Foreword 
Virtually since its founding, in 1852, the American Geo- 
graphical Society has held an interest in the exploration 
of the Polar Regions. Some thirty years ago Isaiah Bowman, 
speaking about these areas, remarked that “so much 1s now 
known that the unknown ts rather closely localized.” The 
large number of significant contributions to polar knowl- 
edge published by the Society during Dr. Bowman’s direc- 
torship bear witness to his keen interest and enthusiasm 
in promoting a better understanding of the Arctic and the 
Antarctic. He was a believer in scientific exploration, in 
attacking the unknown by placing the known facts in the 
forefront and confronting them with the problems. In his 
foreword to the Society’s publication, “Problems of Polar 
Research,’ Dr. Bowman commented that “a world confer- 
ence on objectives in polar research seems eminently 
desirable, and to supply an equivalent the present book has 
been undertaken by the American Geographical Society.” 
One can well imagine his wholehearted support of the 
present international codperative research taking place in 
the polar regions as part of the International Geophysical 
Year. 
It was therefore highly appropriate that at the mid-point 
in the IGY, the fourth in the series of Isaiah Bowman 
Memorial Lectures was delivered by Dr. Laurence M. 
Gould, eminent geologist, geographer, and explorer in 
both polar regions, at a dinner of the Society held on Janu- 
ary 30,1958. Trained in the field of geology, Dr. Gould 
lil 
