452 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 223 



the German Geographentag on April 17. After a 

 long discussion, it was decided that the use of 

 different atlases in one class was detrimental to 

 the success of the teaching of geography, it pre- 

 venting a thorough explanation of the meaning 

 of the map, the material contained in the maps 

 being too different in different atlases. 



The reports of the Sonora earthquake are 

 still very incomplete. As far as can be seen from 

 the meagre notes published in, the daily papers, 

 the Sierra Madre, which forms the boundary be- 

 tween the states of Sonora and Chihuahua, was 

 the centre of activity. The towns and villages on 

 the Rio de Batepito on its western side, and those 

 on the Rio Corralitos on its eastern side, suffered 

 most severely. In the former valley, reports of 

 loss of property and life come from Oposura 

 (Moctozuma) on the Rio de Soyopa and Babiose. 

 There are, however, two places of that name, — 

 one on the Rio de Batepito, one in the Sierra 

 Madre. On the east side Corralitos and Cases 

 Grandes suffered severely. As the district lies mid- 

 way between the Sonora and Mexican railways, 

 news travels slowly, and the reports are much 

 retarded. The first shock occurred on May 3, and 

 was followed by other violent tremors, the latest 

 reported being on May 8. The accounts of vol- 

 canic eruptions are very doubtful, as it seems that 

 the steam from hot-springs and the smoke of forest- 

 fires have been mistaken for eruptions. There 

 are three lines of volcanoes in this district, — the 

 New Mexican line of extinct volcanoes ; the line 

 of California, which meets the former at the head 

 of the Gulf of California ; and the Mexican line, 

 which runs from Orizaba to the Revilla Gigedo 

 Islands. It contains* several active volcanoes. 

 There are no signs of disturbances of any of these 

 volcanoes during the earthquake, while one report 

 refers to an eruption near the boundary of Guate- 

 mala. The shocks were felt in southern Arizona, 

 New Mexico, and Texas, but not so strongly as in 

 Sonora. 



THE EXPLORATION OF THE ANTARCTIC 

 REGIONS. 

 During a period when explorations were most 

 vigorously carried on in all other parts of the 

 world, the antarctic region remained as unknown 

 as it had been for a long time. Since Cook, by 

 his voyages, had proved the non-existence of an ex- 

 tensive Terra Australis, which former geographers 

 supposed to occupy a great part of the southern 



hemisphere, nothing worth mentioning was done 

 until the beginning of the present century. After 

 peace had returned to Europe, which had been 

 shaken by revolutions and wars, polar explorations 

 were resumed : Parry, Ross, Lypn, Scoresby, and 

 Franklin enlarged our knowledge of the arctic re- 

 gions ; while Bellingshausen, Biscoe, Balleny, 

 Wilkes, Dumont D'Urville, and James Ross ex- 

 plored the antarctic seas. But this period of 

 lively activity in the southern hemisphere did not 

 extend over more than twenty-five years, from 

 1819 to 1843. After that time the enthusiasm for 

 arctic travel reached its highest pitch in the nu- 

 merous attempts to rescue Franklin or to ascertain 

 the fate of his unfortunate expedition ; but the 

 antarctic seas have never been visited again, and 

 our knowledge has not been increased since the 

 period mentioned. 



It was not until quite recently that new efforts 

 were made to revive the interest in antarctic ex- 

 ploration, Maury tried to organize an expedition, 

 but it was in vain : he was unable to find any 

 support, either in England or in America. The 

 revival of interest is chiefly due to the efforts of 

 G. Neumayer of Hamburg, whose frequent and 

 energetic appeals had the effect of arousing many 

 societies from their inactivity, and of awakening 

 a new interest in the problems of antarctic geog- 

 raphy. It was in 1861, when Neumayer was di- 

 rector of the observatory of Melbourne, that he 

 tried to work for renewed explorations in those 

 regions. Since that time he has continued to do 

 so with unabating perseverance, and his frequent 

 addresses and writings on the subject have princi- 

 pally created the present interest in antarctic ex- 

 ploration. In 1885 the German Geographentag 

 discussed the subject very fully, and expressed 

 itself in favor of renewed explorations in the 

 antarctic regions. In the same year Admiral E. 

 Ommanney brought the matter before the geo- 

 graphical section of the British association, and a 

 committee was appointed, which reported favor- 

 ably on the matter. This example was followed 

 by the Scottish geographical society and the Royal 

 society of Edinburgh. Later on, the Royal society 

 of Victoria discussed the subject, and issued a 

 report, in which they express the willingness of 

 the Australasian colonies to render assistance to 

 an imperial expedition if decided on, and the in- 

 tention of the committee, meantime, to arrange 

 for the despatch to the antarctic regions of a steam- 

 whaler, with a small staff of observers, for the 

 purpose of discovering some safe winter harbor 

 for the projected expedition. The latest news is 

 that Nordenskjold proposes an expedition which 

 is to last eighteen months. 



At this moment, when we may hope that the 



