118 EETUEN OF THE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



comprehend more and more thoroughly the great universe 

 in which we live, and the laws which govern it, one of the 

 very strongest wants of civilised humauity ? Does not the 

 man who fails to appreciate this fact stand self-condemnedi 

 as at bottom merely a barbarian ? Let us take a hasty 

 glance at the chief branches of science which will be furthered 

 by Antarctic research, not only by the expedition whose 

 successful return we are this evening celebi'ating, and others 

 of a similar character — that is to say, by operations con- 

 ducted principally on land— but by all the various methods 

 of exploration and investigation of the Antarctic regions- 

 which we may feel certain will more and more fully and 

 vigorously be adopted in the coming century. I have time 

 for little more than a bare enumeration. First, there is the 

 geographical problem. As was pithily said by Major Darwin 

 at the last meeting of the British Association, the greatest 

 unknown feature of the Antarctic regions is the Antarctic 

 Continent itself. The whole unknown region embraces an 

 area of some six or seven million square miles, with a circum- 

 ference of, say, 9,000 miles. The magnitude of these figures 

 is rather appalling, and it is clear tha,t the work of becoming 

 acquainted with such an area, or even with such 

 parts of it as may prove accessible, will last for many 

 years, and engage many expeditions. What is most wanted 

 at first is to attack the problem in a way which may- 

 be described as taking samples — as many as possible. Mr. 

 Borcbgrevink's expedition has just obtained a sample in a 

 region of especial interest, that surrounding the Magnetic- 

 Pole. But besides this detailed examination of small 

 portions, more extended operations acting circumferentially 

 would be of great interest, particularly as giving us a truer 

 idea of the extent of the Continent and of its outlying- 

 islands and archipelagos. At present no man can say 

 whether nearly the whole area I have mentioned is con- 

 tinental or only about half of it, or, it may be, even less 

 than that. Such preliminary reconnaissances may take the 

 form of either coasting voyages or land travel along or near 

 the coasts. The nature of the icy covering of both sea and 

 land will determine the best course to pursue, and in 

 different parts of the circuit different methods will very 

 possibly be found most effective. Either form of expedition 

 will find far more objects of investigation, coming under- 

 the head of physical geography, than the mere charting of 

 coastlines. On the one hand, there is the vertical contour 

 of the land to be observed, and the problems, merging into 

 the domains of the physicist and the geologist, connected 

 with its glacial covering, its mode of accumulation,, 

 structure, movements, and ultimate separation and 

 dispersion. Petrological examination of the rocks will 



