ANTARCTIC AND SOUTHERN EXPLORATION. 709 
No. 6.— ANTARCTIC AND SOUTHERN EXPLORATION, 
By the Hon. P. G. Kine, M.L.C., F.R.G.S. 
(Read Wednesday, January 12, 1898.) 
[ Abstract. | 
Styce Dr. Nansen’s return in safety from his attempt to reach 
the North Pole, by means of what Sir William Hooker described 
as a ‘ wide departure from any plan which had been put in prac- 
tice for the purpose of Polar discovery,” the attention of the 
scientific world has been directed to what may prove to be the 
more accessible fields of the Antarctic Circle, as evidenced by 
the conclusion arrived at during the meeting of the Anglo- 
Australasian Conference which was held at London in July last 
in the presence of all the Colonial Premiers. 
Sir Clements Markham, the President of the Royal Geographical 
Society, with a number of distinguished fellow-members, has 
been, and still is, advocating the equipment of an expedition 
towards the South Pole for the purposes of scientific geographical 
research ; such expedition to have especially in view the important 
object of closely noting the phenomena of terrestrial magnetism. 
This duty was entrusted to Captain James Ross, R.N., in 1841. 
Yet, notwithstanding the valuable results then obtained by that 
commander, and by others since that time, there still remains a 
wide field for further investigation. 
It will be remembered that Humboldt, in 1828, established a 
small magnetic observatory at Berlin, and concerted with it far 
and near able observers of the magnetic variation. Humboldt 
was thus the first to open the way to our modern knowledge of 
terrestrial magnetism. He was followed by Professor C. F. Gauss 
and William Weber, who, with an observatory at Géttingen, 
joined in the general work ; they furnished descriptions of their 
instruments and published a valuable treatise upon them. 
The subject of southern exploration can never be approached 
without bestowing a thought upon the adventurous seamen who 
in former years, fought their way into the untraversed southern 
high latitudes. First on the list stands Captain Cook, who, in 
1774, in his small vessel, reached the latitude of 71° S. Next is 
the somewhat forgotten name of James Weddell, a master in the 
Royal Navy, who, in a private expedition, in the “Jane,” a brig 
of 160 tons, with a consort cutter of 65 tons, passed Cocx + imit, 
reaching to the parallel of 74° 15’. 
