802 
can spare neither ships nor officers, men nor 
money, for an undertaking of such magni- 
tude. The example of Foreign Powers— 
rather than the representations from our 
own scientific men—appears to have been 
chiefly instrumental in at last inducing the 
Government to promise a sum of 45,0001., 
provided that an equal amount be forth- 
coming from other sources. This resolve 
throws the responsibility for the financial 
administration, for the equipment, and for 
the management of this exploration, on the 
representative scientific societies, which 
have no organization ready for carrying out 
important executive work on such an ex- 
tensive scale. Iam doubtful whether this 
state of matters should be regarded as a 
sign of increasing lukewarmness on the part 
of the Government towards marine research, 
or should rather be looked on as a most un- 
expected and welcome recognition of the 
growing importance of science and scientific 
men to the affairs of the nation. Let us 
adopt the latter view, and accept the heavy 
responsibility attached thereto. 
Any one who will take the trouble to 
read, in the ‘ Proceedings’ of the Royal 
Society of London, the account of the dis- 
cussion which recently took place on ‘The 
Scientific Advantages of an Antarctic Ex- 
pedition,’ will gather some idea of the num- 
ber and wide range of the subjects which it 
is urged should be investigated within the 
Antarctic area; the proposed researches 
have to do with almost every branch of sci- 
ence. Unless an earnest attempt be made 
to approach very near to the ideal there 
sketched out, widespread and lasting disap- 
pointment will certainly be felt among the 
scientific men of this country. The pro- 
posed expedition should not be one of ad- 
venture. Nota rapid invasion and a sud- 
den retreat, with tales of hardships and 
risks, but a scientific occupation of the un- 
known area by observation and experiment 
should be aimed at in these days. 
SCIENCE. 
[N. 8S. Vou. X. No. 257. 
I have all along estimated the cost ofa 
well-equipped Antarctic Expedition at about 
160,0001. I see no reason for changing my 
views on this point at the present time, nor 
on the general scope of the work to be 
undertaken by the proposed expedition, as 
set forth in the papers I have published on 
the subject. There is now a sum of at most 
90,0001. in hand, or in view. If one ship 
should be specially built for penetrating the 
icy region, and be sent south with one 
naturalist on board, then such an expedition 
may, it will be granted, bring back interest- 
ing and important results. But it must be 
distinctly understood that this is not the 
kind of exploration scientific men have been 
urging on the British public for the past 
fifteen or twenty years. We must, if pos- 
sible, have two ships, with landing parties 
for stations on shore, and with a recognized 
scientific leader and staff on board of each 
ship. Although we cannot have the Royal 
Navy, these ships can be most efficiently 
officered and manned from the Mercantile 
Marine. With only one ship many of the 
proposed observations would have to be cut 
out of the program. In anticipation of 
this being the case, there are at the present 
moment irreconcilable differences of opinion 
among those most interested in these ex- 
plorations, as to which sciences must be 
sacrificed. | 
The difficulties which at present surround 
this undertaking are fundamentally those 
of money. ‘These difficulties would at once 
disappear and others would certainly be 
overcome, should the members of the 
British Association at this meeting agree 
to place in the hands of their president a 
sum of 50,000/., so that the total amount 
available for Antarctic exploration would 
become something like 150,000/. Although 
there is but one central Government, surely 
there are within the bounds of this great 
Empire two more men like Mr. Longstaff. 
The Government has suddenly placed the 
