191 



DISCOVERY 



So the time is ripe for the new schemes of national 

 education, for the reforms which are taking place in 

 our public schools and universities, and for the many 

 spontaneous movements, such as the Workers' Educa- 

 tional Association. In this general trend towards a 

 better state of things Discovery hopes to play its part 

 by providing all those who are seeking for it with the 

 first-hand evidence of experts in all the many spheres 

 and developments of knowledge. 



***** 



I have received some interesting details about the 



Oxford University Expedition to Spitsbergen.' The 



first party left England on May 31 for Tromso, where it 



was held up for about three weeks owing to a difficulty 



over stores. However, it sailed for Spitsbergen well 



before the end of June in the sloop Terningen (specially 



chartered for the expedition), and the latest news from 



it (on June 29) was a report that the ice conditions 



were very favourable and that the explorers hoped 



to be able to get round to the north of Spitsbergen and 



visit North-East Land, which is practically unknown. 



The members of this party are : Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain 



(leader and ornithologist). Dr. T. G. Longstaff (doctor 



and ornithologist). Captain R. Pocock (surveyor), 



Messrs. J. S. Huxley (geologist), C. S. Elton (assistant 



zoologist), R. W. Segnit (geologist), A. Summerhayes 



(botanist), Seton Gordon (photographer), H. W. Paget- 



Wilkes and D. Brown (assistant ornithologists), A. 



Powell (bird-skinner), and G. Binney (in charge of 



stores). 



***** 



The objects of the expedition are to collect zoological 

 (particularly ornithological) and botanical specimens, 

 to collect fossils and carry out general geological work, 

 and to make observations on the breeding habits of 

 birds, especially of the Phaleropcs, and on the rate of 

 growth of marine organisms in Arctic waters. It has 

 the use of apparatus kindly lent by the Board of 

 Fisheries and by the Admiralty, with which it will 

 make observations on the variations of temperature and 

 salinity of sea-water, and carry out soundings. This 

 party expected to return by the end of this month. 

 ***** 



The second party left England by a collier boat at 

 the^beginning of July. It consisted of Messrs. N. E. 

 Odell (leader and geologist), R. F. Stobart (surveyor), 

 R. Fraser (meteorologist), G. Slater (glaciologist) , J. 

 Walton (botanist), and A. M. Carr-Saunders (zoologist). 

 Its plan of campaign was to form a base at the end of 

 Klass Billen Bay, whence a sledging party of four 



' For a general description of Spitsbergen, see article by 

 Dr. R. N. Rudmose Brown in Discovery, January 1920 ; 

 also' article by J. M. Wordie in The Geographical Journal July 

 1921 



mimbirs was to start out with the object of exploring, 

 surveying and making geological observations in New 

 Friesland, while the rest of the party remained at the 

 base to undertake geological, botanical, and zoological 

 collections, and a collection of Vertebrate fossils. This 

 party expected to return by the middle ol September. 

 ***** 



It will be seen that the two parties include some 

 brilliant young men in the scientific world. The Rev. 

 F. C. R. Jourdain, the leader of the first party and a 

 considerably older man that most of his compamions, 

 is famous for his contributions to the literature of orni- 

 thology, and has collected birds all the world over, one 

 of his latest expeditions ha\ang taken him to Morocco. 

 Mr. Julian Huxley is well known not only amongst 

 scientific, but much wider circles, for his zoological 

 experiments. He has written articles and reviews for 

 this journal. Mr. A. M. Carr-Saunders, a Demonstrator 

 in Zoology of Oxford University, has made wide re- 

 searches both in zoology and in biology, and is a member 

 of the Alpine Club. These are only names at random. 

 A member of the party with a somewhat romantic 

 experience is Mr. H. W. Paget-Wilkes. He came up to 

 Oxford in 1919, after being repatriated from Germany, 

 where he had been a prisoner of war since the German 

 offensive in March 1918. An undergraduate up to a 

 few months ago and at present only twenty-two j'ears 

 of age, he conceived the idea of such an expedition and 

 did a great deal of the spadcwork in its organisation. 

 ***** 



The last British expedition on a large scale to Spits- 

 bergen took place in 1919 under the leadership of Com- 

 mander Frank Wild, C.B.E. This officer is taking the 

 second-in-command's place in Sir Ernest Shackleton's 

 expedition through Antarctic waters planned to start 

 at the end of this month. 



At the instance of the Scottish Syndicate, some 

 extremely interesting investigations of Prince Charles 

 Foreland, the mountainous razor-shaped island off the 

 west coast of West Spitsbergen, and of Stor Fjord, 

 which runs up between Edge Island and the east coast 

 of West Spitsbergen, were carried out last summer by 

 a party under Mr. J. M. Wordie, to whose paper on 

 the country I have already referred. 



***** 



We are certainly maintaining our reputation as a 

 nation of explorers in polar waters. At the same 

 time we must not overlook the gallantry of Captain 

 Amundsen." In a second attempt to drift with the 

 pack-ice in his ship, the Maud, across the Polar Sea 

 via the Bering Strait, he was pinned against the 



* For an appreciation of the difficulties of this undertaking 

 see an article on " Problems of Arctic Discoverj'," by Dr. 

 R. N. Rudmose Brown, in Discovery, May :92i. 



