v.^ 



LEntered at the Pos.-Ofiioe of New York, N.i'., as Second-Class Matter.J 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



Eighth Yeak. 

 Vol. XVI. No. 405. 



NEW YOEK, November 7, 1890. 



Single Copies, Ten Cents. 

 3.50 Per Yeak, in Advance. 



ANTAECTIC EXPLORATION.' 

 My experience during the four years which have elapsed 

 since this project was fiist mooted in Melbourne, is tliat any 

 reference to the subject is sure to be met with the query Cui 

 bono? Wiiat good can it do? What benefit can come from 

 it? What is the object to be served by such an expedition? 

 In setting myself to the task of answering these questions, 

 let me observe that it would indeed be strange if an unex- 

 plored region eight million square miles in area, — twice the 

 size of Europe, — and grouped around the axis of rotation 

 and the magnetic pole, could fail to yield to investigators 

 some novel and valuable information. But when we notice 

 that the circle is engirdled without by peculiar physical con- 

 ditions which must be correlated to special physical condi- 

 tions within, speculation is exchanged for a confident belief 

 that an adequate reward must await the skilled explorer. 

 The expected additions to the geography of the region are, 

 of all the knowledge that is to be sought for there, the least 

 valuable. Where so many of the physical features of the 

 country — the hills, the valleys, and the drainage lines— have 

 been buried beneath the snow of ages, a naked outline, a 

 bare skeleton of a map, is the utmost that can be delineated. 

 Still, even such knowledge-as this has a distinct value, and, 

 as it can be acquired by the explorers as they proceed about 

 their more important researches, its relatively small value 

 ought not to be admitted as a complete objection to any en- 

 terprise which has other objects of importance. Our present 

 acquaintance with the geography of the region is excessively 

 limited. Eoss just viewed the coast of Victoria Land, be- 

 tween 163° east and leo'' west longitude. He trod its barren 

 strand twice, but on each occasion for a few minutes only. 

 From the adjacent gulf he measured the heights of its vol- 

 canoes, and from its offing he sketched the walls of its icy 

 barrier. Wilkes traced on our map a shore-line from 97° to 

 167° east longitude, and he backed it up with a range of 

 mountains, but he landed nowhere. Subsequently Eoss 

 sailed over the site assigned to part of this land, and hove 

 his lead 600 fathoms deep where Wilkes had drawn a moun- 

 tain. He tells us that the weather was so very clear, that, 

 had high- land been within 70 miles of that position, he 

 must have seen it (Ross's Voyage, 1278). More recently 

 TSTares, in the "Challenger," tested another part of Wilkes's 

 coast-line, and with a like result; and these circumstances 

 throw doubts upon the value of his reported discoveries. 

 D'Urville subsequently followed a bold shore for a distance 

 «f about 300 miles from 136° to 142° east longitude, while in 



1 Address delivered at the annual meeting of the Bankers' Institute of 

 Australasia, Aug. 27, 1890, by G. S. Grifflths. 



67° south latitude, and between 45° and 60° east longitude 

 are Enderby's and Kemp's lands. Again, there is land to 

 the south of the Horn, which trends from 45° to 75° south 

 latitude. These few discontinuous coast lines comprise all 

 our scanty knowledge of the Antarctic land. It will be seen 

 from these facts that the principal geographical problem 

 awaiting solution is the interconnection of these scattered 

 shores. The question is, do they constitute parts of a con- 

 tinent, or are they, like the coasts of Greenland, portions of 

 an archipelago, smothered under an overload of frozen snow, 

 which conceals their insularity? Eoss inclined to the latter 

 view, and he believed that a wide channel leading towards 

 the pole existed between North Cape and the Balleuy Islands 

 {Ross's Voyage, 1221). This view was also held by the late 

 Sir Wyville Thompson. A series of careful observations 

 upon the local currents might throw some light upon these 

 questions. Eoss notes several such in his log. Off Posses- 

 sion Island a current, running southward, took the ships to 

 windward (Ross's Voyage, 1195). Off Coulmau Island an- 

 other drifted them in the same direction at the rate of 18 

 miles a day {Ross's Voyage, 1204). A three-quarter knot 

 northerly current was felt off the Barrier; and may have 

 issued from beneath some part of it. Such isolated observa- 

 tions are of little value, but they were multiplied ; and were 

 the currents correlated with the winds experienced, the in- 

 formation thus obtained might enable us to detect the exist- 

 ence of straits, even where the channels themselves are 

 masked by ice-barriers. 



Finally it is calculated that the centre of the polar ice-cap 

 must be three miles, and may be twelve miles, deep, and 

 that, the material of this ice mountain being viscous, its base 

 must spread out under the crushing pressure of the weight 

 of its centre. The extrusive movement thus s§t up is sup- 

 posed to thrust the ice cliffs off the land at the rate of a 

 quarter of a mile per annum. These are some of the geo- 

 graphical questions which await settlement. 



In the geology of this region we have another subject re- 

 plete with interest. The lofty volcanoes of Victoria Land 

 must present peculiar features. Nowhere else do fire and 

 frost divide the sway so completely. Eoss saw Erebus 

 belching out lava and ashes over the snow and ice which 

 coated its flanks. This circumstance leads us to speculate 

 on the strata that would result from the alternate fall of 

 snow and ashes during long periods and under a low tem- 

 perature. Volcanoes are built up, as contradistinguished 

 from other mountains, which result from elevation or ero- 

 sion. They consist of debris piled round a vent. Lava 

 and ashes surround the crater in alternate lavers. But in 



