FUTURE OF ANTARCTIC DISCOVERY. 277 



Bay on that island, and the surrounding district may 

 be regarded as that spot in the Antarctic regions which 

 is best known in every respect. 



The meteorological results secured in the south 

 polar stations were so interesting and startling, that 

 they once more emphasised the supreme importance of 

 Antarctic investigations, not only for the science of 

 meteorology, but also for the theory of the structure of 

 the surface of the whole globe and its organic life, as is 

 made evident by what has been said about the structure 

 of the surface of the island. This matter was discussed 

 at three meetings of the German Geographical Congress, 

 and this assembly of eminent savants publicly and em- 

 phatically declared Antarctic investigations to be both 

 necessary and feasible ; however, this resolution led to 

 no practical effect, the needful means not being forth- 

 coming from either public or private sources. 



The urgent appeal of German geographers found 

 an echo on the other side of the German Ocean. John 

 Murray, the distinguished member of the Challenger 

 expedition, who after the decease of its scientific head 

 was charged with the publication of its results, published 

 in 1886 a detailed and very weighty treatise on the 

 exploration of the south polar regions. Now at last 

 it seemed that the persistent endeavours were to be 

 crowned with a successful result ; Nordenskiold, the 

 famous circumnavigator of Asia, expressed his intention 

 of adding to his northern voyage a voyage to the south 

 polar regions ; governments and private supporters in 

 Australia were reported to be willing to find the needful 

 means, but all these hopeful prospects were once more 

 doomed to disappointment and came to nothing. 



Nevertheless, Murray's work had the small practical 

 result that seal catching and whale fishery in the An- 

 tarctic regions was resumed by the Dundee whalers 

 and by the Hamburg Society Oceana. Although the 



