THE ANTARCTIC QUESTION MACHAT. 477 



ited support, and a committee of twelve persons was appointed to 

 draw up a detailed programme for the expedition with a view to re- 

 sults already secured. The Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, the Ligue 

 Maritime Francaise, and the Institut Oceanographique have combined 

 largely in the preparation and the selection of the materials for trav- 

 eling, for observation, and for laboratory work and have also aided 

 in giving preparatory instruction to the observers. The Govern- 

 ment finally has cooperated, at the instance of the minister of public 

 instruction, through a reasonably substantial appropriation. Much 

 better prepared and equipped than the Franrais, the Pourquoi-Pas 

 will carry officers and crew and an outfit in part new, but as full of 

 physical and moral courage as the former expedition. 



In conclusion, may we emphasize the scientific reasons that should 

 enlist the liveliest interest in this enterprise. They have been master- 

 fully ])resented by the committee of the academy and by M. Charcot 

 himself.'* 



The south polar region, almost entirely covered by ice and sur- 

 rounded by an open sea, is affected much less by distant foreign in- 

 fluences than the arctic basin. Winds and currents from outside 

 sources do not create obstacles such as those found in the north on 

 the west and east of Greenland, for instance, or between the west and 

 east shores of the North Atlantic. The cold temperature pole and the 

 magnetic pole seem there reasonably near the astronomic pole. The 

 isolation, no doubt recent, of the antarctic islands and continent from 

 the rest of the world has still been so complete that conditions of 

 locality and of organic life are unique and uniform. It is a field for 

 research unlike any in the world, not because of the local data that 

 can be secured, but from the point of view of the general physical 

 structure and history of the earth. 



The question of the union of the antarctic lands with the southern 

 part of the continents, which has not yet been definitely solved, opens 

 a field of valuable research. The true explanation of the pointed 

 extremities of America and Africa will furnish another object for 

 observations. MM. Lacroix and Lapparent insist, in the written 

 instructions to Doctor Charcot, on the need for determining how far 

 the petrographic limits of the Andes and of America extend into the 

 Antarctic. From samples of rock brought back by the latest expedi- 

 tions, it seems to cover the whole end of West Antarctide ; but a micro- 

 granite found on Wandel Island would seem to indicate that there 

 begins a different province, of which Victoria Land is a part. There- 

 fore it is easy to understand of how much importance is a detailed 



" Institut de France, Academie des Sciences. Instructions pour I'expedition 

 antarctique organisee par le Dr. Jean Cliarcot. 12nio, 48 pp., Paris, Gauthier- 

 Villars, 1907. J. B. Charcot: Pourquoi faut-il aller dans I'Antarctique? 8°, 

 16 pp., Paris, 1908. 



