SCIENCE 



FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, if 



The endeavors of the Australian colonies to raise money for 

 resuming explorations in the Antarctic regions have so far been un- 

 successful. The funds for rewards for whalers extending their 

 cruises beyond the sixtieth degree of latitude have not been appro- 

 priated, and, since Allen Young's offer to take command of an ex- 

 pedition of this kind, nothing has been done. Sir Graham Berry has, 

 in accordance with instructions from the government of Victoria, 

 asked the British Government if they would contribute the sum of 

 ;/;5,ooo towards an Antarctic expedition, provided the Australian 

 colonies agreed to contribute a similar sum, and the subject is now 

 under consideration by the British Government. The financial 

 state of the Australian colonies is not very satisfactory at the 

 present time, and therefore it is not likely that an energetic attempt 

 will be made. The movement for resuming these explorations origi- 

 nated in Germany ; but so far nothing has been done there to raise 

 money and to send out an expedition, as the activity of explorers is 

 almost exclusively directed towards Africa and the islands of the 

 Pacific Ocean. Our American whalers are those who have the 

 most immediate interest in the matter, as they frequent the neigh- 

 boring seas and derive considerable quantities of whale-oil from 

 that region. A few years ago one of them landed on m Graha 

 Land, and found near its shores an abundance of sea-animals ; but 

 as he had no authority to visit those dangerous latitudes, and as the 

 ice was closing upon his ship, he did not continue his explorations. 

 We do not think that the endeavors of the Australian colonies will 

 be successful for some time to come, and it would be gratifying if 

 meanwhile American enterprise would take up this important 

 problem, in which no nation is more interested than we are, as our 

 vessels are those which visit the Antarctic waters most frequently, 

 and as a successful approach is most probable close to the south 

 point of our continent. Arctic navigation shows that progress is 

 always most promising under the shelter of land. Graham Land 

 can be reached comparatively easy ; and under its shelter, that is, 

 on its eastern coast, important discoveries without great risk, and 

 at no great expense, can be made. This would be a task for one 

 of our whaling-masters who, in their swift schooners, navigate year 

 after year the ice-covered waters of the Arctic Ocean. 



In a recent series of articles, the London Chemical News has 

 sought to show the importance of scientific research to nations, and 

 in the closing article of the series encounters what is the main 

 question with Englishmen, whether the present position of science 

 in the United Kingdom is satisfactory, and, if not, why not. 

 Answering its own queries. The Chemical News says, " To the 

 former of these queries scarcely any one has the boldness to reply 

 in the affirmative. Were all well with us in this respect, why that 

 feeling of dissatisfied excitement rarely felt on any subject which 

 does not fall within the programme of faction ? Why do we send 

 out commissions to scrutinize the state of scientific and technical 

 education in continental countries } Why do we institute new 

 colleges and training-schools of different grades, and why propose, 

 as it has been lately done, new parliamentary action in this direc- 

 tion ? Why do we hear complaints made, not merely at the 

 gatherings of purely scientific bodies, but among men of business, 

 that in this important respect, and in comparison with rival nations, 

 we are not holding our own, not to speak of gaining ground } That 

 along with this feeling of discontent and this craving for improve- 

 ment there is an undercurrent of indifference, or even of hostility to 



science, is but too true. Why, else, should Sir Henry Roscoe, in 

 his late presidential address before the British Association, remark 

 that science was less respected in Britam than in other civilized 

 countries ? Or how could a well-informed German contemporary 

 take occasion to say that Britain had, whichever party happened to 

 be in power, ' a government very unfavorably disposed to science 

 and to her disciples' {Eine der Wissenschaft tmd ihren Jiingern 

 sehr abhold gesinnte Regierung) ? In fact, notwithstanding all 

 that has been done of late years, all the efforts made, and all the 

 money expended, many of the complaints urged in Babbage's 

 ' Decline of Science ' still hold good. It can no longer, indeed, be 

 said that there is in all the universities of Britain not a single per- 

 son engaged in any train of original research. We recognize with 

 pleasure that experimental science has obtained a footing in our 

 ancient seats of learning, and that fairly efficient laboratories — 

 chemical, physiological, and biological — have been or are being 

 organized. Whether these institutions, when compared with those 

 met with abroad, e.g., at the University of Strasburg, are fairly 

 commensurate with the importance of their task and with the 

 wealth of the country, is another question. But we have still to 

 complain of the paucity of research issuing from the British uni- 

 versities. We have tilled and manured the soil, and scattered the 

 good seed ; but the harvest, so far, is of the scantiest." 



THE 'UMBRIA'S' WAVE. 



Mr. Henry Toynbee, marine superintendent of the English 

 Meteorological Office, has published in Nature of Sept. 29 a report 

 by William Watson of the ' Umbria's ' wave. Captain Watson, who 

 is general superintendent of the Cunard line of steamers, states that 

 no doubt there were some big waves knocking about the Atlantic 

 on the morning of July 26, but nothing more than could, under the 

 conditions of weather, be expected. There is no evidence of other 

 steamers meeting an exceptionally big wave. 



Abstract of Log, SS. ' Umbria.' 



" 4.40 A.M., sea came on board over the bows, breaking No. 3 

 companion-hatch, twisting the forward bridge, breaking some iron 

 stanchions on the bridge, breaking the short bridge between the for- 

 ward end of the promenade deck and the break of the forecastle, 

 and bending the brass rails on the port side of the main upper 

 bridge, leaving the lower bridge intact. 8 A.M., fresh gale, force 9, 

 with a heavy, confused sea. Noon, gale moderating and the sea 

 going down, but still confused." 



At midnight on the 25th the wind was freshening from west by 

 north, and the weather becoming squally. A long, heavy sea was 

 coming from west-south-west, but the ship was only taking an occa- 

 sional spray over all. At 2 a.m., 26th, the wind was west-north- 

 west, a gale, with heavy and frequent squalls, sea rising fast from 

 north-west. At 4, the wind had veered to north-west, with heavy 

 and frequent squalls. At this time the west-south-west sea was 

 still very heavy, with a high north-west sea running across and over 



