434 



The Duke of Argyll. 



Concluding Remarks. 



There are many directions in which an Antarctic Expedition would 

 carry out important observations besides those already touched on 

 in the foregoing statement. From the purely exploratory point of 

 view much might be urged in favour of an Antarctic Expedition at 

 an early date ; for the further progress of scientific geography it is 

 essential to have a more exact knowledge of the topography of the 

 Antarctic regions. This would enable a more just conception of the 

 volume relations of land and sea to be formed, and in connexion 

 with pendulum observations some hints as to the densitv of the sub- 

 oceanic crust and the depth of ice and snow on the Antarctic 

 continent might be obtained. In case the above sketch may 

 possibly have created the impression that we really know a great 

 deal about the Antarctic regions, it is necessary to re-state that all 

 the general conclusions that have been indicated are largely hypo- 

 thetical, and to again urge the necessity for a wider and more solid 

 base for generalisations. The results of a successful Antarctic 

 Expedition would mark a great advance in the philosophy — apart 

 from the mere facts — of terrestrial science. 



No thinking person doubts that the Antarctic will be explored. 

 The only questions are : when ? and by whom ? I should like to see 

 the work undertaken at once, and by the British Navy. I should 

 like to see a sum of £150,000 inserted in the Estimates for the 

 purpose. The Government may have sufficient grounds for declining 

 to send forth such an expedition at the present time, but that is no 

 reason why the scientific men of the country should not urge that 

 the exploration of the Antarctic would lead to important additions 

 to knowledge, and that, in the interests of science among English 

 speaking peoples, the United Kingdom should take not only a large 

 but a leading part in any such exploration. 



Remarks by the Duke of Argyll. 



Scientific men generally feel, I think, that they do not need to give 

 detailed reasons in connexion with particular subjects of inquiry, to 

 justify their unanimous desire for an Antarctic Expedition. It is 

 enough, surely, for them to point out the fact that a very large area 

 of the surface of our small planet is still almost unknown to us. 

 That it should be so seems almost a reproach to our civilisation. As 

 to detailed reasons, it may almost be said with truth that there is 

 hardly one of the physical sciences on which important light may not 



