National Geographic Society 



46 1 



earth's axis, the polar dissimilarity would seem 

 to be explained by the relative positions of 

 land and water. The Arctic contains a sea en- 

 circled by land ; the Antarctic contains a land 

 isolated by a circumpolar sea. The main polar 

 difference can be ascribed to the varying facili- 

 ties offered by this distribution of land and 

 water for the absorption and elimination of 

 heat for the circulation of atmospheric and 

 oceanic currents and for the migration of 

 life. 



In the north the great attraction has been 

 the glory of attaining the pole. In the south 

 the aim has been the determination of the 

 limits of the hypothetical continent. Both 

 objects remain unattained, but the combined 

 efforts have given us a priceless fund of useful 

 knowledge. The fascination of the polar dash 

 will increase rather than diminish, and with it 

 will go a similar enthusiasm to reach the South 



Pole. A forced march to the Boreal center, 

 though quickly made and under difficulties so 

 great as to prevent detail investigation, would 

 nevertheless give us a valuable record of the 

 physical environment of the mysterious Arctic 

 basin. Such a record could be supplemented 

 by subsequent studies of circumscribed areas, 

 which, when assembled with our present in- 

 formation, would give us a good picture of the 

 Arctic as a whole. Our record of the Antarctic, 

 good as it is of the border lands, is singularly 

 incomplete and incomprehensive. We need 

 several inland efforts to acquaint us with the 

 great overland sea of ice. The chain to con- 

 nect our present links of frigid knowledge 

 should be carried transpolar into the Boreal 

 Sea, across the Austral highlands, to or beyond 

 the geographical poles. The explorer has next 

 to plan a journey to both the North and the 

 South Poles. 



NATIONAL GEOCRAPHIC SOCIETY 



THE completed program of popular 

 and scientific meetings for 1904- 

 1905 is printed below. The popular 

 meetings have been planned with a view 

 to give a series of authoritative addresses 

 on the great questions of the Far East, 

 now so prominent. The plan of the 

 technical meetings, which are designed 

 more particularly for those engaged in 

 or specially interested in scientific work, 

 is changed somewhat from the plan of 

 last year, in that there will be two or 

 more speakers at every meeting instead 

 of one. The arrangements announced 

 are definite and there will be no change 

 in the program. 



THE POPULAR COURSE 



The addresses in this Course will be 

 delivered in the National RiflesArmory, 

 920 G street, at 8 p. m. on Friday even- 

 ings. Mr Foster's address will be pub- 

 lished in the December number and other 

 addresses in later numbers of the Na- 

 tional Geographic Magazine. 



November H. — " The Japanese Side 

 of the War. ' ' By Mr William E. Curtis. 

 Illustrated. 



November 25.—" China. ' ' By Hon. 

 John W. Foster, formerly Secretary of 

 State, author of "American Diplomacy 



in the Orient," "A Century of Amer- 

 ican Diplomacy." 



December 9. — "Japan." By Baron 

 Kentaro Kaneko, of the House of Peers of 

 Japan, LL. D. , Harvard University, 1 899. 



January 6, 1905. — " Recent Observa- 

 tions on the Russo-Japanese War, in 

 Japan and Manchuria." By Dr Louis 

 Livingston Seaman. Illustrated. 



January 20.— " Russia." By Hon. 

 Charles Emory Smith, formerly Post- 

 master General and Minister to Russia. 



February 3. — " The Philippines. ' ' 

 The Secretary of War, Hon. Wm. H. 

 Taft, formerly Civil Governor of the 

 Philippine Islands, has accepted the in- 

 vitation of the Society to deliver the 

 address on this subject, provided that 

 the demands of public service do not 

 interfere. 



February 17. — "Manchuria and 

 Korea." By Mr Edwin V. Morgan, 

 U. S. Consul to Dalny. Illustrated. 



March JO.— " The Panama Canal." 

 Illustrated. Capt. F. A. Staunton 

 U. S. N. 



March 24. — "The Commercial Prize 

 of the Orient and its Relation to the 

 Commerce of the United States." By 

 Hon. O. P. Austin, Chief of the Bureau 

 of Statistics. Illustrated. 



