result of the war, passed from France to Germany. Germany had to consider how Strasburg, with its small and feeble teaching faculties, could be converted into a real university of teaching and research. In population Strasburg is insignificant as compared with London, and yet Germany, in reorganising that university, has spent 711,000l. in reconstruction of buildings and equipment of laboratories, and annually votes 50,6071. for its maintenance. Luckily in London we have two excellent colleges-King's College and University College— already doing admirable work both in teaching and research, but both of them crippled from want of resources. I have no fear that in course of time London will provide bountifully for its future teaching university and existing colleges. At present London does not aid the latter so much as the small canton of Zürich, with 237,000 people, does for its university and technological college. A great university for London will ultimately require large resources, but these, I feel sure, will be provided in time by the generosity of the citizens of our metropolis. At present the London professors, when they attain distinction, rarely remain long in the metropolis, because the provincial universities, more liberally endowed, are enabled to tempt them to join their academic staff. Even our Royal Society is now staffed from the provinces. Lord Kelvin, its President, hails from Glasgow University, and its senior secretary from Cambridge. I do not think that one of the five officers of the Royal Society has a permanent residence in London. This great city ought to be the centre of intellectual life to the nation, but it is not. It possesses magnificent museums, galleries, and collections-in fact, all the material to take a large part in developing the intellect of the nation. With this unsurpassed material, its higher education is less organised than that of any capital of Europe. It is the old story that there may be a wealth of materials necessary to construct a great edifice, which is not even begun because there are disputes as to the plan of erection. The ground is encumbered with stone, brick, iron, mortar, wood, and glass, but they lie mouldering on the ground because the owners of the competing materials cannot compose their quarrels. All of the materials combined would make a better building than each separately, but hitherto it has been impossible to obtain a union of interests. At last this has been practically achieved by the last Royal Commission. The dissolution prevented the late Government from passing their Bill. It will be incumbent on the new Parliament and the new Government to use the favourable opportunity, especially as the latter cannot forget that the Royal Commission was the creation of a Conservative Government. London must have a teaching university worthy of the great metropolis of a great nation.

PLAYFAIR.

Council of Lille has just completed laboratories for practical instruction in physics, chemistry, and natural history at a cost exceeding 140,0007.

THE NEED FOR

AN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION

THE Antarctic regions present a vast field for scientific research, and some of the objects of an expedition, on an adequate scale, are of such great practical utility that the question of despatching it has become one of urgency. Meanwhile the mention of 'black whales' by Sir James Ross, in the narrative of his voyage published in 1847, has induced adventurers, both in Scotland and Norway, to send vessels in search of that valuable Balana Mysticetus which has been almost exterminated in the north. For its whalebone is worth something like 1,500l. a ton, without counting the oil. Sir James Ross never said that he saw the 'right whale,' or Balana Mysticetus, nor is it in the least degree likely that the same species exists in both polar regions, with the tropics intervening. But his use of the term black whale,' a term applied to the 'right whale,' raised the hopes of adventurers, and in recent years whaling vessels have been despatched to the south both from Dundee and from Norway, of course without the desired commercial profits, but with interesting geographical results. The animal technically called the 'blue whale' is common enough, and no doubt it is to this formidable denizen of the Antarctic seas that Sir James applied the term 'black,' which has proved so misleading to recent adventurers. The 'blue whale' yields about ten tons of oil, and half a ton of inferior whalebone, worth perhaps 2001. A large 'right whale,' with a ton of whalebone and twenty tons of oil, would be worth from 1,500l. to 2,000l. The difference is considerable.

In 1893 the venerable whaling adventurer Commander Svend Foyn, of Tonsberg in Norway, resolved to despatch a vessel from Australia in the direction of the Victoria Land of Sir James Ross, to ascertain whether an Antarctic right whale' exists or not, and to set the question at rest. The ship, named the Antarctic, sailed from Melbourne on the 28th of September, 1894, under the command of Captain Kristensen. The manager, Mr. H. Bull, was on board, and a young Norwegian surveyor and teacher of natural science in Australia, Mr. C. Egeberg Borchgrevink, joined the expedition as a volunteer. We have an able report, with illustrative charts, by the captain; an account of the voyage, from a commercial

point of view, from Mr. Bull, who also took several photographs; and two very interesting papers by Mr. Borchgrevink, who did excellent service on board by assisting to draw the track chart, by making sketches, taking the meteorological observations, and collecting specimens.

There is no doubt that the region round the South Pole is occupied by a continent of great size, generating enormous icebergs in vast numbers. In 1841 Sir James Ross passed through the intervening pack ice, and reached open water beyond, which enabled him to discover a portion of the continent, consisting of a very lofty range of mountains, with one active volcano rising to 12,400 feet above the level of the sea. He named it Victoria Land, and penetrated beyond the seventy-eighth parallel. This memorable achievement was done in two bluff-bowed sailing vessels. Steamers have since added 100 per cent. to the power of exploring the southern polar seas. The pack ice drifts northwards in vast quantities, together with innumerable icebergs, during the summer, leaving an open sea in the space whence they have drifted. It will be understood, therefore, that Antarctic exploration means the passage through the pack ice. Up to the present year this had been done by Sir James Ross alone. Other expeditions had seen the pack, but no other had ever passed through it. Captain Cook reached its edge in 71° 10′ S., and in 1823 Captain Weddell had the extraordinary good fortune to attain a latitude of 74° 15' S. without meeting it. But Cook, Weddell, and Ross were the only navigators who had ever crossed the seventieth parallel; the latest voyage, that of Ross in 1843, having taken place more than half a century ago.

