientific, value by its explora- 

 tion. But there was much more to be said 

 in the present instance, because the little 

 that we did know of the Antarctic regions 

 pointed unmistakably to the very great im- 

 portance and interest that was certain to 

 attend further research. More complete 

 examination was necessary before any ap- 

 proach to accuracy could be obtained re- 

 specting the nature and extent of the sup- 

 posed ice-cap. We knew that the southern 

 continent was a region of actual volcanic 

 activity ; but the extent, nature and efiect 



of this activity remained to be ascertained. 

 On the Antarctic circle, land had been 

 sighted at numerous points, but it was un- 

 known whether what had been seen indi- 

 cated small islands or a continuous coast- 

 line. The extent of the ice-wall and the 

 relations between that and the ice-cap were 

 unknown ; as well as the distribution of 

 land and sea, and of ice and water in the 

 summer, and the causes which influenced 

 such distribution. The investigation of 

 each one of these points, and of many 

 others, would lead to further discoveries of 

 the deepest interest to geographical science. 



Dr. Alexander Buchan, Secretary of 

 the Scottish Meteorological Society, empha- 

 sized the absolute necessity of further 

 meteorological research in the Antarctic 

 before we could form any satisfactory 

 scheme of the climate of the globe. 



Sir Archibald Geikie, Director-General 

 of the Geological Survey, said that hardly 

 anything was yet known of the geology of 

 the Antarctic regions. By far the most 

 important contributions to our knowledge 

 of the subject were made by the expedition 

 under Sir James Ross. But as he was un- 

 able to winter with his ships in the higher 

 latitudes, and could only here and there 

 with difiiculty effect a landing on the coast, 

 most of the geological information brought 

 home by him was gathered at a greater or 

 less distance from the land with the aid of 

 the telescope. We did not know whether 

 the land was a continent or a group of 

 islands. There were indications of Pale- 

 ozoic rocks, which emphasized the necessity 

 for further research. Among the specimens 

 brought home from Seymour Island in the 

 same district were a few containing some 

 half dozen species of fossil shells, which 

 were believed to point to the existence of 

 Lower Tertiary rocks, one of the organ- 

 isms resembling a form found in the 

 old Tertiary formations of Patagonia. 

 Large well-developed shells of Cucullse 



