Macquarie Island. She reached Lyttleton November 28, leaking badly, and was drydocked. In dry dock she was caulked all over and launched December 16. Then it was found that she still leaked, forward under the iron sheathing; but the leak was not deemed important, and therefore she sailed December 21 from Lyttleton for Victoria Land. The last news of her was a telegram of farewell sent by Captain Scott from Port Chalmers, December 24. The German Antarctic Expedition.—The German expedition is to cooperate with the British. It will cross the Antarctic circle somewhere below the Indian Ocean. Its primary magnetic base will be Kerguelen Island. At Three Island Harbor, in Royal Sound, it will establish an observatory. There five men will be left-a biologist, a magnetic observer, a meteorologist, and two sailors. Thence the expedition will steam southward and attempt to establish a station in some Antarctic land. Very little is known about the Antarctic region south of Kerguelen Island, but the Germans hope to reach the west coast of Victoria Land, and thence to sledge overland toward the magnetic pole. Their operations are not as clearly defined as those of the British; but June, 1904, has been fixed for their latest return to some seaport in communication with Germany. If no tidings shall have come from them by that time, a relief expedition will be sent out. The funds for the German expedition have been supplied, partly by government appropriation and partly by private subscription. Through the influence of Count von Posadowsky-Wehner, secretary of state of the interior, the Reichstag appropriated about 40,000 marks for the expedition. The rest of the funds were raised by private subscription. A vessel was built expressly for Antarctic work and was launched April 2. She was named the Gauss, after the eminent mathematician whose work on Terrestrial Navigation, published in 1838, was the main stimulus to scientific investigation in the Antarctic regions. The Gauss is 151 feet long, 35 feet beam, and draws 16 feet; she displaces 450 tons. She is a three-masted schooner, fitted with triple-expansion engines which give her a speed of seven knots. Her lines are somewhat like those of the Fram. She is heated by steam and lighted by electricity. The equipment of this expedition comprises provisions for three years, a windmill, a captive balloon, a naphtha launch, kites for meteorological work and outfits for observations in geodesy, magnetism, zoology-including dredges-meteorology, etc. Sledge journeys are to be a feature of the expedition, and fifty dogs have been supplied. The expedition is under the command of Erik von Drygalski, who will conduct the geological work. The scientific staff is made up of Dr. Ernst von Hoeffen, zoologist and botanist; Dr. Hans Gazert, medical officer and bacteriologist; Dr. Emil Philippi, geologist and chemist; Dr. Friedrich Bidlingmaier, magnetician and meteorologist. Their collections are to be the property of the German empire. The commander of the ship is Captain Hans Rusch, a captain of the Hamburg-American Line, and the engineer is A. Staho, who is also in the service of this line. The expedition numbers 32 men. The Gauss sailed from Kiel August 11, and arrived at Cape Town November 23, whence she started for Kerguelen Island. The Swedish Expedition.-This expedition, organized and led by Dr. Otto Nordenskjöld, will establish a station, if possible, on the west coast of Graham Land, where the leader and the scientific staff are to pass the winter, sending their vessel meanwhile to make observations in the open water north of the pack. The funds are subscribed by private subscription, and the entire expenses are to be about $35,000. The leader is a nephew of the famous Baron Nordenskjöld (q.v.), who made the first voyage around the northern extremity of Asia. Among the members of his staff is Mr. F. W. Stokes, artist of the Peary relief expedition of '92, and again of the Peary expedition of '93-'94. He is the only American who takes part in the Antarctic exploration of 1901. The expedition bought the steam-whaler Antarctic, which was used in Herr Bull's expedition, from which was made the first landing on the Antarctic continent. She was then officially in the whaling service. She was afterwards purchased by Professor Nathorst for his search expedition for Andrée, and then was bought by the Danish government for the expedition of Lieut. Amdrup. She is commanded by Captain Larsen, who has made several voyages to Graham Land. The expedition comprises 26 men, including a geologist, two biologists, a surgeon and observers of hydrographical magnetic meteorological and geographical phenomena. The Antarctic left Gutenburg October 16 and reached Buenos Ayres, whence she sailed for the Falkland Islands, December 20. Delays in Sailing.