These facts gauge the significance of the recent voyage of the Antarctic. She crossed the seventieth parallel and penetrated through the south polar pack. It was on the 5th of January, 1841, that Ross found the line of main pack right ahead of him, and went straight for it, breaking through the outer edge without serious injury. His splendid audacity was rewarded. In six days he forced his way into the open water to the southward, and discovered Victoria Land on the 11th of January. In the following year he met with greater difficulties. The pack was nearly 800 miles across, and he encountered gales of wind which called for consummate seamanship to save his vessels from destruction. But he was not to be beaten, and he forced his way through the pack again in his clumsy old sailing ships.

The Antarctic entered the main polar pack on the same day as Sir James Ross, the 5th of January of the present year. She had the great advantage of steam power, and she was favoured with light winds and clear weather until the 8th, when an easterly gale was experienced. Ross entered the pack in 66° 55' S. and 174° 34' E. Captain Kristensen gives his position at 67° 23' S., or 28 miles south

of Ross, and 176° 27' E., or about 40 miles to the eastward of him. On the 13th the Antarctic was clear of the pack to the southward, the first vessel that ever entered that far southern sea for half a century. She was in 69° 50', so that the pack was here about 250 miles in thickness. Victoria Land was sighted on the 16th, at the point named by Ross after his friend Lord Adare, the late Lord Dunraven. He described it as a remarkable projection of high volcanic cliffs, forming a strong contrast to the rest of the snowcovered coast. Passing southwards the Antarctic reached Possession Islands, where Ross had landed on the 18th of January. The captain had a boat lowered and went on shore without difficulty, on the northern side of one of the larger islands, which he named after his employer, Svend Foyn. Here specimens of the rocks and of the lowly cryptogamic vegetation were collected. Next day the Antarctic advanced to the south under easy steam, and on the 21st she was off the Coulman Island of Ross. Captain Kristensen had to consider the interests of his employer and the objects of the voyage, and he thought it his duty to turn homewards. He had reached a latitude of 74° 10' S., within five miles of that attained by Weddell in 1823, but on a very different meridian.

Captain Kristensen, in passing Cape Adare, resolved to effect a landing on the continent. This had never been done. Sir James Ross only landed on one of the Possession Islands, and on Franklin Island, in 76° 8' S. He was very desirous of landing on the coast near Cape Adare, but a dense body of ice prevented him, extending eight or nine miles from the shore. This was on the 21st of February, 1841. Captain Kristensen was more fortunate. Taking Mr. Bull and Mr. Borchgrevink with him, he had a boat lowered and steered towards the land. After an hour's hard pulling a small cape was reached, and the landing proved easy. Sitting foremost in the boat, the captain jumped on shore as she touched, saying, 'I have the honour of being the first man who ever put foot on South Victoria Land.' It was a very low point, inhabited by millions of penguins, forming a breakwater for the deep bay, to the west of Cape Adare, named Robertson Bay by Sir James Ross. The spit, consisting of rounded stones, is five cables long, with a width at the base of three cables. It was named the Antarctic Breakwater.' Here, as at Svend Foyn Island, specimens of stones, lichens, and seaweed were collected and brought on board. The bay was then clear of ice. During the return voyage the Antarctic again passed through the pack, amidst great numbers of icebergs, and sighted one of the Ballery Islands on the 5th of February. She arrived at Melbourne on the 11th of March, 1895.

The largest whales that were seen during the voyage were those known as the blue whales,' which are probably the same as those called 'black' by Sir James Ross; and Mr. Bull is of opinion that

the oil and inferior whalebone of this species are sufficiently valuable to make their capture a highly lucrative business. They are, however, more difficult to secure than the 'right whale,' and it is only lately that Commander Svend Foyn invented the means of capturing them. Their resistance is prolonged and desperate, they are very powerful, and the carcasses sink instead of floating, as is the case with the right whales.' The Antarctic was not supplied with the necessary appliances, although the captain shot himself fast to four of them, losing, however, both lines and harpoons. Three other kinds were seen. The fin whale' is a large black cetacean nearly as big as the blue whale,' which shows its dorsal fin above the water. The smaller mincke whale' is about twenty-five feet long; and there is another kind with a white spot across its back and a high dorsal fin. The names of equivalent well-known Arctic whales are given to these Antarctic kinds, but they are probably of different species.

6

Captain Kristensen and Mr. Borchgrevink both noticed the peculiar scars and wounds found on the grey seals. The impression they gave was that these wounds were inflicted by an animal provided with a sword. Sometimes it appeared to have been aimed straight, completely penetrating the skin, and sometimes it only produced a slight cut. But the wounds were incised, as if inflicted by a sharp instrument. On one occasion a young leopard seal was shot with several fresh wounds in its body, and drops of blood could be traced from the edge of the ice to the spot where it was captured. It seems clear that our knowledge of the marine zoology of the Antarctic seas is still very incomplete, for no animal has yet been found in them capable of inflicting such wounds.

A collection of birds was made, and, fortunately, Mr. Borchgrevink was an accomplished taxidermist, but no addition appears to have been made to the avi-fauna of the Ross expedition. The penguins were a great source of amusement.

Several used to keep swimming and playing round the ship as long as she was in clear water, apparently highly satisfied with their big companion; but as soon as she was stopped they were up on the ice in no time, stretching their necks and viewing the ship with a comical sad look, as if they would say,' What a pity! can't you really manage it any longer?'

Captain Kristensen noticed a strong tidal current flowing north along the coast of Victoria Land; at the same time the large jelly fish, which he had never seen in very cold water, inclined him to the conclusion that there were warm currents from the north. The period for observing was, however, too short to enable him to make any general observations on winds and currents.

The result of the cruise, from a mere commercial point of view, was represented by 180 seals, two small mincke whales,' and one sperm whale. The loss to the owners is said to have been about