The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-22
QUESTIONS TO ANTARCTIC THE BRITISH EXPEDITION WILL
Eig Work Outlined.

An official statement in regard to the
 scope and objects of the British expe-
 dition to the Antarctic has been made
 by J. W. Gregory, member of the
 party.
 He joints out that it is not the ob- ject of the expedition to reach the
 south pole, but to investigate the An
 tractic regions. The operations of the
 British expedition will be restricted to
 the region south of Australia and the
 aacific, while the western half, includ-
 ing the region south of America, the
 Atlantic and Africa, will be explored
 simultaneously by the German expedi-
 ton under Professor Won Drygalski, by
 a Swedish expedition under Dr. O. Nor
 denskjold, and presumably also by
 Scotch expedition under w. s. Bruce.
 This plan gives the German expedi-
 tion the chance of the most striking
 geographical discoveries and the Brit
 1sh expedition the opportunities for.
 richer harvest of scientific results.
 The British expedition will devote it's Attention to geodetic work and to the
 study of terrestrial magnetism, geo.
 graphical problems, seismology, me- teorology, oceanography, biology and geology.
 Magnetic work in the Antarctic re- gions is exceptionally difficult, great decimal variations in declination being frequent, and, as these variations will affect the observations made on the ex- petitions ship, the Discovery a station which Is to act as a secondary magnet 1c base is to be erected on shore in southern Victoria land, and the scien- lists who remain there will be expected to secure a continuous magnetic rec ord for a period of twelve months. Among these scientists will be MT. Shackleton, noted physicist, and Dr. E A. Wilson.
 There are two main geographical problems, says MT. Gregory, in the British field of work. The first is whether the known lands to the south of Australia-Victoria Land, Wilkes Land, Adtlie Land, Geikle Land, Newnes Land, Termination Land, etc. --are all part of one great cont inent or are members of an Antarctic archipel- ago. and the second is the discovery of the eastward continuation of the shore and volcanic line of Victoria Land That Antartica is geologically conti- nent MT. Gregory seems convinced, but whether it is still a continent geo. graphically he considers less certain, and this question, he points out, can only be conclusiveIy settled by a sur vey and by land journeys westward | and southward from Mount Erebus.
 The principal geodetic work of the ex- petition will be the continuation of the line of gravity determinations that has already been carried from California | across the Pacific to Sydney and thence | through Melbourne, Tasmania and New | Zealand, and if it is possible to land for | a couple of days at Cape Adare, gravi- | ty determinations will be made there | as well as at the land station in | Southern Victoria Land
 For met eorological work a station on | shore will be erected, in which record ing instruments, including barographs | thermographs and hydrographs, will be plared and checked by four hourly direct observations. Arrangements will also be made, in case of the col lapse of the recording instruments, to take observations every two hours and If possible every hour. As the obser- vatory will probably be near the face of a lofty mountain range, the atmos- pheric conditions may be abnormal, and to ascertain the conditions of the free air it is proposed to fly kites with meteorographs. There is, however one special meteorological problem which the comgined expeditions hope to solve, and that is in regard to the hypotheti- cal anticyclone over the south pole.
 The oceanographic work will be inter- esting. Soundings will be made in special areas as we'll as around the edge of the ice packs; the bottom de- posits, thus collected, will be carefully studied and their evidence will be sup plemented by dredging for boulders with special bucket dredging the oceanic circulation, as shown by the varying temperature, sallnity specific gravity and refractife index of the sea water, will be determined and tidal work will be erected and observa tions taken for at least three months.
 The biological work ol the expedition
  ,ive collection of the fauna and flora if the Antarctic ocean as the ships storage will admit. The German expe- lition proposes to limit it's dredging to work of less than a thousand fathoms, put the Discovery will dredge in deep basins as well as in shalower seas.
 Among the palaeontological and geo. ogical problems which the expeditions ,ope to solve are the character and dis ribution of the different ice agents, the elations of the valley glaciers to the nain ice sheets, the physics of glacier ce the relation of shearing planes to he orientation of the ice grains, the of morainic and intragla- ial material and the rate of flow of the ,laciers As the nature of the inland ce is a problem which can only be di- ectly solved by sledge journeys, it is rranged that two parties shall start rom the land station early in the bring one going westward toward the range and the other to the outh.-New York Journal.