320 The American Geologist. October, 1902. 
Thus it is that exploration in cold climates has, for obvious 
reasons, thus far been centered in the north. Lieut. Peary, 
as an indefatigable explorer, has of late enlarged our knowl- 
edge of Arctic geography.* He has shown that Greenland is 
an island and, further, has fixed the limits of this enormous 
territory. We are led to believe, however, that the Antarctic 
region may soon give up its secrets, for some of the best 
eciuipped, most costly, and most scientific expeditions ever 
planned have moved toward the southern pole. The two 
largest are those of Britain and Germany, each supported by 
government grants to the extent of $250,000, with additional 
private contributions amounting to $100,000. Two smaller 
expeditions are also sent out ; one by the Scotch, and the 
other under the command of Dr. Otto Nordenskjold, a nephew 
of the late Baron Nordenskjold, the famous Arctic explorer.t 
These expeditions are equipped for a work of from three to 
six }-ears, and if successful, our knowledge of the southern 
ice sheet will in the future, be based upon fncts rather than 
hypotheses. 
The single Alpine glaciers in comparison with the polar, 
are small ; iis-ually less than 25 miles long, less than three 
miles broad and vary from 200 to 300 feet in depth. It is 
said that the Gorner glacier has an area as large as three 
cities the size of London, or about 350 square miles ; the 
Great Ale:sch glacier, in 1880 was somewhat over ten miles 
long, being the longest of the Alpine glaciers in Europe, 
though covering an area of less than 18 square miles. The gla- 
ciers of the highest peaks of the Himalayas, one of which was 
climbed by Conway to a height of 23,000 feet, reach an extreme 
length of fort_\'i miles so far as known, and ir some cases the 
ice is presumed to be about 1000 feet thick. The glaciers of 
the St. Elias Alps, previously mentioned, are of size corres- 
ponding in general to those of the Himalayas, as the Seward, 
for example, whose length is fifty miles and breadth three 
miles at its narrowest part;! other mountain glaciers of North 
America are quite comparable to those of the Alps, as for in- 
*See "Northward over the 'Great Ice'; a Narrative of Life and Work 
along the Shores and upon the Interior Ice Cap of Northern Greenland 
in the years 1SS6 and 1891-97. Robert E. Peai-j-, '-^ Vols. Illustrated. Fred- 
erick A. Stokes Co., New York, 1896. 
tReview of Reviews, July, 1901. New Phases of Polar Research, 
Cyrus C. Adams. 
JGeog. Jour. 1898. Russel. 
