328 CONDITION OF THE FLOOE OF THE OCEAN. 



interesting and important results. But it must be distinctlj- under- 

 stood that this is not the kind of exploration seicntitie men have been 

 urging on the 'British public for the past fifteen or twenty 3^ears. We 

 must, if possible, have two ships, with landing parties for stations on 

 shore, and with a recognized scientific leader and staff on l)oard of each 

 ship. Although we can not have the royal navy, these ships can be 

 most efliciently officered and manned from the mercantile marine. 

 With only one ship many of the proposed observations would have to 

 be cut out of the programme. In anticipation of this being the case, 

 there are at the present moment irreconcilable differences of opinion 

 among those most interested in these explorations as to which sciences 

 must be sacrificed. 



The difficulties which at present surround this undertaking are 

 fundamentally those of money. These difficulties Avould at once dis- 

 appear and others would certainly ))e overcome should the members 

 of the British Association at this meeting agree to place in the hands 

 of their president a sum of £50,000, so that the total amount available for 

 antarctic exploration would become something like £150,000. Although 

 there is but one central Government, surely there are within the bounds 

 of this great Empire two more men like Mr. Longstaff'. The Govern- 

 ment has suddenly placed the burden of upholding the high traditions 

 of Great Britain in marine research and exploration on the shoulders 

 of her scientific men. In their name I appeal to all our well-to-do 

 fellow-countrymen in ever}^ walk of life for assistance, so that these 

 new duties may be discharged in a manner Avorth}^ of the empire and 

 of the well-earned reputation of British science. 



