THE VALUE OF ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION 



perate, torrid) which control all plant and animal life 

 to-day. Obviously if this thesis is correct the decisive 

 data will be found in those lands which lie around the 

 poles — and of these the Antarctic lands are much the 

 most extensive. It is a very remarkable fact that 

 though we now have an almost complete series of 

 geological formations surveyed in Antarctica, dealing 

 with the whole five hundred million years of the 

 geological record, there is no evidence of any extreme 

 glacial climates such as we know occurred in other 

 parts of the w^orld, either in Cambrian, Silurian, or 

 Permian times. There is a vague indication of glacial 

 beds of early Tertiary Age, but nothing suggesting 

 that the aw^e-inspiring ice plateau of the seventh Con- 

 tinent dates back more than the last few million years 

 in our long terrestrial epic. 



It is the purpose of this small book to interest the 

 reader in the adventures and researches of that ex- 

 tremely small number of the earth's huge population 

 who have been willing to try to prove that polar ex- 

 ploration is well worth while. 



