THE ANTAECTIC QUESTION— VOYAGES TO THE SOUTH 

 POLE SINCE 1898." 



[With 1 plate] 



By J. Machat, Litt. D., 

 Professor at the Lycee Buffon, Paris. 



Part I. History of the Expeditions. 



Under the auspices of the French Academy of Sciences and of the 

 Museum of Natural History of Paris, Dr. J. B. Charcot has in pre- 

 paration a second expedition to the regions where from 1903 to 1905 

 he conducted the very successful cruise in the Francais.^ Other expe- 

 ditions, two English and one Scotch, are to explore the Ross and 

 Weddell seas, and a Belgian circumpolar voyage has also been 

 l^lanned. Just as this second French enterprise is about to start in 

 the endeavor to rob the southern ice fields of their secrets it seems fit- 

 ting to briefly review some of the achievements of previous antarctic 

 expeditions, and to give a general statement of the problems that it 

 is hoped may soon be solved. The narratives of the explorers them- 

 selves and the numerous published observations shall be our guide, 

 and as to those expeditions that are in preparation, or that have 

 already started we shall refer to the instructions published by the 

 Academy of Sciences for the guidance of Doctor Charcot. 



SOUTH POLAR EXPLORATIONS SINCE 1898. 



It was the successful voyage of the Belgica in 1898-'99 to Danco 

 Land and the neighboring islands that opened up the present era of 

 south polar discoveries. No other vessel before that under M. de 

 Gerlache, equipped exclusively for scientific work, had wintered in 

 the southern ice fields ; no other explorer had been able to direct such 

 exact observations and for so prolonged a period. 



The limited scope of the present paper prevents a review of ant- 

 arctic work prior to that of the Belgica, a story so well written by 



''Translated by permission from Revue generale des Sciences pure et ap- 

 pliquees, Paris, 19tli year, Nos. 13 and 14, July 15 and July 30, 1908. 

 "This paper was written April, 1908. 



451 



