IV 



Mr. Morton said Dr. Murray, one of the members of the scien- 

 tific staff that was on board the Challenger expedition, had recently 

 read a paper before the Scottish Geographical Society entitled " Notes 

 on an Important Geographical Discovery in the Antarctic regions." 

 Dr. Murray stated that the most interesting discovery made by the 

 whalers who last season visited the Antarctic Seas to the south of Cape 

 Horn was that of the Norwegian schooner Jason, under the command 

 of Captain Larsen. During a short visit to the shores of Seymour 

 Island Captain Larsen pitked up a ^ood many fossils, which had fallen 

 from a decomposing cliff. Some of these fossils were procured by Dr. 

 Donald, and on critical examination they turned out to be specimens of 

 Cuculkea, Gytherea, and Nalica mollusca, similar to those found at 

 Table Cape of the Tertiary period, together with some pieces of a coni- 

 ferous tree. These fossils, Dr. Murray writes, are probably of lower 

 Tertiary age, and indicate a warmer climate than now prevails in these 

 high southern latitudes. Captain Larsen, Dr. Murray says, has again 

 made a voyage in the Jason to the same waters as last year, and has 

 made some highly important geographical discoveries — the moit 

 important made in the Antarctic regions since the time of Captain Rosa 

 in the voyage of the Erebus and Terror. In 1843 Rots spent nearly the 

 whole season in attempts to penetrate the ice to the south and east of 

 Louis Philippe and Jourville Land. Last year the Scotch and Nor- 

 wegian whalers found the sea blocked in the same position. Captain 

 Larsen this year found a comparatively open sea, and was able to proceed 

 a considerable distance within the Antarctic Circle to the south of Louis 

 Phillipe Island. Dr. Murray, in his able paper, states that statements 

 with reference to currents show that they come from the south. 

 Although the barometer is relatively low, as in the case of all the obser- 

 vations in these latitudes, still there is ofcen bright weather, especially 

 when the wind is from the south. So far as they go, Dr. Murray says 

 these observatioES of Captain Larsen confirm the view that there 

 is a large anti-cyclonic region overlying the Antarctic Conti- 

 nent. In a paper I read before this Society in 1890, entitled " What 

 Science and Commerce may gain from an Antarctic Expedition," 

 I said that until we know all that can be discovered as to the limit of 

 pack ice, the extent of the Antarctic Continent, the influence of Mount 

 Erebus, the distribution of flora and fauna, and the probabilities of 

 successful whale fishing, there will be enough to gain, either from a 

 commercial or scientific point of view, to make it worth while to send 

 an expedition to the Antarctic regions. Further, I suggested that 

 England and Australasia should unite in sending an expedition so 

 equipped and manned that failure, if not impossible, should at lefst be 

 unlikely. As far back as 1865, in a paper read before the Royal 

 Geographical Society of England by Captain Sherard Osborne, R.N., 

 C.B., an eminent authority on the Polar regions, said, "an explora- 

 tion of the Polar area should always be sent under naval auspices and 

 naval discipline. The navy of England cries not for mere war to 

 gratify its desire for honourable employment cr fame, there are other 

 achievements it knows well as victorious battle. Upon these points, as 

 well as those of scientific results, it would not be too much to ask for 

 a fraction of the vast sum yearly sunk in naval expenditure for two 

 small screw vessels and 120 officers and men, out of the 50,000 men 

 annually placed at the disposal of the Admiralty." In a letter written 

 by that noble lady, the late Lady Franklin, dated Madrid, April 6, 

 1865, the following passage occurs:— "For the credit and honour of 

 England, the exploration of the Not th Pole should not be left to any 

 other country. It is the birthright and just inheritance of those who 

 have gone through 15 years of toil snl risk in Arctic seas. The glory 

 that yet remains to be gathered should be theirs." I think we may 

 very safely add the words, Antarctic exploration. Dr. Murray eon- 



