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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



The extent and distribution of these 

 desolate regions, as yet nnvisited by 

 man, have been made known tlirough 

 the investigations of a pohir expert, 

 Dr. William S. Bruce. An article, pub- 

 lished in the Scottish Gcugraphical 

 Magazine in 1906, sets forth that at 

 that time the unknown areas of the 

 polar regions aggregated 7,550,000 

 square miles, practically equal to the 

 area of the continent of North Amer- 

 ica. These unvisited areas have not de- 

 creased more than 50,000 square miles 

 since that date. The unknown seas of 

 the Arctic regions cover 1,330,000 

 square miles. The unknown regions 

 within the Antarctic circle aggregate 

 6,320,000 square miles, of which area 

 the continent of Antarctica includes 

 5,470,000 miles, the rest being ocean. 



The continent of Antarctica, which 

 approximates in size the combined con- 

 tinents of Europe and Australia, virtu- 

 ally covers all land areas of the south 

 polar zone, and it ])r('sonts the most 

 adverse environment for life forms on 

 the land surface of the earth, it is not 

 alone that its ten thousand miles of 

 sterile, practically inaccessible coast 

 faces an always stormy, ice-encumbered 

 sea, but that the continent itself has an 

 average elevation estimated at more 

 than double that of any other. It rises 

 sharply from the frozen ocean to the 

 central ice plateau, at an elevation of 

 ten thousand feet or more surrounding 

 the South Pole. The whole continent 

 is buried by an almost unbroken sheet 

 of glacial neve, hundreds, if not thou- 

 sands, of feet in thickness. Here and 

 there the extreme monotony and deso- 

 lation are relieved by the projection 

 above the ice of a barren peak in the 

 interior, or by the ice-free face of high 

 sheer precipices along the sea front. 



The practically impossible tempera- 

 tures for the sustenance of terrestrial 

 life on the continent of Antarctica are 

 indicated by the climatic conditions of 

 Adelie Land, 1400 miles from the pole. 

 The average annual temperature is 



slightly above zero— about thirty de- 

 grees below the freezing of water — and 

 this is the approximate temperature for 

 the year along about two thousand miles 

 of the Antarctic Circle. The annual 

 temperature at the South Pole has been 

 estimated roughly at forty degrees be- 

 low zero. Scott, it may be recalled, 

 wlu'U hundreds of miles from the pole, 

 experienced for ten consecutive days in 

 .March (our September) an average 

 temjierature of sixty-eight degrees be- 

 low freezing. Violent gales, with winds 

 of fifty miles or more an hour, are fre- 

 (pu'iit and prolonged, under which the 

 snow drifts in enormous masses, bury- 

 ing the whole country. As to south 

 polar climate in general, Xordenskiold 

 says : "The study of the climate and 

 glaciatioii of Antarctica has nuide 

 known to us a new type of climate, 

 wliicli is prevalent in a whole conti- 

 nent. The Antarctic climate is distin- 

 guished by its cold summer, heijond 

 colli jHirisi/ii III!' coldest in the world." 

 The iin|)o>sii)ility of life existence or 

 sur\i\iil under such conditions is evi- 

 dent, save for the hardiest and most 

 tenacious forms. 



It may be mentioned that the Ant- 

 arctic fossils of the Cambrian, Devo- 

 nian, and Permian periods pertain, so 

 far as has been made known, largely to 

 oceanic forms, those of the land being 

 few in species. It is interesting that a 

 sea filled with wondrous forms of life, 

 perhaps the richest of all oceans, should 

 encircle a continent that has never 

 known man as an inhabitant. Equally 

 absent are forms of animal terrestrial 

 life and of land birds. Flowering 

 plants are likewise lacking. 



That it was not always so is read in 

 the rocks of Antarctica, and through 

 the discovery of coal near the South 

 Pole. The recurring changes of this 

 continent in past ages have been beau- 

 tifully referred to by Dr. Hedley, who 

 said : "By the light of the magician's 

 lamp we watch the summer of the 

 cvcles dawn. The glow of life returns, 



