﻿PuRNELL. 
  — 
  On 
  Antarctic 
  Eccploration. 
  31 
  

  

  [Note. 
  — 
  Mill 
  makes 
  a 
  note 
  that 
  the 
  reviewer 
  in 
  the 
  Edinburgh 
  Review, 
  

   (October, 
  1844), 
  suggested 
  a 
  definition 
  of 
  implements 
  very 
  similar 
  to 
  that 
  

   which 
  I 
  have 
  proposed, 
  hut 
  I 
  have 
  not 
  been 
  able 
  to 
  procure 
  a 
  copy 
  of 
  the 
  

   review. 
  See 
  Book 
  I., 
  chap, 
  ii., 
  sec. 
  4.] 
  

  

  Art. 
  II. 
  — 
  On 
  Antarctic 
  Exploration. 
  By 
  C. 
  W. 
  Purnell. 
  

  

  [Read 
  before 
  the 
  Otago 
  Institute, 
  14f7i 
  Mmj, 
  1878.] 
  

  

  In 
  a 
  presidential 
  address 
  delivered 
  to 
  the 
  members 
  of 
  this 
  Institute, 
  in 
  

   February, 
  1875, 
  Mr. 
  J. 
  T. 
  Thomson 
  cursorily 
  alluded 
  to 
  the 
  subject 
  of 
  

   antarctic 
  exploration. 
  This 
  subject 
  had 
  been 
  under 
  my 
  own 
  notice 
  for 
  

   some 
  time 
  previously, 
  and 
  I 
  should 
  probably 
  have 
  asked 
  permission 
  to 
  

   read 
  a 
  paper 
  upon 
  it 
  but 
  for 
  Mr. 
  Thomson's 
  remarks, 
  which 
  seemed 
  to 
  

   render 
  it 
  needless 
  for 
  me 
  to 
  do 
  so 
  just 
  then. 
  Other 
  x^ersons, 
  I 
  dare 
  say, 
  

   have 
  had 
  their 
  attention 
  directed 
  to 
  so 
  fascinating 
  a 
  topic, 
  although, 
  after 
  

   searching 
  such 
  official 
  records 
  of 
  the 
  proceedings 
  of 
  the 
  different 
  Philoso- 
  

   jDhical 
  Societies 
  in 
  the 
  Australian 
  colonies 
  as 
  are 
  available, 
  I 
  have 
  been 
  

   unable 
  to 
  discover 
  any 
  paper 
  dealing 
  with 
  it, 
  or 
  any 
  allusion 
  whatever 
  

   to 
  the 
  matter, 
  save 
  that 
  contained 
  in 
  Mr. 
  Thomson's 
  address. 
  Yet 
  it 
  

   seems 
  to 
  me 
  that 
  there 
  is 
  no 
  subject 
  better 
  fitted 
  for 
  the 
  consideration 
  of 
  

   a 
  scientific 
  society 
  in 
  these 
  colonies, 
  and 
  more 
  particularly 
  of 
  the 
  Otago 
  

   Institute, 
  than 
  the 
  best 
  means 
  of 
  exploring 
  the 
  South 
  Polar 
  Seas. 
  They 
  

   form 
  a 
  weird 
  and 
  strange 
  region 
  almost 
  unkno-wn 
  to 
  man. 
  They 
  have 
  been 
  

   unvisited 
  by 
  any 
  exploring 
  expedition 
  since 
  1843; 
  and 
  no 
  discoveries 
  appear 
  

   to 
  have 
  been 
  made 
  by 
  whahng 
  vessels, 
  or 
  at 
  all 
  events 
  none 
  have 
  been 
  

   recorded, 
  to 
  supplement 
  those 
  of 
  Sir 
  James 
  Eoss 
  ; 
  so 
  that, 
  while 
  during 
  

   the 
  last 
  five-and-thirty 
  years 
  our 
  knowledge 
  of 
  the 
  North 
  Polar 
  region 
  has 
  

   been 
  immensely 
  augmented 
  ; 
  while 
  Africa 
  has 
  been 
  crossed 
  and 
  re-crossed 
  ; 
  

   while 
  the 
  telegraj^h 
  line 
  has 
  been 
  carried 
  over 
  the 
  then 
  unknown 
  interior 
  

   of 
  Austraha, 
  absolutely 
  nothing 
  has 
  been 
  done 
  towards 
  clearing 
  up 
  the 
  

   mystery 
  which 
  enshrouds 
  the 
  regions 
  lying 
  within 
  the 
  antarctic 
  circle. 
  It 
  

   has 
  been 
  estimated 
  that 
  a 
  portion 
  of 
  the 
  globe, 
  three 
  times 
  the 
  area 
  of 
  

   Em-ope, 
  here 
  lies 
  unexplored. 
  The 
  entrance 
  to 
  this 
  field 
  of 
  enterprise, 
  too, 
  

   is 
  within 
  a 
  few 
  days' 
  steam 
  of 
  Otago. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  of 
  the 
  highest 
  geographical 
  importance 
  to 
  know 
  whether 
  an 
  

   antarctic 
  contment 
  exists 
  or 
  not. 
  Cook's 
  researches 
  in 
  the 
  latter 
  part 
  of 
  

   the 
  eighteenth 
  century 
  dispelled 
  the 
  old 
  belief 
  in 
  a 
  Terra 
  AustraUs, 
  but 
  

  

  