NA TURE 



[July 4, 1901 



by it. Copies of this Act will be supplied to you. Vou will 

 see that the officers and crew sign the ship's articles as required 

 by the Act. The scientific staff will not sign articles, but are 

 to be treated as cabin passengers. Vou must be careful not to 

 take more than twelve persons as passengers. 



So it is now quite clear that the Discovery is not on 

 His Majesty's service in any sense of this phrase ; 

 the demand also that the members of the civilian staff 

 should sign articles has been dropped as impracticable ; 

 so we fail to see why an officer of the Royal Navy with- 

 out any experience of Polar exploration should have been 

 preferred for the command to a captain in the merchant 

 service familiar with work of this character and less 

 likely to stand upon the dignity of his rank. 



We observe also that the civilian director is carefully 

 warned off from interference with all scientific work done 

 by the officers of the ship by the following clause ; — 



The scientific work of the executive officers of the ship will 

 be under your immediate control, and will include magnetic 

 and meteorological observations, astronomical observations, 

 surveying and charting, and sounding operations. 



We may remark that, throughout, the instructions 

 indicate that the framers of them are not quite easy in 

 their minds, for it is solemnly impressed on the com- 

 mander that he has a grand chance which he must on 

 no account throw away, and advice is givt-.i to both 

 which might be put in the homely form, "We hope you 

 will be good boys and not quarrel." 



We pass on to the definitions of the objects of the 

 expedition :-- 



The objects of the expedition are (a) to determine, as far as 

 possible, the nature, condition and extent of that portion of the 

 South Polar lands which is included in the scope of your ex- 

 pedition ; and (b) to make a magnetic survey in the southern 

 regions to the south of the 40th parallel, and to carry on 

 meteorological, oceanographic, geological, biological and physi- 

 cal investigations and researches. Neither of these objects is 

 to be sacrificed to the other. 



Geographical discovery and scientific exploration by sea and 

 land should be conducted in two quadrants of the four into 

 which the Antarctic regions are divided for convenience of 

 reference, namely the Victoria and Ross Quadrants. It is 

 desired that the extent of land should be ascertained by follow- 

 ing the coast lines, that the depth and nature of the ice-cap 

 should be investigated, as well as the nature of the volcanic 

 region, of the mountain ranges, and especially of any fossil- 

 iferous rocks. 



Whenever it is possible, while at sea, deep-sea sounding 

 should be taken with serial temperatures, and samples of sea- 

 water at various depths are to be obtained for physical and 

 chemical analysis. Dredging operations are to be carried on as 

 frequently as possible, and all opportunities are to be taken for 

 making biological and geological collections. 



Whether the Discovery should or should not winter in 

 the ice is left to the discretion of the commander. In 

 that event the following direction is given : — 



Vour efforts, as regards geographical exploration, should be 

 directed, with the help of depots, to three objects, namely, an 

 advance into the western mountains, an advance to the south, 

 and the exploration of the volcanic region. 



And it is kindly added : — 



The director and his staff shall be allowed all facilities for 

 the prosecution of their researches. 



In the event of not wintering, the commander is in- 

 structed to land a party between Cape Crozier and Cape 

 Johnson, if a suitable place can be found. In regard to 

 magnetic observations special directions are given, from 

 which it appears that the authors of the instructions have 

 taken pains that at any rate this branch of science shall 

 not be neglected. 



The instructions to the director of the civilian scientific 



NO. 1653, VOL. 64] 



staff cannot be said to err on the side of precision. For 

 information as to the objects of the expedition they refer 

 him to the instructions given toils commander, which, it 

 is said, will also suffice to indicate his position relatively 

 to the latter. The director can certainly claim to be un- 

 fettered as to his methods and objects of work, for there 

 is no direct mention of anything but the disposal of the 

 results. It might, however, have been well for those re- 

 sponsible for these instructions to have indicated the points 

 on which information was especially desired. Still, they 

 have not omitted the precaution of informing the director 

 and members of the civilian staff that they join the ex- 

 pedition at their own risk. 



But who is this director ? The instructions name 

 two officials, Mr. Hodgson (biologist), Mr. Shackleton 

 (physicist), and the two medical officers, Dr. Koettlitz and 

 Dr. Wilson, who will act respectively as botanist and 

 zoologist when their other duties permit. We are aware 

 that Mr. George Murray will occupy he position of 

 director at the outset of the expedition, but it has been 

 publicly stated that he will not accompany it beyond 

 Australia or New Zealand. Is he to devote himself during 

 his voyage out to training up one of these four in the way 

 that he should afterwards go as his successor, trusting, 

 as with a plant, to quick development under the tropical 

 sun 'i or is there still a lingering hope of picking up a 

 director somewhere in the .Antipodes ? — that would indeed 

 be a feat worthy of the Discovery I 



Magnetic work, as we have said, is happily not neg- 

 lected. Biological work also, so far as it can be done 

 from the ship, will probably receive attention ; how 

 far it will be carried out on land must be left, as we have 

 seen, to the chapter of accidents. Geology has to be 

 content with a bare mention, and the Antarctic ice is 

 just named. Yet a thorough study of its phenomena 

 should have been made prominent among the objects of 

 this expedition. The ice cap of the Antarctic region, as 

 has long been known, is in all probability on a much 

 grander scale than even in Greenland. It is as large as, 

 if not larger than, any which existed in northern lati- 

 tudes during the glacial epoch. Here, then, if anywhere, 

 information can be obtained as to the work and the 

 indications of such an ice-cap. Certainly these questions 

 will not be solved, nor " the depth and nature of the ice- 

 cap " investigated, by following the coast-line or by any- 

 thing less than by the researches of a party stationed for 

 a considerable time on the land. But to make information 

 on these questions really valuable it must have been col- 

 lected by one who is thoroughly familiar with them 

 and can distinguish between trivial and important 

 phenomena. Can we say that any member of the staff 

 possesses these qualifications ? Indeed, as we see from 

 the description quoted above, no one of the present staff 

 even claims to be a geologist. 



One other point deserves notice. In a covering letter, 

 signed by the chairman of the final committee of the 

 Royal and Geographical Societies, sent with the instruc- 

 tions to their presidents (to which, as it is not marked 

 confidential, we presume we may refer), we find a state- 

 ment that the instructions have been settled in their pre- 

 sent form in consequence of Prof. Gregory's resignation. 

 The reason for bringing in his name is not easy to dis- 

 cover, unless it be that the committee felt ill at ease ; for 

 it is a wise policy, when conscious of being in a very 

 questionable position, to hint to all the world that the 

 other party is to blame. Any such innuendo Prof. 

 Gregory can afford to disregard. His actions have been 

 throughout above board and consistent. The Royal 

 Society, as we have already pointed out, has displayed, 

 through its representatives, little care for the interests of 

 science and a lack of moral courage in fighting its 

 battles. We can now only hope for the best ; but we 

 fear events will prove that these things also are better 

 managed in Germany than in England. 



