SCIENTIFIC ADVANTAGES OF AN ANTAECTIC 

 EXPEDITION.! 



Dr. Murray's Address. 



From a scientific point of view the advantages to be derived from a 

 well-equipped and well-directed expedition to the Antarctic would, at 

 the present time, be manifold. Every department of natural knowledge 

 would be enriched by systematic observations as to the order in which 

 phenomena coexist and follow each other in regions of the earth's sur- 

 face about which we know very little or are wholly ignorant. It is one 

 of the great objects of science to collect observations of the kind here 

 indicated, and it may be safely said that without them we can never 

 arrive at a right understanding of the phenomena by which we are 

 surrounded, even in the habitable parts of the globe. 



Before considering the various orders of phenomena concerning 

 which fuller information is urgently desired it may be well to point out 

 a fundamental topographical difference between the Arctic and Ant- 

 arctic. In the Northern Hemisphere there is a polar sea almost com- 

 pletely surrounded by continental laud, and continental conditions for 

 the most part prevail. In the Southern Hemisphere, on the other hand, 

 there is almost certainly a continent at the South Pole, which is com- 

 pletely surrounded by the ocean, and in those latitudes the most sim- 

 ple and extended oceanic conditions on the surface of the globe are 

 encountered. 



THE ATMOSPHERE. 



One of the most remarkable features in the meteorology of the globe 

 is the low atmospheric pressure at all seasons in the Southern Hemi- 

 sphere south of latitude 45° S., with the accompanying strong westerly 

 and northwesterly winds, large rain and snow fall, all round the South 

 Polar regions. The mean pressure seems to be less than 29 inches, 

 which is much lower than in similar latitudes in the Northern Hemi- 

 sphere. Some meteorologists hold that this vast cyclonic system and 

 low-pressure area continues south as far as the Pole, the more southerly 

 parts being traversed by secondary cyclones. There are, however, 



1 Address by Dr. John Murray, F. E. S., and subsequent speeches, delivered at a 

 special meeting of the Eoyal Society, London, February 24, 1898. Printed in Nature, 

 No. 1479, vol. 57, March 3, 1898. 



413 



