186 SCIENCE IN SHORT CHAPTERS. 



(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 be assured that, in 

 spite of their scruples, the attempt will be made by men 

 who share none of their fears, unless the preliminary ex- 

 periments prove that a balloon cannot be kept up long 

 enough. Therefore 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 traveling 

 safely, or demonstrate the impossibility of such ballooning 

 altogether. Such experiments will have considerable scien- 

 tific 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 traveling when thus applied. 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 knowl- 

 edge, and its application by the brave and skillful 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-AMERICAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



Commander Cheyne has gone to America to seek the 

 modest equipment that his own countrymen are unable to 

 supply. He proposes now that his expedition shall be 

 "Anglo-American." I have been asked to join an arctic 

 council, to cooperate 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 Row Mutual Admiration Society, that I heartily 



