Science in the Magazines

Abstract

ONE of the most interesting contributions to this month's magazines is an illustrated account in the Century by Mr. Borchgrevink, of his voyage in the Antarctic, prefaced by a note by Mr. A. W. Greely. The article will give an impulse to the movement in favour of an expedition to explore the Antarctic continent. Referring to Mr. Borchgrevink's account, Mr. Greely says: “From a scientific standpoint the interest depends entirely upon the discovery by Borchgrevink, on Possession Island and Cape Adare, Victoria Land, of a cryptogamous growth, probably an unidentified lichen. The importance of this discovery rests in the fact that hitherto no land vegetation of any kind or description had been found within the confines of the Antarctic circle. The strained deduction has been drawn that the climatic conditions of the Antarctic zone must have changed since the voyage of Ross, who discovered no vegetation. It should be borne in mind, however, that the great botanist, Sir Joseph Hooker, who served with Ross, was unfortunately prevented from landing with his commander; otherwise it may not be doubted that low forms of vegetable life which escaped the attention of Ross would have been noted by Hooker. In a practical way it emphasises the possibility of much more extended exploration in the Antarctic Ocean, through the agency of the steam-power of to-day, than was practicable for the greatest of Antarctic navigators—Cook, Balleny, Weddell, Wilkes, and Ross—under sail alone in the past.” Ethnologists will be interested in the studies of Indian life given by Alice C. Fletcher in the Century, under the title “Tribal Life among the Omahas.”