EDITORIAL NOTE. 



Little apology seems needed just at the present time 

 for the publication of a new book, if only a translation 

 from a foreign language, on the subject of Antarctic 

 exploration. Germany and Belgium are actively fitting 

 out expeditions under Government auspices, and in 

 England private munificence has come to the assistance 

 of the Learned Societies to whom a conditional Parlia- 

 mentary grant of ,£45,000 has already been promised. 

 Scotland, too, we hear, is fitting out an expedition to 

 work in combination with the others. 



This book, being at once comprehensive and concise, 

 will enable the public to realise all that has been done in 

 the past, and to estimate how much still remains to be 

 done in the future, in the vast field of Antarctic ex- 

 ploration. 



Since 1843, when Sir James Ross returned from the 

 Antarctic, attention has been almost exclusively centred 

 in Arctic exploration. The unexplored area around the 

 North Pole has gradually receded, until in 1895, under 

 Dr. Nansen, the high latitude of 86° 14' N. was reached. 

 This is 500 miles nearer the pole than the highest latitude 

 —78° 10' S. — attained by Sir J. Ross in the southern 

 hemisphere. But since 1892 the tide of interest has 

 turned, and the South Pole again offers a field of 

 danger, difficulty, enterprise and scientific research to 

 the explorer. 



A Belgian expedition under De Gerlache left Antwerp 

 in 1897, an d the preparations for a splendidly-equipped 

 German expedition, under the leadership of Herr Erich 

 von Drygalski, are being rapidly pushed forward : the 



