March 3, 1898] 



NA TURE 



415 



also could easily have arranged for a small expedition 

 under competent leadership, had it not felt that pre- 

 liminary work is not now so much wanted as substantial 

 and sustained research, the expense of which would be 

 too great for an individual or a society, though trifling to 

 a nation. A large expedition is necessary, and a vast 

 amount of anxiety and uncertainty as to the manner of 

 working would be spared if it could sail under naval 

 discipline, like the Challenger. There must be no mix- 

 ture of commercial with scientific interests : when the 

 conditions of the region are investigated, and its re- 

 sources tested, private enterprise will not be slow to take 

 practical advantage of useful discoveries. The incidental 

 scraps of scientific value which commercial cruises have 

 produced are undoubtedly useful to a certain degree ; but 

 scientific men on board vessels of that class have too 

 frequently failed to work smoothly with the executive 

 authorities. The exact relations to be observed between 

 naval officers and civilian scientific staff can be deter- 

 mined in the light of past experience. 



The object of Thursday's meeting was to elicit expert 

 opinion as to the scientific advantages likely to be de- 

 rived from adequate exploration of the South Polar 

 region. In the absence through illness of Lord Lister, 

 Sir John Evans presided, and the meeting-room of the 

 Royal Society was crowded by a remarkable audience. 

 In addition to the leading authorities in London on every 

 branch of science, there were present the three men who 

 have been nearest the two poles. Dr. Nansen and Lieut. 

 Johansen from 86" N., and Sir Joseph Hooker from 78° 

 S., the only sur\^ivor of Ross's expedition, and the last 

 man alive who has seen Mount Erebus and the southern 

 Ice Barrier. Dr. Neumayer, of the Deutsche Seewarte, 

 came from Hamburg specially for this meeting, an 

 example of international generosity to be the more 

 esteemed because the German Antarctic expedition, 

 which he has done so much to promote, is at last on the 

 verge of taking definite shape. The Italian Ambassador 

 also represented by his presence the friendly interest of 

 a country which in 1880 made a courageous attempt, 

 under Lieut. Bove, to take an active part in south polar 

 work. Invitations to many of the younger scientific 

 men engaged in departments of research bearing on the 

 subject of the meeting had been sent out by the Society, 

 and these were taken advantage of to the full. The in- 

 terest of some who could not be present was conveyed 

 by letter ; a communication from the Duke of Argyll 

 was read by the Secretary, dwelling on the value of 

 the proposed expedition. Lord Kelvin had the evening 

 before, while presiding at a lecture by Dr. Nansen in 

 Glasgow, expressed his own views very strongly. Stating 

 that the lecturer was leaving immediately after the lecture 

 to attend the Royal Society meeting, he said, as re- 

 ported in the Glasgow Herald: "The object of that ! 

 meeting was to consider a proposal for an expedition to '' 

 investigate the Antarctic polar regions, and Dr. Nansen 

 was going to help the Society in its deliberations. If ; 

 such an expedition were undertaken, and he hoped it 

 would, it ought to receive the help of the Government. 

 The British Government should make one of its primary j 

 objects the work of exploration, so that there should be 

 nothing unknown of the whole ocean coast-line." I 



Dr. John Murray introduced the discussion by touch- 

 ing on all the scientific desiderata of the Antarctic 

 regions ; and after him nine speakers enforced and 

 extended his arguments. Sir John Evans wisely de- 

 cided that the discussion should be confined to the purely 

 scientific aspect of the case, and the speakers closely 

 followed his advice. The audience received the various 

 addresses with applause such as is seldom heard in 

 Burlington House. A good deal was made of the extent 

 of our present knowledge, and an outsider might sup- 

 pose that there was less diversity of opinion than really 



NO. 1479, VOL. 57] 



exists. The different estimates of the value of an 

 Antarctic expedition to zoology, expressed by Dr. 

 Sclater and Prof. D'Arcy Thompson, and the emphatic 

 statement of the discrepancy between Ferrel's (or rather 

 Dr. James Thomson's) theory of atmospheric circulation, 

 and the indications of meteorological observations in 

 the Far South, by Dr. Buchan, were stimulating and 

 j suggestive. How little we know of the Antarctic may be 

 ! gauged from the map accompanying this article. 

 I The meeting, the Chairman observed in closing it, was 

 ! of unprecedented length, and a number of gentlemen 

 I who were prepared to take part had no opportunity to 

 ' speak ; while some of the speeches, especially that of 

 Sir W. J, L. Wharton, in which he spoke of the popu- 

 I larity of such an expedition in the Navy, had to be cut 

 ' very short. It would be worth while to consider whether 

 some further opportunity might be given to bring before 

 the scientific public the unheard arguments of last week. 

 The historical argument was not brought forward ; 

 but it is of importance in relation to the motive for ex- 

 ploration. At first the Antarctic question was the purely 

 ; academic one of the possible existence of Antipodes, and 

 was discussed by the ancient Greek geographers from 

 analogy alone. On the revival of exploration in the 

 fifteenth century, the existence of an Antarctic con- 

 tinent shutting in the Indian Ocean to the south, as 

 supposed by Ptolemy, was a matter of much practical 

 concern, for it affected the possibility of a sea-route to 

 India. After the discovery that Africa could be rounded 

 on the south, the appearance of the continent of America 

 was looked on as a sign of the existence of a mass of 

 Antarctic land. When Magellan penetrated his straits, 

 and even after the rounding of Cape Horn, a vast 

 Antarctic continent reaching to the tropics was a matter 

 of common belief. Cook's first voyage of exploration 

 detached New Zealand from this hypothetical continent ; 

 his second proved that any continent which might exist 

 lay within the Antarctic circle. With this discovery the 

 political motive for Antarctic exploration vanished. The 

 only possible reason for adequate exploration was thence- 

 forward scientific, and sixty-four years after Cook re- 

 turned the ships of Sir James Clarke Ross set out on 

 their great cruise. That was fifty-nine years ago. The 

 intervals of sixty-four and fifty-nine years were both 

 marked by the incidental work of other expeditions, 

 such as the circumnavigations of Bellingshausen and 

 Dumont d'Urville, and that of the Challenger. Com- 

 mercial enterprise also sent out a number of daring 

 sailors, the fleets of the Enderbys before Ross, and those 

 of the Scottish and Norwegian whalers since. The 

 commercial motive has proved insufficient in the south, 

 potent as it was for many centuries in the north. The fact 

 stands to-day that if the scientific motive fails to produce 

 the result, the Antarctic regions will never be explored. 



Putting the matter in its simplest form, civilised 

 man must understand his dwelling-place ; the key to 

 many puzzles, the end of many controversies afTectmg 

 the theory of the phenomena of the whole world, lies 

 behind the vast Antarctic veil. It is the duty of the 

 human race to lift that veil, whether there be much or 

 little behind it, and the British people, as represented 

 by the Government, ought to take the lead. We ought 

 to take the lead because our territory in Australasia, 

 Africa, and the Falkland Islands comes nearest to the 

 unknown region ; because our national welfare is more 

 concerned than any other in the intelligent and safe 

 navigation of the Southern Ocean ; and because our 

 Government, our Navy, and our scientific societies are 

 richer and stronger now than they were in the days of 

 Cook and of Ross, both absolutely and with reference 

 to other nations. That other nations are preparing, or 

 have prepared, to take part in wiping off this huge re- 

 proach on the enterprise and ihe self-respect of nineteenth 



