Mat 27, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



825 



in approximately 84° S., . . . fragments blown 

 on to the ice from . . . mountains further west. 



The most important geological inferences 

 put forward are: 



The Beacon sandstone formation, which extends 

 for at least 1,100 miles from north to south in 

 Antarctica, contains coniferous wood associated 

 ■with coal seams. [In 85° S. 7 coal seams aggre- 

 gating 25 feet in thickness were found in one 

 sandstone cliflf, associated with coniierous wood.] 

 It is probably of Paleozoic age. 



Limestones, pisolitic in places, in 85° 95' S., and 

 7,000 ft. above sea-level, contain obscure casts of 

 radiolaria, which appear to be of older Paleozoic 

 age. 



The succession of lavas at Erebus appears to 

 have been first trachytes, then kenytes, then 

 olivine basalts. Erebus is, however, still erupting 

 kenyte. 



Peat deposits, formed of fungus, are now form- 

 ing on the bottoms of some glacial lakes near 

 78° S. 



Raised beaches of recent origin extend at Ross 

 Island to a height of 160 ft. above sea-level. 



South Magnetic Pole. — Of great popular 

 interest, as well as of especial scientific impor- 

 tance, was the definite location of the south 

 magnetic pole, a most valuable work done by 

 Professors E. David, D. Mawson and Mr. A. 

 Mackay. It involved an outward journey of 

 unusual difficulties, which occupied three 

 months and eleven days. Two months of 

 arduous labor, constant suffering and repeated 

 failures were experienced before the party 

 succeeded in attaining the surface of the con- 

 tinental ice-cap of South Victoria Land, 

 whereon the pole is situated, 260 miles inland. 

 They were quite at the limit of their provision 

 supply, as well as of their physical strength, 

 when they reached on the ice-cap the pole, 

 on January 16, 1909, in 72° 25' S., 155° 16' E., 

 at an elevation exceeding 7,000 feet. Their 

 necessarily prolonged journey nearly involved 

 the lives of the party as the open sea cut them 

 off on their return, but they were picked up 

 fortunately by the Nimrod. 



Professor Douglas Mawson, who made the 

 observations, says : 



In the interval between 1841, when [the south 

 magnetic pole was approximately located from his 



ship by Sir James Clark Ross] . . . and 1902, 

 when the Discovery expedition again located the 

 magnetic pole, it had moved about 200 geograph- 

 ical miles to the eastward. 



Observations of magnetic declination and dip 

 taken at intervals . . . indicate that the mag- 

 netic pole has [since 1902] moved in a northerly 

 and westerly direction. 



The determination of the emaot center of the 

 magnetic polar area could not be made on the 

 spot, as it would involve a large number of read- 

 ings taken at positions surrounding the pole. 

 Such observations [were impossible] under condi- 

 tions of such low temperatures [about zero] and 

 prevalent high winds. 



Aurora Australis. — ^Auroras were fre- 

 quently observed, but rarely in the direction 

 of the magnetic pole. Mawson says: 



When at their greatest brilliancy the displays 

 were powerful enough to throw shadows [confirm- 

 ing similar observation by the Lady Franklin Bay 

 expedition in Grunell Land], but were yet insuffi- 

 ciently strong to allow of their being photo- 

 graphed. We obtained impressions, of little value, 

 on photographic plates after about ten minutes' 

 exposure. 



Tidal Observations. — By ingenious devices 

 the tide was automatically registered, on a 

 barograph drum, for about three months. The 

 usual tidal movements were marked by oscilla- 

 tions, chiefly during blizzards, considered to be 

 in the nature of seiche waves. 



The tide record was a simple undulating curve 

 with one maximum per day, attaining the greatest 

 amplitude at full and new moon, and diminishing 

 almost to nothing at the quarters. 



When the record was analyzed it was resolved 

 into two undulations, the larger one having the 

 period equal to the lunar day, the smaller one 

 having a period of half a day. 



The tidal range is not given in the narra- 

 tive, but from the reproduced record, without 

 scale, it would appear to range from about 

 8 inches in the neaps to about 35 inches in 

 the springs. 



Meteorology. — Tabulated meteorological 

 data are wanting as is frequently the case in 

 popular accounts of polar expeditions. It is, 

 however, evident that the bi-hourly meteorolog- 

 ical observations of Shackleton's party, con- 