-All these expeditions set forth from their bases rather late in the year, and there was a question among Arctic authorities whether they would accomplish during the Antarctic summer months of December, January, and February all that they have undertaken to do. Plans of the Scottish Expedition. Mr. W. S. Bruce, who visited the Antarctic regions in '92 in a whaling steamer, has made the announcement that in 1902 he will take the field in a whaler of 500 tons for exploration of the Weddell Sea, a region where in 1823, Captain Weddell penetrated below the 74th parallel and still saw an ice-free ocean beyond him. The funds for this expedition, which is to cost £35,000, are to be obtained from private subscription. Mr. Bruce's plan is to cooperate with the other expeditions by establishing a scientific station in South Georgia. Thence his ship will proceed as far south as possible along the thirtieth degree of west longitude, but she will not winter in the ice. If land should be found Mr. Bruce might leave a party to make a sledge journey southward, but he proposes to send his ship into free water before the frozen season. The number of his party has not yet been announced, but his scientific staff will consist of five men. He has bought the steamship Hecla, which is being refitted by G. L. Watson, the designer of yachts. ANTHRAX, or Malignant Pustule, is a rare disease in this country. It usually attacks those who handle hides, in which the anthrax bacillus is sometimes found. Gaining access to a hair-follicle or a sweat-gland, the micro-organism becomes the progenitor of a colony of bacilli, from which a specially virulent toxin is taken up by the blood. A small pimple appears, then the surrounding surface becomes red or purple, suppuration commences, and usually the patient dies in two or three days, suffering intense pain. Two cases of fatal anthrax occurred in November, 1901, in Hillsgrove, Pa., the victims being teamsters who were employed in hauling hides for a tanning company. Niemtchenkoff, in Medicinskoie Obosrenie for February, 1901, reports a case of anthrax, situated on the cheek, accompanied by great infiltration and severe systemic manifestations, which was cured by large injections of a 5-per-cent. solution of carbolic acid into the face. See SERUM THERAPY. ANTHROPOLOGY. See INDIANS. ANTICELTINA is a new compound formed by the union of urea with mercury, in the proportions of 43 per cent. to 4 per cent. It resembles bichloride of mercury in its effects, though painless when applied to the conjunctiva in a 1 to 2,000 solution. It has been used by Andreocci, Francaviglia and Capparelli in infective keratitis and iritis by subconjunctival injection. ANTIMONY. The quantity of antimony produced from domestic ores in 1900 amounted to 151 short tons, valued at $27,180, as compared with 243 short tons, valued at $43,600 in 1899. The amount of metallic antimony produced by the smelters in the United States from both foreign and domestic ores in 1900 amounted to 1,750 tons, valued at $346,980, as against 1,275 tons, valued at $251,875, in 1899. This quantity represents about half of the amount actually consumed in the United States, the imports in 1900 amounting to 1,827 short tons, valued at $287,937. The imported material was either in the form of crude antimony or regulus. The price of antimony in 1900 ranged from 91⁄2 to 10 cents a pound for Hallett's brand and 101⁄2 to II cents for Cookson's brand. ANTITOXIN. Accompanying the development of certain bacteria in the body of man, during the progress of certain diseases, poisonous principles called toxins are thrown off by the bacteria or exist in the bodies of the bacteria. In nature's effort to combat these principles, substances are produced in the serum of the blood termed antitoxins, which neutralize the toxins. Antitoxins continue for a considerable period in the blood of individuals who have recovered from these germ diseases; and the serum of their blood may be used in inoculating others who are ill with the same diseases, to fortify them against the toxins which are at work. Several such antidotal serums have been isolated and verified, and are prepared for use in treating various diseases. (See SERUM THERAPY.) The first serum of this class in common use was the antidiphtheritic antitoxin, which has been widely though inaccurately known simply as antitoxin. Physicians in Paris hospitals have been experimenting with diphtheria antitoxin in enormous doses, in cases of pneumonia. The results in fifty cases, as reported by Talamon in March, 1901, have been very favorable; the duration of the pneumonia having been diminished, the chance of complications lessened, and the mortality lowered 10 per cent. In 25 cases, treated with the serum before the fifth day of the disease, but one death occurred, and this was a patient aged 72 years. ANTIVIVISECTIONISTS. See VIVISECTION. ARABIA, a peninsula in southwestern Asia, has an area estimated at from 1,000,000 to 1,230,000 square miles, and a population from 4,000,000 to 12,000,000, the lower estimates with regard to the inhabitants probably being the more nearly correct. The vilayets of Hedjaz (about 96,500 square miles) and Yemen (about 77,000 square miles) on the Red Sea are a part of Asiatic Turkey, and a strip along the Persian Gulf, extending as far south as Oman, and known as El Haza, is nominally under Ottoman authority. Aden (q.v.) in the south is a dependency of the British Bombay government, and Oman in the southwest, on the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea, is an independent state, but under British influence. The interior is inhabited by tribes which acknowledge no rulers other than their own chieftains. Hedjaz and Yemen have estimated populations of 300,000 and 750,000 respectively. In 1897 the trade, mainly