I 



NATURE 



6i 



THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1874 



THE ENGLISH ARCTIC EXPEDITION 



HER Majesty's advisers can by no means be accused 

 of precipitancy in the decision they have recently 

 come to, to send out a new Arctic Expedition ; they have 

 certainly waited for " the fulness of the time," which, for 

 the lay mind, maybe said only to have been accomplished 

 with the return of the Payer-Weyprecht expedition. We 

 believe that the scientific societies of the country had 

 good grounds for urging upon Government the propriety 

 of fitting out an expedition for Arctic discovery years 

 ago ; all who understand the Arctic question, we are sure, 

 will coincide with us in the opinion, that had energetic 

 measures been taken when the subject was first urged 

 upon the attention of Government, the earth's surface 

 around the North Pole would by this time have been 

 on our maps. Still, Government cannot be blamed 

 for this tardiness ; it cannot be expected that men 

 who have no occasion to make a special study of 

 scientific questions can see them in the same light as 

 those whose great work in Ufe is scientific investigation ; 

 and, moreover, in a country governed as ours is, Minis- 

 ters, before coming to a decision on any important matter, 

 are bound carefully to feel the country's pulse, not to men- 

 tion their duty in respect of the country's purse. Her 

 Majesty's advisers have, then, no doubt been, from their 

 point of view, wise in deferring till now their decision that 

 England should once more come.[to the fro"nt in the ex- 

 ploration of the unknown " Polynia ;" as they also would 

 have shown themselves extremely unwise and unable to 

 read the country's wishes had they postponed the matter 

 any longer. 



That the Ministry have rightly divined the general wish in 

 reference to the part which England should play in Arctic 

 exploration is evident from the all but unanimous approval 

 with which their decision has been met by the press. The 

 unaccountable roar — undignified howl, we had almost 

 said — which, either too late or too soon, fell from the 

 (evidently, in this case, iU-informed) " leading organ," need 

 not be made much of. It was evidently not the result of 

 a candid and comprehensive consideration of the whole 

 question by one competent to decide. Were the objec- 

 tions so bitterly uttered by the Times against Arctic ex- 

 ploration to have force, they would equally hold against 

 all abstract scientific investigation whatever, and indeed 

 against all work not undertaken for the lust of gold. 

 Happily, however, it is long since the race has become 

 convinced that " man cannot live by bread alone," and 

 that there is a hunger that will never be appeased so long 

 as a shred of mystery hangs to this earth of ours and to 

 the mighty universe of which it forms part ; and there is 

 no danger of man's noblest appetite becoming extinct for 

 lack of material to feed upon. But, indeed, the Times 

 article is a puzzling one ; it is so inconsistent with its 

 opinions on questions of a similar kind, and with its 

 advanced opinions on scientific questions generally. 



As to the propriety of Government undertaking the 



organisation of an Arctic expedition, we have said so 



much already on this subject, both directly when the 



subject was formerly before the public, and indirectly in 



Vol. XI. — No. 265 



connection with the advancement of scientific research, 

 that we need not refer to it here again. That any but a 

 Government expedition under naval discipline is inade- 

 quate for the work of thorough polar exploration has been 

 practically proved over andover again ; what can be accom- 

 plished by an expedition so organised, under comparatively 

 favourable circumstances, may be seen in the valuable 

 work already achieved by H.M.S. Challenger. For 

 similar reasons we need not refer to the many important 

 advantages to science, and therefore to mankind, which 

 are certain to result from a thorough exploration of the 

 regions and the terrestrial conditions around the pole. 

 For one thing, it is scarcely any exaggeration to say that 

 all the civilised world is looking to Britain for the final 

 unravelling of the Arctic mystery, to complete the work 

 which has already added so considerably to the general 

 sum of her glory ; witness Dr. Petermann's letter, vol. xi. 

 P- 39 :— 



" I do not know," Petermann says, " the views held in 

 England now, but I know that to us outsiders the 

 achievements and work of a man like Sir James Clarke 

 Ross or Livingstone have done more for the prestige 

 of G reat Britain than a march to Coomassie, that cost 

 nine millions of pounds sterling. That great explorer, 

 Livingstone, is no more ; his workjis going to be continued 

 and finished by German and American explorers ; we 

 shall also certainly not let the Arctic work rest till it is 

 fully accomplished, but it surely behoves Great Britain 

 now to step in and once more to take the lead." 



How keenly the resolution of the Cabinet has been 

 appreciated by naval and scientific men, is shown by the 

 number of competent volunteers which have already 

 come forward for the e.xpedition ; so many, indeed, as to 

 make the task of selecting embarrassing ; so far as suitable 

 men are concerned, a dozen Arctic expeditions might be 

 efficiently'fitted out. 



As to the route, herein also has the Government shown 

 its discernment ; there can be no doubt that any expedi- 

 tion, one of whose objects is to attempt to reach the pole, is 

 shut up to adopt the Smith's Sound route. Capt. Koldewey's 

 work in 1869-70 proved finally the impossibility of pene- 

 trating to the pole between Greenland and Spitzbergen ; 

 the recently returned Austro-Hungarian expedition proves 

 that the task is equally hopeless on the Novaya Zemlya 

 side of Spitzbergen ; Behring Strait is out of the question. 

 Thus the demonstration that the route by which the 

 Polaiis accomplished so much is the gateway to the pole, 

 has been completed by the attempt of the Payer-Wey- 

 precht expedition ; and thus, no doubt, the Government 

 has shown considerable prudence in delaying its decision 

 until the data were complete, as well as its generous 

 readiness to step in at the right moment. As we said 

 last week, now that the expedition has been decided on, 

 its equipment will be carried out on a thoroughly liberal 

 scale. A note this week tells what has been done by 

 Sir Leopold M'Clintock as to the selection of the vessels 

 which are to carry the expedition, and, as we learn from 

 an evidently authoritative article in Saturday's Daily News, 

 the strength of the expedition will probably consist of from 

 100 to i20ofificers and men. Preparations have been already 

 begun, and as the expedition will probably not sail till the 

 month of May next year, we may expect that it will leave our 

 shores more perfectly equipped in every respect than any 

 expedition that has hitherto sailed to the same quarter of 



