May 27, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



823 



Farthest South. — Very brief reference will 

 be made to this extraordinary journey in 

 ■which. Shackleton and three companions in 

 127 days traveled 1,Y55 miles, an average of 

 13.8 miles daily, the party in its earlier travel 

 being aided by Manchurian ponies who were 

 killed and eaten. 



For nearly 400 miles the route lay nearly 

 due south, over the Great Barrier which is 

 practically qn the sea-level. Mountains then 

 barred a south course in about 83° S., when 

 they discovered Beardmore glacier valley 

 which enabled them to proceed with slight 

 deviations. This glacier proved to be a diffi- 

 cult, dangerous pathway, its crevasses nearly 

 costing their lives while pressure ridges and 

 moraines made progress slow up the steep 

 ascent — 6,000 feet in 100 miles. 



The glacial valley was between sandstone 

 and slate mountains, in which were found 

 fossils and coal to about 86° S., where the 

 mountains vanished and there was visible only 

 an immense, unbounded, ice-covered plateau. 

 The ice rose steadily and was still rising to 

 the south when through lack of food the party 

 turned back on January 9, 1909, from a point 

 in 88° 23' S., 162° E., at an elevation exceed- 

 ing 11,000 feet. For weeks the party never 

 had the temperature above zero Fahrenheit. 



This southern journey was made under such 

 conditions of intense cold, constant danger 

 and continued semi-starvation, as makes its 

 simple record a most thrilling story for ad- 

 venturous or sympathetic natures. While it 

 does not differ in its material aspects from 

 many polar journeys it had a spiritual side 

 that must appeal strongly to every true sci- 

 entist. 



Geological specimens were collected from 

 time to time on the outward march, the far- 

 thest within about 300 miles of the pole, and 

 all gathered up on their return. Chilled by 

 low temperatures, suffering from bruises and 

 strains through glacier travel, with depleted 

 strength, prostrated at times by dysentery, and 

 once traveling 31 hours without solid food, 

 the party not only dragged these specimens 

 some 500 miles homeward without abandoning 

 them but even refrain from mentioning this 

 load, drawn at the risk of their lives, save to 



say " at the ice-edge [near home] taking on 

 only . . . specimens." 



A similar heroic spirit of scientific devotion 

 was displayed by David Mawson and Mackay 

 in locating the magnetic pole. It was only 

 by desperate, repeated and prolonged efforts 

 that they reached the surface of the conti- 

 nental ice-cap of South Victoria Land, where 

 they pursued to success their magnetic work. 

 It was iiot alone that they experienced most 

 trying physical sufferings, but that they also 

 faced the extreme hazard of their lives, know- 

 ing that with the advancing season the sea 

 would open during their prolonged absence 

 and leave them without food. 



Such heroic examples in the field match 

 well the sacrificing spirit of scientific research 

 so often displayed within the environment of 

 modern civilization. 



Mount Erebus. — The ascent and survey of 

 this lofty active volcano were productive of 

 interesting data. Eising to the height of 

 13,350 feet, its four superimposed craters have 

 for centuries overlooked the great oceanic 

 ice cap, contrasting aspects of eternal fire and 

 enduring ice. 



When discovered by Ross in 1841 the crater 

 was discharging molten lava which flowed 

 down in streams. 



Professor T. W. E. David gives an interest- 

 ing account of the mountain. Of its three 

 inactive craters the oldest rises to 6,500 feet 

 with a diameter of six miles, while the second 

 is two miles across at an elevation of 11,350 

 feet. The outline of the third, at 12.200 feet, 

 was almost obliterated by the material of 

 the modern active cone and crater which rose 

 about 800 feet above the former. 



The active crater of Erebus, three times as 

 deep as that of Vesuvius, is about 900 feet 

 deep, and one half a mile in diameter. 



Molten lava still wells up into the crater. . . . 

 Fresh volcanic bombs on comparatively new snow 

 are evidence that Erebus has recently been pro- 

 jecting lava to great heights. 



A most striking feature was the long row of 

 steam jets about 300 feet below the inside rim 

 of the crater. 



The ice fumaroles (some 50 were seen) are 

 especially remarkable. These unique ice-mounda 



