E.— GEOGRAPHY. 87 



A greater terror than the danger of lack of food in polar exploration 

 used to be the prospect of scurvy. That has practically gone. Scurvy 

 used to be considered inevitable sooner or later. No expedition entirely 

 escaped it, and nearly all lost men and power of work through its ravages. 

 Much of the bad reputation which the Arctic gained in the past must be 

 attributed to scurvy. And its prevalence on the Franklin expedition— it 

 was really attributable for its total loss— and on the Franklin search 

 expeditions gave a grim aspect to polar travel which it has not yet lost in 

 popular opinion. There is no excuse for the occurrence of scurvy on an 

 Arctic expedition to-day, although there may still be risk of it on a journey 

 over the Antarctic continent, but its total disappearance from the 

 casualties the explorer has to face can be a matter now of only a few years. 

 The advance of physiological science will no doubt result in scurvy being 

 classed with the rare or extinct diseases. 



Thus, as knowledge grows, the power of the explorer increases, and 

 the old-time hardships that we read of seem curious fantasies or epics of 

 heroic men battling blindly with ignorance. 



When Europe came to realise that there were no commercial sea 

 routes across the Arctic Ocean, a new motive, other than commercial 

 gain, fortunately inspired polar endeavour or it might have ceased 

 altogether. That aim was found largely in the attainment of the Pole. 

 The actual attainment was of no scientific importance, but it was of 

 value as an ultimate objective and the lure of the Pole led men onwards 

 into the unknown, and thus it served science in its day. 



Once the Poles were gained, that lure vanished. There is to-day as 

 much need as there ever was for the penetration of the Antarctic 

 continent along a score of meridians or of the passage towards the North 

 Pole by more than one route across the Arctic Ocean. But the feat has 

 been accomplished and so the aim no longer fires the popular imagination. 

 It fails to serve as a bait to secure the necessary financial backing for a 

 well-found polar expedition. It may be regrettable, but it is certainly 

 true, at least in this country, that an expedition with purely scientific 

 aims and no sensational journey or feat in its programme must appeal 

 in vain for funds. These are seldom forthcoming for the advancement of 

 pure knowledge. Scott and Shackleton fully realised this in putting 

 their Antarctic plans before the public. Bruce, on the other hand, 

 deploring the necessity, refused to accept it. And after all, high endeavour 

 in the strenuous field of polar exploration has a value of its own, even if 

 that value be not scientific. It is, however, unfortunate that in recent 

 years more than one expedition has been successful in raising funds, and 

 others have attempted to do so, for programmes that were little else than 

 spectacular and bore the smallest prospect of useful work. This is to be 

 deplored because it diverts funds from earnest work and sometimes even 

 brings discredit on polar exploration. Every serious worker in polar 

 research must regret the entry into the field, from time to time, of men who 

 have few qualifications for the task and see in it merely an opening for 

 spectacular notoriety, or a measure of financial gain by means of dramatic 

 cinematograph films and newspaper articles. 



I have tried to show that even if pioneer journeys have not ended, 

 exploration is entering on a new phase, that of fixed stations of at least 



