POLAR GEOGRAPHY BROWN 363 



Such contingencies would be detrimental to the real aims of the 

 expedition. Without neglecting the valuable resources of sea and 

 land, it will seldom be wise for an exploring party to dispense wholly 

 or even largely with transported stores, however great the tempta- 

 tion may be to lighten the load and thu^ widen the area of activity. 

 In a forced march of retreat, however, ability to find food and con- 

 fidence in its value are important. 



A gi'eater terror than the danger of lack of food in polar explora- 

 tion used to be the prospect of scurvy. That has practically gone. 

 Scurvy used to be considered inevitable sooner or later. No expedi- 

 tion entirely escaped it, and nearly all lost men and power of work 

 through its ravages. Much of the bad reputation which the Arctic 

 gained in the past must be attributed to scurvy. And its prevalence 

 on the Franklin expedition — it was really attributable for its total 

 loss — and on the Franklin search expeditions gave a grim aspect to 

 polar travel which it has not yet lost in popular opinion. There is no 

 excuse for the occurrence of scurvy on an Arctic expedition to-day, 

 although there may still be risk of it on a journey over the Antarctic 

 continent, but its total disappearance from the casualties the explorer 

 has to face can be a matter now of only a few years. The advance of 

 physiological science will no doubt result in scurvy being classed with 

 the rare or extinct diseases. 



Thus, as knowledge grows, the power of the explorer increases, and 

 the old-time hardships that we read of seem curious fantasies or epics 

 of heroic men battling blindly with ignorance. 



When Europe came to realize that there were no commercial sea 

 routes across the Arctic Ocean, a new motive, other than commercial 

 gain, fortunately inspired polar endeavor or it might have cea^ed 

 altogether. That aim was found largely in the attainment of the 

 pole. The actual attainment was of no scientific importance, but it 

 was of value as an ultimate objective and the lure of the pole led men 

 onward into the unknown, and thus it served science in its day. 



Once the poles were gained, that lure vanished. There is to-day as 

 much need as there ever was for the penetration of the Antarctic 

 continent along a score of meridians or of the passage toward the 

 North Pole by more than one route across the Arctic Ocean. But the 

 feat has been accomplished, and so the aim no longer fires the popular 

 imagination. It fails to serve as a bait to secure the necessary finan- 

 cial backing for a well-found polar expedition. It may be regret- 

 table, but it is certainly true, at least in this country, that an expedi- 

 tion with purely scientific aims and no sensational journej^ or feat in 

 its program must appeal in vain for funds. The^e are seldom forth- 

 coming for the advancement of pure knowledge. Scott and Shackle- 

 ton fully realized this in putting their Antarctic plans before the 

 public. Bruce, on the other hand, deploring the necessity, refused to 



