TOWARDS THE NORTH POLE. 177 



which only experienced aeronauts and Arctic voyagers could 

 answer. I believe that the employment of imprisoned 

 balloon-power for many purposes, especially in time of war, 

 has received as yet much less attention than it deserves. 

 .Of course I am aware that in Arctic regions many diffi- 

 culties would present themselves ; and the idea of ordinary 

 ballooning over the Arctic ice-fields may be regarded as 

 altogether wild in the present condition of the science of 

 aeronautics. But the use of balloon-power as an auxiliary, 

 however impracticable at present, is by no means to be 

 despaired of as science advances. 



After all, however, the advance upon the Pole itself, 

 however interesting to the general public, is far less im- 

 portant to science than other objects which Arctic travellers 

 have had in view. The inquiry into the phenomena of 

 terrestrial magnetism within the Arctic regions ; the inves- 

 tigation of oceanic movements there ; of the laws according 

 to which low temperatures are related to latitude and 

 geographical conditions; the study of aerial phenomena; 

 of the limits of plant life and animal life ; the examination 

 of the mysterious phenomena of the Aurora Borealis these 

 and many other interesting subjects of investigation have 

 been as yet but incompletely dealt with. In the Polar 

 regions, as Maury well remarked, " the icebergs are framed 

 and glaciers launched; there the tides have their cradle, 

 the whales their nursery; there the winds complete their 

 circuit, and the currents of the sea their round, in the won- 

 derful system of oceanic circulation; there the Aurora is 

 lighted up, and the trembling needle brought to rest ; and 

 there, too, in the mazes of that mystic circle, terrestrial 

 forces of occult power and of vast influence upon the well- 

 being of man are continually at work. It is a circle of 

 mysteries; and the desire to enter it, to explore its un- 

 trodden wastes and secret chambers, and to study its 

 physical aspects, has grown into a longing. Noble daring 

 has made Arctic ice and snow-clad seas classic ground." 



