December 29, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



921 



ment and arrangements for scientific work 

 were equally satisfactory, but the canned 

 provisions either from character or from 

 quality were unsuited to prevent scurvy. 

 Nine of the twenty-nine members of the per- 

 sonnel were polar veterans, whose services 

 were entirely satisfactory — producing a max- 

 imum of possible results. 



Leaving Havre, August 15, 1908, the Why 

 Not? sailed via Eio and Buenos Aires — in 

 which cities great interest was shown and ma- 

 terial aid given — to Punta Arenas, whence 

 she departed on December 16. At Port De- 

 ception, South Shetlands, was found a steam- 

 fleet- — engaged in the renewed whaling enter- 

 prizes — from which Charcot obtained his last 

 coal. 



Favored by fine weather the Why Not? 

 skirted the west coasts of Palmer and 

 Graham Lands, making many discoveries and 

 reaching Alexander Land. Obliged to re- 

 turn for winter quarters to Peterman Island, 

 the ship grounded en route and barely escaped 

 destruction. 



After eight months in winter-quarters 

 Charcot was able to break out, and obtaining 

 coal at South Shetlands — to renew his ex- 

 plorations to the south in the summer of 

 1909-1910, when his success was phenomenal. 



In the two summer voyages he extended 

 this part of the continent of Antarctica from 

 the Antarctic circle to 70° S., surveying 

 Loubet coast, discovering and mapping Fal- 

 lieres Land, extending Adelaide Island from 

 an islet to a land seventy miles long, opening 

 Marguerite Bay, surveying Alexander I. 

 Land, and finally discovering Charcot Land 

 in 11° W., 70° S., a mountainous, almost ice- 

 covered region — doubtless a part of the con- 

 tinent. 



Keeping to the west the Why Not? trav- 

 ersed unknown areas, along the parallel of 

 70° S., from 103° W. to 124° W. (except on 

 the 107th meridian where Cook passed) ; in 

 latitudes from two to three hundred miles to 

 the south of Charcot's predecessors — he 

 sounding as he sailed. 



The second voyage was made under condi- 

 tions of great peril, for a survey of the Why 



Not? by a diver at South Shetlands disclosed 

 that " The whole stem below water-line was 

 torn away, as well as several meters of the 

 keel: the slightest shock might send the ship 

 to the bottom." The diver remonstrated, yet 

 Charcot sailed. 



This being a popular volume, it does not 

 give the results of the immense amount of 

 scientific work done, including observations 

 on gravity, seismology, meteorology, geology, 

 tides, magnetism, zoology and oceanography. 

 Many attractive sidelights are, however, 

 thrown on these subjects by the notes made 

 from day to day. A spirit of French gaiety 

 and good humor pervades the book, and these 

 qualities were evidently characteristic of the 

 party as a whole. 



The generous spirit shown by Dr. Charcot 

 in giving due credit to his predecessors adds 

 much to the enjoyment of his narrative. 

 Such action is in striking contrast to the un- 

 fortunate tendency of some explorers of 

 smaller mind to mar the value of their own 

 exploits through neglect or by disparagement 

 of the work of others, whether associates or 

 rivals. Especially grateful to Americans are 

 the credits given and justice done to Palmer 

 and Pendleton. 



The volume is most creditable to the pub- 

 lishers, and the translation good. The illus- 

 trations are excellent, but the south-polar 

 chart should have been on a larger scale, with 

 side maps, and its test should have been in 

 English. The volume will interest all readers 

 fond of travel and exploration. 



A. W. Greely 



Stereoscopisches Sehen und Messen. By von 

 Carl Pdllfrich. Jena: Gustav Fischer. 

 1911. Pp. 40. 



This useful pamphlet, so far as the text is 

 concerned, is available in English as the 

 article on the " Stereoscope " in the eleventh 

 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The 

 pamphlet contains some supplementary state- 

 ments; but its notable addition is a bibliog- 

 raphy of 276 numbers covering the period 

 1900-1911. This in turn supplements the 

 bibliography available in M. von Rohr : " Die 