imports, at the port of Jeddah amounted to about $3,240,000; at the port of Hodeida, about $6,900,000. A railway is being constructed from Damascus to Mecca, and in September, 1901, 80 kilometers had been laid. It is expected that this line will be connected with the Bagdad railway (German) now building. It is feared that opposition of the Arab tribesmen will cause considerable difficulty in the construction of the line, for before the end of 1901 they had repeatedly destroyed parts of the telegraph line that the Turkish authorities are carrying to Hodeida on the coast of Yemen. Oman has an estimated area of 82,000 square miles, and an estimated population of 1,500,000. The sultan is Seyyid Feysal bin Turki, whose seat of government is Muscat. A British political agent resides here. For the commercial year 1900 the imports were valued at 2,600,720 dollars and the exports 1,533,300. (The dollar is worth about 50 cents.) The principal imports were: Rice, 810,000 dollars; arms and ammunition, 445,150 dollars; grain, 244,670 dollars; and piece goods, 224,000 dollars. The leading exports were: Dates, 630,200 dollars, and cotton fabrics, 159,000 dollars. Over 80 per cent. of the trade is with India and Great Britain. The Troubles in Koweyt.-Koweyt is a town on a bay at the head of the Persian Gulf, 80 miles south of Basra. In April, 1901, there was a report, afterwards confirmed, that Mubarakh, the sheik of Koweyt, had been defeated in battle by Ibn Rashid, sultan of Nejd, central Arabia, whom shortly before he had deposed. The report stated that 5,000 men fell in the battle. Down to 1870 Koweyt was really, if not formally, independent, and even since that year the sheikh has not acknowledged the political, but only the religious, authority of the Ottoman government. For some reason, probably with the hope of increasing his inadequate revenues, the Turkish Sultan seized the opportunity, after the sheikh's defeat, to attempt the establishment of formal authority in Koweyt. Mubarakh seemed to realize this design when in June, 1901, upon stating his intention of continuing hostilities with the ruler of Nejd, he declined to accept the assistance of Turkish troops and asked for a proclamation of British protection. There were a number of Turkish troops at Basra, but it appears that these could not easily advance against Koweyt by land; accordingly an attempt was made by sea, but the landing of the troops was frustrated (August 24) by the menacing presence of a British gunboat. In September, Turkey was reported to have 30,000 troops in Basra; these, it was said, were intended to march acrossArabia in order to suppress disaffection in Yemen, but the explanation was not taken seriously. By the middle of October, 1901, the Nejd tribesmen were ceasing to menace Koweyt and the situation in general was reported to be quiet, but late in December the whole question was reopened. It was then announced that the Sultan of Turkey had sent a special emissary to Koweyt to summon Mubarakh to Constantinople to make obeisance to him as his suzerain. The Sultan promised various honors to the sheikh on his compliance with the summons, but threatened to remove him should he refuse. The sheikh, it was reported, fearing such an order, refused to allow the emissary to land. He was probably aware that "many have been called to Constantinople and received with hospitality so profuse and prolonged that they have never had an opportunity to enjoy their honors among their own people." It is not improbable that the Sultan's power to remove the sheikh is inadequate. About the same time it appeared that Ibn Rashid, the sultan of Nejd, had made preparations to renew his attack upon Koweyt in the interests of Turkey, and accordingly Mubarakh had appealed again for British protection. British vessels in the Persian Gulf seemed able to maintain the status quo, the continued existence of which the British government seems determined upon; for, though Koweyt is of no agricultural and little commercial importance, it has a real value on account of its position as a possible naval base. It was surprising that the Sultan, even though greatly in need of additional tribute, should attempt to exercise any constraint upon Mubarakh (and thus antagonize British interests), over whom his suzerainty is merely nominal, at a time when the Porte was experiencing many troubles of an exceedingly serious nature. Turkey had just received a severe lesson from France, friction with the United States seemed possible, the attitude of Bulgaria was discontented, not to say menacing, and open anarchy prevailed to a considerable extent in various parts of the empire-in Macedonia, Albania, Armenia, and to some extent on the Red Sea littoral. In December, 1901, the rumor that Great Britain was about to declare a pretectorate over Koweyt called forth unfavorable comment in the German and Russian press. Since Koweyt will probably be the southern terminus of the Bagdad railway (German), Germany is decidedly opposed to its possession passing to Great Britain. For the question of Russian influence in the Persian Gulf, see PERSIA (paragraphs on History). ARABI PASHA. See EGYPT. ARBITRATION, INTERNATIONAL. While no international disputes of great importance were decided by, or referred to arbitration during the year 1901, |