666 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 202. 



ANTARCTIC METEOROLOGY. 



The recent revival of interest in Antarc- 

 tic exploration is a welcome sign to me- 

 teorologists, for Antarctic meteorology is in a 

 sad state of incoherence and uncertaintJ^ 

 Our knowledge of the meteorological con- 

 ditions of the Arctic is now in a fairly sat- 

 isfactory state as compared with what we 

 know of the sister zone around the South 

 Pole. The October number of the Scottish 

 Geographical Magazine is a ' Special Antarctic 

 Number.' It contains i-eprints of Sir John 

 Murray's address before the Royal Society, 

 on ' The Scientific Advantages of an Ant- 

 arctic Expedition,' with the remarks of 

 Buchan, Neumayer and others made in 

 connection with that address. Further, 

 ' A History of Antarctic Discovery,' by the 

 acting editor, and a most valuable Antarc- 

 tic Bibliography, containing titles of publi- 

 cations bearing dates from 1761 to 1898, 

 compiled by Bartholomew. A chart of the 

 South Polar Region, after Sir John Mur- 

 ray's scheme for Antarctic exploration, 

 presents, in small marginal charts, the 

 mean temperature and the isobars and 

 winds of the region in February. On the 

 latter chart a considerable number of wind 

 arrows (in red) are added to the observed 

 wind directions (in black), in order to 

 emphasize the hypothetical wind circula- 

 tion around the South Pole. This hypo- 

 thetical circulation is strongly anticyclonic 

 in character. It remains to be seen, as the 

 result of observation, how accurate this pre- 

 diction is. 



THE ASCENT OF ACONCAGUA. 



The physiological effects of the diminished 

 pressure at high altitudes, noted during 

 the ascent of Aconcagua in 1896, are vividly 

 described by Fitzgerald in McClure's Maga- 

 zine for October. During the night spent at 

 16,000 feet one of the porters suifered terri- 

 bly from nausea and faintness. At 18,700 

 feet Fitzgerald himself was completely used 



up. " It was very difficult to sleep more 

 than a quarter of an hour or twenty min- 

 utes at a time without being awakened by 

 a fit of choking." At 21,000 feet one of the 

 porters was very ill, his face turning a 

 greenish, livid hue. All the members of 

 the party suffered from severe headache 

 and mental depression, the usual symptoms 

 of soroche. At 22,000 feet Fitzgerald was 

 completely disabled, and was obliged to lie 

 on his back, gasping for breath. He was 

 so weak that he could not hold himself for 

 more than a few paces at a time, and con- 

 tinually fell forward, cutting himself on the 

 stones that covered the mountain side. 

 The summit was reached by Zurbriggen, 

 the Swiss guide, Fitzgerald himself being 

 unable to continue the ascent owing to 

 mountain sickness. 



R. DeC. Ward. 

 Harvard University. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 INDIAN GEOGRAPHIC NAMES. 



Scattered over the map of the United 

 States are many thousand local names de- 

 rived from the various aboriginal dialects 

 which were once spoken in the vicinities. 

 In sound they are often harmonious and in 

 meaning picturesque. It is a commendable 

 curiosity which searches for this meaning, 

 and also it is of ethnologic value, for some- 

 times these names are the chief or only 

 evidence that the area where they occur 

 was inhabited by some particular tribe or 

 stock. A complete gazetteer of such would 

 be most desirable, but the completion of 

 such a task is a long way off. 



One of the most diligent and capable stu- 

 dents in the Algonquian geographic nomen- 

 clature is Mr. William Wallace Tooker. 

 His latest publication on the subject is in 

 the January number of the Publications of 

 the Rhode Island Historical Society (Vol. 

 v., No. 4). Its title is ' Indian Geographic 

 Names, and why we should study them ; 



