May 22, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



833 



ity. — In accordance with the provisions of the 

 plan of work for 1893, the measurements of 

 gravity with the Italian pendulum, which on 

 previous occasions had exhibited uncommon 

 variations of length while swinging mider di- 

 minished atmosphere pressiire, were repeated, 

 and it was found that the results for 1902 

 verified the results from the experiments of 

 1901. 



The results from all these gravity experi- 

 ments, which will be extended farther, if 

 deemed necessary, in one or the other partic- 

 ular, will be published next year (1903). 



Relative Gravity Determinations. — A com- 

 prehensive report on the relative determina- 

 tions of gravity upon the Atlantic Ocean be- 

 tween Spain and South America has been pub- 

 lished. The results found proved to be trust- 

 worthy, as also the newly determined relative 

 results at the stations of Potsdam, Rio de 

 Janeiro, Lisbon and Madrid, by means of the 

 half-second pendulum. A new connection be- 

 tween the gravity stations at St. Petersburg 

 and Potsdam is also contemplated. More- 

 over, Breteuil and other base-stations will also 

 be connected by means of Stackraths' pendu- 

 lum apparatus. 



The commission also proposes to connect 

 the Potsdam gravity station with their own 

 penduhim apparatus and to determine the co- 

 efficients for air pressure and temperature. 

 For the new Stackrath apparatus these co- 

 efficients were ascertained by adequate experi- 

 ments at Rio de Janeiro. The constants of 

 the four pendulums of Schumann (Stras- 

 burg), which have recently been materially re- 

 modeled, in order to improve them and render 

 them less sensitive to variations of external 

 conditions, will be determined. 



Finally, it is proposed also to swing the 

 pendulum at a series of stations in the high 

 mountains of Central A.sia, and to that end 

 the trigonometric survey of India is be- 

 stowing particular care upon the determina- 

 tions of the constants of temperature and air 

 pressure for their own apparatus. 



William Eimbeck. 



THE BRITISH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



The London Times publishes the following 

 summary of the results of the National Ant- 

 arctic Expedition contributed by a member 

 of the scientific staff : 



1. The discovery of extensive land at the 

 east extremity of the great ice barrier. 



2. The discovery that McMurdo Bay (?) 

 is not a ' bay,' but a strait, and that Mounts 

 Erebus and Terror form part of a compara- 

 tively small island. 



3. The discovery of good winter quarters 

 in a high latitude— viz., 77° 50' S., 166° 42' 

 E. — with land close by suitable for the erec- 

 tion of the magnetic observations, etc. The 

 lowest temperature experienced was 92° of 

 frost Fahrenheit. 



4. An immense amount of scientific work 

 over 12 months in winter quarters, principally 

 physical and biological. 



5. Numerous and extensive sledge journeys 

 in the spring and summer covering a good 

 many thousand miles, of which the principal 

 is Captain Scott's journey, upon which a 

 latitude of 82° 17' south was attained, and 

 an immense tract of new land discovered and 

 chartered as far as 83° 30' south, with peaks 

 and ranges of mountains as high as 14,000 

 feet. 



6. The great continental inland ice reached 

 westwards at a considerable distance from the 

 coast and at an altitude of 9,000 feet. 



7. A considerable amount of magnetic work 

 at sea, also soundings, deep sea dredging, etc. 



Captain Scott writes as follows : 

 We do not seem to have done much in any 

 one particular direction, but I hope the sum 

 total of our labors will not be displeasing to 

 the societies. I must make a general apology 

 for the sketchy nature of this note, which 

 owing to the circumstances, has to be written 

 in haste. When you receive it the matter 

 will be decided, but as I write I am in con- 

 siderable anxiety as to our prospects of getting 

 out this season. It will be poor luck if we do 

 not. We found one year's ice here last sea- 

 son ; it broke away, and the spot remained 

 open to the sea for at least six weeks; but we 

 are now past the date at which it opened last 

 season, and for this last fortnight little ice 



