434 SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE 
tiative. The Royal Society responded at intervals to 
external stimulus, but its action was secondary to that 
of the British Association in the case of Ross’s voyage, 
and in the Discovery expedition it was a partner with the 
Royal Geographical Society, which itself had existed for 
more than sixty years before taking any action to bring 
about exploration in the Antarctic regions. Though an 
Enderby, a Newnes, a Longstaff and a Coats did much 
to make up for the sluggishness and lack of persistence 
of the learned societies they by no means occupied the 
place of a Prince Henry giving a life-long devotion to 
the single cause of specific exploration. 
When the Sixth International Geographical Congress 
laid the foundation of the recent revival of Antarctic 
research there was some prospect of a new era of steady 
advance being entered upon through continuous effort 
under an international arrangement. The condition of 
things had vastly changed since the time of Cook or even 
of Ross, both from the intellectual standpoint and in 
material resources. The Antarctic circle is now only 
a week’s easy steaming from British colonies or Argen- 
tine ports presenting all facilities for refitting, and form- 
ing convenient sites for permanent bases ; the value of 
continuous observations of climatic conditions is fully 
understood, and the existence of extraordinary differences 
in the navigability of polar seas from year to year has 
been definitely ascertained. The recent expeditions were 
however all pretty much on the old plan, spending three 
months in going to their points of attack and three more 
in coming back; and as each came home it was held as 
done with, the stores bought at a great price were sold 
by auction for what they would fetch, the fine ships built 
or specially equipped at immense cost were disposed of 
