140 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Feb. 10, li 



furious storm as far as 64 deg. of latitude, south of the 

 Straits of Magellan. Several captains of whaling ships 

 (Weddell in 1822-24, Biscoe in 1830-32, Balleny in 1839, 

 and others) had since then paid flying visits. But the 

 only real expeditions had been the following : — (i) Cook, 

 1772-75; (2) Bellinghausen, 1819-21; (3) D'Urville, 

 1837-40; (4) Wilkes, 1838-42; (s) Ross, 1839-43. 

 Ross, in his two ships, the Erebus and Terror, spent three 

 years chiefly in the Antarctic regions — his general object 

 being to reach the South Magnetic Pole. He attained 

 the highest southern latitude (785 degrees), penetrating 

 to within 700 miles of the Geographical Pole, and 2,000 

 miles due south from Olago, New Zealand, and dis- 

 covered a mass of high volcanic land, 8 degrees of 

 latitude, which he called Victoria Land — the most 

 southern known land in the world. Its average eleva- 

 tion was from 8,000 to 10,000 feet, culminating, as far as 

 was ascertained, in an active volcano — Mount Erebus, 

 which Ross estimated to reach 12,367 feet above the 

 sea level. His further passage south was barred by a 

 perpendicular ice-wall, from 200 to 250 feet high, which 

 he followed to the east, without finding an opening, for 

 altogether 450 miles. The American expedition, under 

 Wilkes, sailed for 1,500 miles along the coast, and found 

 a uniformly perpendicular wall of ice, wherever he was 

 able to approach it. The French expedition, under 

 D'Urville, were unable to pass the 65th parallel, and 

 everywhere met with an impassable pack where they 

 they had hoped to find open water. They, however, at 

 another spot discovered and " annexed " Adelie Land, 

 which was a matter of some consolation to them. 

 Mr. White next proceeded to notice in some detail the 

 leading physical and geographical conditions that were 

 known to exist in the Far South. Speaking of the animal life 

 of the region, as observed chiefly by Ross, he said that 

 on the ice and in the water were innumerable seals, 

 varying alike in size and colouring ; and there were also 

 sea lions and sea elephants. Whales had been seen by 

 all Antarctic voyagers, though their numbers had most 

 recently been greatly diminished by the activity of 

 whaling vessels. Penguins abounded, and petrels, the 

 sooty albatross, Cape pigeons. Skua gulls, and other 

 oceanic birds were also met with in large numbers. The 

 " bye history " of the floating ice islands and bergs — 

 shed from the parent ice cap that surrounded the Pole — 

 was also described. They might gather some idea of the 

 dangers Ross must have encountered when they remem- 

 bered that the Antarctic icebergs were sometimes found 

 to be four miles in diameter — veritable ice-islands — and 

 that they were constantly colliding and disintegrating. 

 In conclusion, he said that as these high southern lands, 

 unlike those in the Antipodal regions, could be ap- 

 proached from all sides at every season of the year, they 

 might reasonably have supposed that they would not 

 have been for so long unexplored had any commensurate 

 advantage to trade or shipping been anticipated. Their 

 considerable knowledge of the Arctic regions was due, 

 not to any special claims for their scientific exploration, 

 but chiefly to the fact that whilst there was a north-east 

 and a north-west passage to explore, or a short cut across 

 the Pole to the Indies to discover, commerce persistently 

 endeavoured to break through the barriers ot the frozen 

 north. In the Antarctic, on the other hand, commerce 

 had concerned itself only with the sealing and whaling 

 produce. To the natural sciences it offered an area of 

 almost virgin ground, and until it had been systematically 

 explored and some knowledge of it obtained by syn- 



chronous observations, none of these sciences could be 

 properly equipped for a thorough investigation into the 

 cosmogony of the globe. It might be a long time yet 

 before the nations recognised how much their progress 

 was regulated by, and dependent on, the progress of 

 science, but they were sure there would always be mea 

 who would impress on the public the paramount impor- 

 tance of investigating the Unknown Continent of the Far 

 South. 



LIVERPOOL SCIENCE STUDENTS' ASSOCIATION. 

 At the meeting on the 13th ult. Professor Hele Shaw 

 delivered a lecture upon the " Theory of Rolling Contact." 

 He commenced by stating that when two solid bodies 

 roll upon each other, points in the surface of one succes- 

 sively come in contact with corresponding points in the 

 surface of the other in a way which differs essentially 

 Irom that which occurs in sliding contact. It was this 

 fact which accounted for the use of wheels, and such was 

 the importance of the subject, about which not much was 

 generally understood, that he felt it was worthy of being 

 brought before the Association, and also certain new ex- 

 periments which he proposed to employ in order to 

 illustrate several points in the lecture. He proceeded to 

 trace by means of models the path of points in a rolling 

 body, both on a paper screen and on smoked glass shown 

 in the lantern. He thus made clear the reason why 

 when hard surfaces roll in contact there is little loss by 

 friction ; various points in connection with roller bear- 

 ings for dock gates, swing bridges, etc., and also ball 

 bearings for bicycles were fully illustrated by diagrams. 

 The use of rolling wheels for purposes of measurement 

 and the reason of the accurate results obtained were next 

 considered, and models of some simple measuring 

 machines minutely described. Finally, cases of bodies 

 in which appreciable distortion took place, such as hard 

 wheels on a soft road or of soft wheels on a hard road, 

 were dealt with, this portion of the lecture being fully 

 illustrated by diagrams and mechanical lantern slides ; 

 and the various cases of great wear occurring, such as on 

 iron rails which were destroyed in six months, whereas 

 steel rails lasted for ten years, which could not be ac- 

 counted for on the score of mere relative hardness, were 

 explained, and other practical applications of the theory 

 suggested. 



SOUTHAMPTON LITERARY AND PHILOSO- 

 PHICAL SOCIETY. 

 Mr. V. W. Shore, in a paper recently read before this 

 Society, said that in Hampshire, owing to the uniform 

 temperature of the water of chalk springs, and to the 

 fact that this temperature is much higher than that of 

 ordinary river water, watercresses can only be profitably 

 grown close to the chalk springs. The watercress har- 

 vest begins in February, as the growth of the plants is 

 then stimulated by the abundance of fairly warm water, 

 which the chalk then sends out in increased volume. 



THE FOREST HILL SCIENTIFIC AND MICRO- 

 SCOPICAL SOCIETY. 

 At a meeting held on the 19th ult., Mr. A. B. Harding 

 gave a lecture on " Ice Streams and Ice Caves." Speak- 

 ing of snow, he said it had considerable adhesion when 

 it was a few degrees below, and just above freezing ; 

 but when there v^fere several degrees of frost it lost its 

 adhesive powers. Each snowflake was naturally trans- 



