SCIENTISTS IN THE ANTARCTIC.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12745, 24 April 1912, Page 9

SCIENTISTS IN THE ANTARCTIC.

WORK UNDER DIFFICULTIES

Mr T. Cr. Taylor, senior geologist to the Scott Expedition, reached Sydney by the Ulimaroa. His account of the scientific results obtained so far makes clear, if that AVere needed, says the Sydney Telegraph, the value of the expedition, even if it Avas only second at the Pole, Of the eighteen officers under.; Captain Scott, more than half were engaged /for Avork which Avould involve their absence from the Polar party. From Mr Taylor's account, some of their -work must haA'e been distinctly over the danger line, and a great deal of it full of excitement. Perhaps the greatest novelty Avas the work done Avith the high level baloons. At headquarters (Cape Evans) on calm dys small balloons Avere sent up, some as much as five miles high. Fixed to them Avere compact little self-registering instruments, Avhich, after they had taken a record, Avere automatically dropped, by time fuses or some such contrivance, to the ground. They floated down, hanging from tiny parachutes, and members of the expedition had to chase them across the shoav and ice — pretty risky work sometimes. Their records Avill be useful as showing the relation of pressure and temperature five miles up in tho air. MAGNETISM AND POLAR FLATTENING. Then there Avas the study of magnetic forces. This Avas of particular .. interest, since the party Avas not very far from the Magnetic Pole. Their experiments Avere carried out at the same - time Avith others all over . the Avorld. Dr Simpson had arranged for these beforehand. The party found their compasses of some \'alue, but they Avere ordinarily 2deg. out, and took a long Avhile to settle. Mr Wright's Work on the Polar flattening Avas also most important, though it must have been pretty uncomfortable for ''Mr "Wright. A pendulum SAvings quicker or slower according as it is nearer or-further from the centre of the earth; So a comparison of the time taken by the swing of the same pendulum/ at say, London or Christchurch, and again, near the Pole, Avoaild give the relative distance of these places from the earth's centre. These comparisons Avere made. The work was about the most trying of all. Mr Wright had to be outside *the hut through the Antarctic Avinter's night, Avatching the stars so as to get the time from them, to make sure his chronometer 'Was all right; when hei *tt r as '■ 'measuring the swing of his pen- 1 d-Ulumi 'He 'had to. lie flat- on the, shoaV with, his theodolite, *, connected Avith" the hut by telephone, and sending a message to a man who sat snug and Avarm inside. --' - SUNSHINE RECORDING. The expedition did- a- good many new things. They tested the amount Of electricity in : the -Antarctic air, collecting the. charge on a Avire outside the hut, and leading it. into the hut. They had a sort of camera obsenra apparatus for measuring the clouds ; the idea of these tests was to.shOAv them the direction of the high-level Avinds. And there Avas a sunshine recorder, the Avorking of Avhich Avas, Mr Taylor says, extremely disagreeable. <He- had control -of it himself for three weeks. Tlie outfit included a large glass ball, through which " the sun shone down so as to burn a sheet of paper beneath. In a blizzard the ball became coA'ered -with ice crystals, Avhich had to be rubbed off with the hands, at the dangerous risk of frostbite. The men at* the thermometer stations had also a pretty rough time. These stations were established all round, out on the sea. ice, and one man got caught in a ■ blizzard and A\'as out in it six hours, until he Avas thought lost. He Avas out from 6 pim. — temperature 30 Fahr. — -r-imfcil midnight. DRAWING MAPS N THE COLD. Some of Ithe cinematograph films obtained on tlie expedition are, says Mr Taylor, really magnificent. On 'board the ship Mr Lillie made some interesting biological discweries. He obtained whole trawfuls of an -organism Avhich is a link between -the' vertebrates and the invertebrates. Only fragments of a few examples of this link had been discovered before, and Mr Lillie found not only all these fresh examples, but a' new kind also. The first Avork on * parasitology in Antarctica Avas done by Dr Atkinson, who examined a great many fish and seals. And the geologists made extremely detailed maps of the, region — of lava Aoavs and glacier ntoraines. It Avasn't an easy business. When one line had been drawn on the map, it avouM take ten minutes before the draAver's hand Avas warm enough to set down another. Tlie tide currents in the Sound, sea life and sea temperatures were investigated by MiNelson. He built an igloo on the sea ice, over a hole in it, and AA-as connected by telephone^.to the hut. Tliis is the sort - of Avork Nansen is doing up in the north. "^ THE BLIZZOMETER. It is pretty clear that the party at headquarters in the winter' had more Avork .than sleep. They experienced! some tremendous gales. They had an observatory rigged up aAvay from thej hut for wind, temperature, and sunlight ' .records. There Avas a first-class t meteorological station inside the "hut, Avith more delicate instruments. And they hadj what they called a "blizzometer" — an in-] strument which made a contiuous record of the wind velocities. They have an- eighteen months', record byitjiis now, and should have a two and j a. half years' record bv the time they • are ; finished, so it should be most valuable. Noav the| strength of a gale is put doAyn at 38 ( miles an hour. In July the ? wind at Cape Evans A\"as up to hurricane force. On July Bth it' Avas fairly calm until 9 in the, morning; .the tempeiuiture Avas then— 3s "Fahr. — that is, 70deg. of frost. At 12 o'clock -the * wind AA-as bloAfing 43 miles an hour. . By 3 o'clock it had gone up to over 52. On July 9th and 10th it bIeAV at the rate of 63 miles an hour, and the temperature Avas down to— 3l. On July 12th the rate was 66 miles an hour, and then next day it died down. Dr Simpson, Avho has spent a year in the Arctic circle, says he has never knoAvn anything like this. : THROUGH THE DARK BY CANDLELIGHT. - Mr Taylor described the difficulties of the candlelight trip, to Cape Crozier, to get material for the study of embryology .of Emperor penguins' eggs — five weeks through the dark, at a temperature of — 77 deg. Fahr. It was so cold that a man's clothes froze in Avhatever position they Avere in Avhen he came out of the tent ; and when the 'party came back tliey were covered up to the eyes, and great frozen icicles, from their breath stuck out from their faces like beaks. But they got six eggs, three unbroken, and, luckily, containing embryos at different • stages of growth. These eggs should be specially valuable, in that the penguin is, says Mr Taylor, the most primitive bird in" the world. '; Tho party left under Lieutenant Camp- r bell about 240 miles north of Cape Evans, seems, according to Mr Taylor — ! to have — or, for it may have reached headquarters by this time, to have had — a pretty rough time before it. This party, after exploring Robertson Bay, in the North of Victoria Land, Avent south in January to explore the region' round Mount Nansen. It has not, so far as Mr Taylor knoAvs, been relieved; on account of the abnormal pack ice. In January it had about two months' rations left, but tliere Avas unlimited seal meat. It must sledge back .by March, if not reached by tlie ship, because after that time darkness increases. It is not known yet Avhat has happened to this party, though it is expected, witli the help of seal meat, to win through. 1 With it are : — Under-Lieutenant Campbell, Dr Levick, and Mr Priestly (officers), and Abbott, BroAvning and'Dickason (men).