218 SCIENCE IN SHORT CHAPTERS. 



guilty of most improbable proceedings in the matter of penetrating 

 apparently impenetrable substances. 



The safety of the aeronauts and the success of the aerial explora- 

 tion primarily depend upon the length of time that the balloons can 

 be kept afloat in the air. 



A sort of humanitarian cry has been raised against this expedition, 

 on the ground that unnaturally good people (of whom we now meet 

 so many) should not be guilty of aiding and abetting a scheme that 

 may cause the sacrifice of human life. These kind friends may bi 

 assured that, in spite of their scruples, the attempt will be made b} 

 men who share none of their fears, unless the preliminary experi- 

 ments prove that a balloon cannot be kept up long enough. There- 

 fore the best way to save their lives is to subscribe at once for the 

 preliminary expense of making these trials, which will either discover 

 means of travelling safely, or demonstrate the impossibility of such 

 ballooning altogether. Such experiments will have considerable 

 scientific value in themselves, and may solve other problems besides 

 those of Arctic exploration. 



Why not apply balloons to African exploration or the crossing of 

 Australia ? The only reply to this is that we know too little of the 

 practical possibilities of such a method of travelling when thus ap- 

 plied. Hitherto the balloon has only been a sensational toy. We 

 know well enough that it cannot be steered in a predetermined line, 

 i.e. from one point to another given point, but this is quite a different 

 problem from sailing over a given surface of considerable area. This 

 can be done to a certain extent, but we want to know definitely to 

 what extent, and what are the limits of reliability and safety. With 

 this knowledge, and its application by the brave and skilful men 

 who are so eager to start, the solution of the Polar mystery assumes 

 a new and far more hopeful phase than it has ever before presented. 



THE ANGLO-AMEKICAN AECTIC EXPEDITION. 



Commander Cheyne has gone to America to seek the modest 

 equipment that his own countrymen are unable to supply. He pro- 

 poses now that his expedition shall be " Anglo- American." I have 

 been asked to join an Arctic Council, to co-operate on this side, and 

 have refused on anti-patriotic grounds. As a member of the former 

 Arctic Committee, I was so much disgusted with the parsimony of 

 our millionaires and the anti-geographical conduct of the Savile Eow 

 Mutual Admiration Society, that I heartily wish that in this matter 

 our American grandchildren may " lick the Britishers quite com- 

 plete. " It will do us much good. 



My views, expressed in the Gentleman's Magazine of July, 1880, and 

 repeated above, remain unchanged, except in the direction of con- 

 firmation and development. I still believe that an enthusiastic, 

 practically trained, sturdy Arctic veteran, who has endured hardship 

 both at home and abroad, whose craving eagerness to reach the Pole 

 amounts to a positive monomania, who lives for this object alone, 

 and is ready to die for it, who will work at it purely for the work's 

 sake will be the right man in the right place when at the head of a 

 modestly but efficiently equipped Polar expedition, especially if 

 Lieutenant Schwatka is his second in command. 



They will not require luxurious saloons, nor many cases of cham- 

 pagne ; they will care but little for amateur theatricals ; they will 



