March 3, 1898] 



NA TURE 



4»3 



ANTARCTIC RESEARCH. 



'T'HE desirability of a well-equipped expedition for 

 -■■ the study of the Antarctic regions has been so fre- 

 quently set forth by men of science, and recorded in the 

 columns of Nature, that little can now be said on the 

 subject without repetition. But if little that is new can 

 be said, much remains to be done ; and unless the unan- 

 imous and often repeated declarations of British scientific 

 men culminate in action, the reputation of science in this 

 country will suffer seriously. The large and enthusiastic 

 meeting of the Royal Society on Thursday last, February 

 24, showed more emphatically than had before been 

 possible how great is the importance attached to the 

 renewal of Antarctic exploration by the leaders of all 

 departments of natural science. The meeting is fully 

 reported below ; but the steps which have led to it, and 

 the reasons why the goal has not sooner been attained, 

 may be referred to here. 



Sir Wyville Thomson, on the return of the Challenger., 

 and of the Arctic expedition which followed it, came to 

 the pessimistic conclusion that " we can only anticipate 

 disasters multiplied a hundred-fold should the South Pole 

 ever become agoal of rivalry among the nations " (Nature, 

 XV. p. 123) ; but much has been learnt as to methods of 

 polar travel since 1876, and the fear of possible disaster 

 was, we believe, never strong enough to check any British 

 scientific expedition. Dr. Neumayer had several years 

 previously very strongly urged the importance of Ant- 

 arctic work on many grounds (Nature, vii. p. 21), and 

 to him, more than to any other, is the recent revival of 

 interest due. As early as 1875 the question was seriously 

 raised in Australia, though not pressed. 



At the British Association meeting in 1885 Sir Erasmus 

 Ommanney urged the advisability of renewing Antarctic 

 exploration, and a Committee was appointed to consider 

 the matter. As a result the Royal Society of Edinburgh 

 and the Scottish Geographical Society appointed Com- 

 mittees to draw up reports in 1886, which were published 

 as an appendix to a paper on Antarctic exploration, by 

 Dr. John Murray, in the Scottish Geographical Magazine., 

 vol. ii. p. 527. At the Birmingham meeting of the British 

 Association in 1886, a Report was presented stating the 

 importance of a Government expedition, and Captain 

 Creak, R.N., read a paper giving forcible expression to the 

 necessity of research in the Far South from the point of 

 view of terrestrial magnetism. The Australasian Colonies 

 became keenly interested, and the Legislature of Victoria 

 actually voted 5000/. to assist ,in an expedition if the Im- 

 perial Government would also take part in it. The 

 Manchester meeting of the British Association in 1887 

 again considered the question, and at Bath in 1888 Sir 

 Erasmus Ommanney's Committee gave in a final report 

 expressing regret that Her Majesty's Government had 

 declined to support the Australian proposals ; which they 

 did on the ground that if successful a more expensive 

 expedition would be called for. During the year 1891 an 

 effort was made in Australia to initiate a joint Australian 

 and Swedish expedition, but without result, and financial 

 difficulties afterwards prevented the renewal of .Australian 

 offers. At the Fifth International Geographical Congress 

 at Bern, and at the British Association at Cardiff, papers 

 were read by Sir Erasmus Ommanney and Mr. Delmar 

 Morgan on the advisability of getting up an expedition. 

 In 1892 a new phase of the question was entered upon. 

 Whaling expeditions to the seas south of the Falkland 

 Islands were despatched from Dundee and from Norway. 

 Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Leigh Smith and the support 

 of the Royal Geographical Society, the Balcena and Active., 

 of Dundee, were supplied with instruments, and their 

 surgeons, Messrs. Bruce and Donald, were selected with 

 a view to making scientific observations. Captain Larsen, 

 of the Norwegian whaler yiay^?//, also made good observ- 

 ations. They returned in 1893, ^"d the results, although 



NO. 1479. VOL. 57] 



not very striking, were sufficient to show the necessity 

 for finding out more, and the comparative ease with which 

 steam vessels could navigate Antarctic waters. The 

 British Association again appointed a Committee, which 

 reported in 1894. 



Meanwhile the Royal Geographical Society invited 

 Dr. John Murray to bring the subject forward, which 

 he did by an address at an evening meeting in 

 November 1893. Interest in the question has been kept 

 up ever since. Sir Clements Markham and other 

 geographers have never ceased to urge by lectures, 

 and articles in the press, the necessity of renewing ex- 

 ploration. In 1894 the representations of the Royal 

 Geographical Society's Antarctic Committee induced the 

 Royal Society to appoint a Committee which, after pro- 

 nouncing in favour of a Government expedition, sought an 

 interview with the authorities at the Admiralty. A recent 

 article in the Times describes the result — "A deputation 

 from the Royal Society waited upon the first Lord of the 

 Admiralty to lay the matter before him ; but another 

 member of the Government intervened and informed the 

 deputation that Sir James Ross, fifty years ago, had done 

 all that was necessary for the exploration of the Antarctic." 



In 1895 the Norwegian whaler yi«/<a:rf//V reached Cape 

 Adare, where Kristensen and Borchgrevink landed. A 

 conference of the greatest interest was held at the Sixth 

 International Geographical Congress in London, and a 

 resolution of enthusiastic approval carried. The British 

 Association's Council reported, at their meeting in 

 Ipswich, that after considering the question "the 

 Council resolved to express their sympathy with and 

 approval of the effort which is being made by the 

 Royal Geographical Society." This was but cold en- 

 couragement, as the Association proposed to do nothing ; 

 but the promoters of Antarctic research were not at any 

 time baffled by the ice-barriers of officialism, and efforts 

 to compel attention to the scheme were renewed. The 

 Royal Society appointed December 12, 1895, ^o^ ^ dis- 

 cussion on the scientific aspects of the case, to be intro- 

 duced by Dr. John Murray, and arrangements were 

 made in the same month for a deputation, representing 

 the scientific societies of the United Kingdom, to wait 

 on the First Lord of the Admiralty. He intimated that 

 it would be inconvenient to receive it, on the ground of 

 the small strength in officers of the British Navy making 

 it impossible to spare the few required for an expedition. 

 Circumstances led to the discussion being also postponed. 



Throughout 1896 energetic efforts were made by 

 various private individuals to get up commercial expedi- 

 tions to the Antarctic regions, but without success. 

 During the Jubilee rejoicings in 1897, the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society seized the opportunity to hold a con- 

 ference of Colonial Premiers and others, in the hope of 

 reviving Australian offers of co-operation ; and, encour- 

 aged by the result, the Society appealed once more to 

 Government, not this time to the First Lord of the 

 Admiralty, but to Lord Salisbury. It is understood that this 

 representation is now under sympathetic consideration ; 

 and the great meeting at Burlington House has come at 

 a singularly appropriate time. We may be sure that the 

 unanimous voice of that meeting canno.t be disregarded ; 

 and if an expedition is not now arranged, there must be a 

 serious reason for it. 



The demand for Antarctic research is no sudden impulse 

 on the part of men of science ; it originated independently 

 in several quarters, and was not taken up by any of the 

 great societies until it had been made quite clear that it 

 was earnest and widely based. In Germany the agitation 

 for an expedition has resulted in a nearly completed plan, 

 and from Belgium the Bel^ica sailed last summer, and 

 is, we hope, now at work in the southern ice. In July 

 next Sir George Newnes will send out a private expedi- 

 tion under Mr. Borchgrevink, the work of which is sure 

 to be full of interest. The Royal Geographical Society 



