404 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. 874 



short sight and impairment of vision, and 

 their connection with defective living condi- 

 tions, the study of methods of measuring il- 

 lumination, etc. 



We take from the Geographical Magazine 

 some details in regard to the Antarctic expedi- 

 tion of Dr. Douglas Mawson, who left London 

 for Australia in June and is now completing 

 the arrangements for the final departure of 

 his expedition from Hohart before the close of 

 the year. As promised to Dr. Mawson before 

 he left England, a treasury grant of £2,000 

 towards the expenses of the expedition has 

 been provided for; the Australian Common- 

 wealth Government has made a grant of 

 £5,000. His ship, the Aurora, which was built 

 at Dundee in 1876, arrived in the Thames 

 from Newfoundland in June, and was placed 

 under the command of Captain J. K. Davis. 

 After undergoing extensive alterations, she 

 sailed from the West India Docks on July 27, 

 was " svrong " for the adjustment of her com- 

 passes under the direction of the Admiralty 

 officials at Sheerness, and then proceeded to 

 Cardiff to take on board supplies of coal, 

 finally leaving these shores on August 4, 

 hound for Cape Town and Hobart. She is a 

 roomy vessel of her class, a little smaller than 

 the Terra Nova, her dimensions being — length 

 over all, 165 feet; breadth, 30 feet; depth, 18 

 feet; gross register, 580 tons. She is fitted 

 with a compound engine of 98 nominal horse 

 power, and is capable of a speed of 9 knots an 

 hour. A new multitubular boiler was put 

 into her in 1905, and under steam she con- 

 sumes 11 tons of coal a day. For sailing pur- 

 poses in the Antarctic seas, her rig has been 

 altered from that of a schooner to that of a 

 barquentine. The accommodation aft has 

 been remodeled, so as to serve the require- 

 ments of the large scientific staif she will 

 carry from Hobart to the shores of the Ant- 

 arctic continent. Other alterations include 

 the erection on deck of a biological and a gen- 

 eral laboratory. Most of the staff will join in 

 Australia, the only members sailing from 

 England in the Aurora — besides the ship's 

 officers — being Dr. Mertz, a Swiss zoologist, 

 who is an experienced mountaineer, and who 



won the Swiss ski-jump championship in 

 1908 ; and Lieutenant Ninnis, Royal Fusiliers, 

 who will take part in the survey work. At the 

 request of the Prince of Monaco, who has pro- 

 vided the expedition with its oceanographical 

 equipment. Dr. Mertz went through a special 

 course of training at the Monaco Oceano- 

 graphical Laboratory and on board the Prin- 

 cesse Alice. A valuable equipment for mag- 

 netic work has been lent by the Carnegie In- 

 stitution of Washington. The Aurora carried, 

 when she left England, forty-eight Greenland 

 dogs, obtained through the kindness of the 

 Danish Government, and a large number of 

 Norwegian-built sledges, as well as the bulk 

 of the stores and food supplies for the three 

 parties which it is hoped to land between Cape 

 Adare and the Gaussberg. 



According to the London Times a depart- 

 mental committee consisting of Mr. Angus 

 Sutherland, C.B., chairman, Mr. J. E. Suther- 

 land, M.P., Mr. H. M. Conacher, Dr. T. 

 Wemyss Fulton and Mr. J. Moffatt, has been 

 appointed by the Secretary for Scotland to 

 inquire into and report upon the character 

 and national importance of the inshore and 

 deep-sea fisheries of Norway and other coun- 

 tries engaged in the North Sea fisheries, and 

 the efforts made for the development of the 

 fishing and fish-curing industry in all its 

 branches, including (1) the systems of fishery 

 administration, including the constitution 

 and function of the local committees formed 

 for this purpose in Norway and of any simi- 

 lar organizations in the other countries; (2) 

 the facilities provided for research and for 

 educating and training those engaged in 

 these industries, by the establishment of tech- 

 nical schools, museums, laboratories, classes 

 or other special facilities; (3) the nature of 

 the various means of capture employed and 

 the methods (including any use of state 

 credit) by which fishermen obtain the neces- 

 sary capital to maintain the efficiency of their 

 vessels and equipment; and to report in re- 

 gard to each of the foregoing matters whether 

 it would be advisable for similar action to be 

 taken, with or without modifications, in the 



