1885.1 
South Georgia . r 327 
Moon ; they cannot appreciate the force of an impossible, 
but cling to a theory, and a preconceived opinion, in spite 
of it. The manner in which geometrical fadds are ignored 
by many men in the present day, and mere visionary theories 
are put forward as realites, teaches us that we are in great 
danger of committing the errors of the ancients, who 
claimed to know the influence produced on the seasons, and 
on men’s destinies, by the various planets, but were totally 
ignorant of the form of the Earth or that it rotated on its 
axis. Theories based on fadts are probabilities, but when 
theories are first started, and then fadts are arranged and 
selected to confirm these theories, there is a great danger of 
delusions being established by “ authority,” and of error 
being taught as truth. 
III. SOUTH GEORGIA. 
By the Count O. Reichenbach. 
t HE observations there made by the German Expedition 
have surprised scientists. The island lies — 64 miles 
long by 30 at the widest — in 36° 5' W. long., between 
57° 31' and 55° 10' S. lat. The Expedition remained 352 days, 
from September 15th, 18.83, to September 3rd, 1884. Its 
station at Royal Bay was surrounded by mountains, with 
huge glaciers, goo to 1200 feet high, rising farther inland to 
6000 and 7000. No month was free from frost; 30 per cent 
of the hours of observation showed a temperature below 
freezing-point. The mean temperature for the 353 days, 
which would have been slightly increased by the 12 wanting 
to the year, was i'666° C. ; for February, the warmest 
month, 5’35° C. ; for June, the coldest, — 3*22° C. The 
maximum reached in February was 14 0 ; the minimum in 
July -3’22°. 
In 1S80 I wrote (“ On some Properties of the Earth ”) — 
“ At the isotherms of i’666° C., of which that at the South 
is quite maritime and almost without curving, the equili- 
brium of temperature between South and North is re- 
established ; the isotherms coincide, each in its mean, in 
