360 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1053 



It is to Germany, however, that the most 

 credit belongs for the development and the 

 work in this field. The number of very excel- 

 lent texts and treatises in the history of sci- 

 ence in Germany is far beyond the production 

 in any other country. German scholarship 

 is here again manifested in both quantity and 

 quality, and Der Deutschen Gesellschaft fiir 

 Geschiehte der Medizin und Naturwissen- 

 schaften, organized in 1902, Leipzig, is prob- 

 ably the only organization devoted to the study 

 and fostering of the history of science. The 

 Mitteilungen contain a most complete and 

 valuable bibliographical record of articles, 

 memoirs and books in print, also containing 

 originals and translations of historical trea- 

 tises in science. 



Two other publications worthy of notice at 

 this time are the Archiv fiir die Geschiehte der 

 Naturwissemschafien tmd der Technic, Leipzig; 

 and Isis, Revue ConsacrSe a I'Histoire de la 

 Science, published in Belgium (or was pub- 

 lished). 



In closing, it would seem that in order to 

 lend encouragement and force to aid this new 

 field of investigation great good ought to come 

 from an organization of a section in the 

 American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, known as the History of Science 

 section. 



Frederick E. Brasch 



Stanford Univebsity, 

 January 16, 1915 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



The Home of the Blizzard, heing the Story of 

 the Australian Antarctic Expedition, 1911- 

 19H. Sir Douglas Mawson, D.Sc, B.E. 

 J. B. Lippincott Co. Illustrated, also with 

 maps. $9.00 net. 



It was thought by many that the acme of 

 antarctic interest had culminated in the 

 record-breaking sled journeys of Shackleton, 

 the attainment of the Pole by Amundsen, and 

 especially in the pathetic tragedy of Scott's 

 latest expedition. It is encouraging to find 

 in the records of Mawson's non-pole hunting 

 explorations novel lines of human endurance, 

 of tragic disaster, and of historical reversion. 



combined with scientific researches of value 

 to the world. These physical and moral re- 

 sults exacted from the explorers not only the 

 fullest effort of body and mind, but they also 

 obliged the chief, returning as by miracle from 

 death, to face a deficit of nearly $40,000 to 

 pay for his privilege of polar service. 



Mawson's expedition, which had the finan- 

 cial support of the Australasian governments, 

 looked to the exploration of antarctic lands in 

 the Australian quadrant — from 90° E. to 

 180° E. — and their occupancy for scientific 

 observation and research. An intermediate 

 station, wireless equipped and weather ob- 

 serving, was established on Macquarie Island, 

 850 miles south-southeast of Hobart. Cir- 

 cumstances restricted the parties for the con- 

 tinent of Antarctica to two — the main base at 

 Commonwealth Bay, 67° S., 143° E. occupied 

 by Mawson and lY men, and the west base on 

 the Shackleton Oceanic Icecap, 66.Y° S., 97° 

 E., established by Dr. Frank Wild and 7 men, 

 in January, 1912. 



Scientific work was carried out along the 

 principal lines of geographic exploration, 

 geology, biology, meteorology, glaciology, 

 oceanography and magnetism. 



Geographic Exploration. — From Mawson's 

 base journeys aggregating 2,400 miles were 

 made, in which King George V. Land was 

 discovered and explored between 138° and 

 152° E., and from 67° to 70° 30' S. In one 

 journey a neve bridge broke and Lt. Ninnis 

 with team and sledge were fatally precipitated 

 into a crevasse hundreds of feet deep, where 

 they disappeared from sight. Mawson and 

 Dr. Mertz were thus stranded over 300 miles 

 from the station, with 6 wretched dogs and 

 food for a week. Manfully accepting the situ- 

 ation, they struggled amid blizzards over 

 frightfully rough ice, killing and eating their 

 dogs as they failed to work. Mertz died of 

 exhaustion 100 miles from home, towards 

 which Mawson struggled in the last stages of 

 bodily weakness, escaping as by miracle 

 through an indomitable will, physical endur- 

 ance and the finding of a chance cache set up 

 by a search party. From the western base 

 Wild's party discovered and explored Queen 



