Introduction. 49 



do not avert the effects of these conditions; they hardly 

 mitigate them, and have been known to aggravate them. 

 I do not consider the attainment of Dr. Nansen's object 

 by the means at his disposal to be impossible ; but I do 

 consider that the success of such an enterprise would 

 not justify the exposure of valuable lives for its 

 attainment/' 



In America, General Greely, the leader of the ill-fated 

 expedition generally known by his name (1881-84), 

 wrote an article in The Forum (August, 1891) in which 

 he says among other things:- -"It strikes me as 

 almost incredible that the plan here advanced by Dr. 

 Nansen should receive encouragement or support. It 

 seems to me to be based on fallacious ideas as to 

 physical conditions within the polar regions, and to fore- 

 shadow, if attempted, barren results, apart from the 

 suffering and death among its members. Dr. Nansen, so 

 far as I know, has had no Arctic service ; his crossing of 

 Greenland, however difficult, is no more polar work than 

 the scaling of Mount St. Elias. It is doubtful if any 

 hydrographer would treat seriously his theory of polar 

 currents, or if any Arctic traveller would indorse the 

 whole scheme. There are perhaps a dozen men whose 

 Arctic service has been such that the positive support of 

 this plan by even a respectable minority would entitle it 

 to consideration and confidence. These men are : 

 Admiral M'Clintock, Richards, Collinson and Nares, 

 and Captain Markham of the Royal Navy, Sir Allen 



E 



