CURRENT LITE RAT UR E.
THE SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE.
The Siege of the South, Pole : the Story of Antarctic Exploration. By Hugh Robert Mill, LL.D., D.Sc. (Alston. Rivers. .10s. 6d.)— As a human document the story of Antarctic exploration is of great interest. It is the story of high hopes and great dis- appointments while the aims were material, and of the saner satisfaction of pure conquest when, as later, the object was simply knowledge. Tho earlier chapters of this history are concerned with the discovery of a geographical " mare's-nest," that great qouthern land of infinite promise which, looming large in men's imaginations for centuries, was only finally renounced when Cook, sircumnavigating the globe about the sixtieth parallel, dispelled all hope of a habitable and profitable Antarctica. After that, curiosity and scientific interest, with (especially in the case of meteorology and terrestrial magnetism) their bearing on human welfare, became the leading motives of South Polar exploration. In this great enterprise -there has been not a little waste of energy through overlapping, and, in the case of the earlier work, inaccurate observation, owing to poor instruments and lack of training, and finally, much exaggerated statement, because strict inductive habits had not been acquired. In these circumstances, to sum up the precise value of each explorer's contribution to the solution of the Antarctic problem required a careful review of all the real evidence, both contemporary and subsequent, and an expert knowledge of oceanography. These qualifications, as is well known, Dr. Mill possesses in addition to a literary faculty— less common in a writer on scientific matters—which has enabled him not only to sum up and condense the separate stories, but to combine all into a continuous narrative of scientific and human interest. The Siege of the South, Pole is, in fact, a very readable book, to which many striking illustrations lend an additional charm. Dr. Mill is too logical a thinker either to "adorn a tale" With picturesque but inaccurate passages, or to refrain from pointing a moral, the gist of which, iu this case, is that before sending out a new expedition we should wait until the results of more recent expeditions have been digested and made available. He believes in the formation of a permanent International Com- mittee to deal with Antarctic matters, whose primary duty would be to postpone all action until the data of recent expeditions have been digested, and then—but not until then—decide what funds, ships, and men are required to complete the work. There can be no question of tho value of international co- operation in the matter of a thorough scientific survey of the Antarctic region ; but if science in this matter is in favour of
international• co-operation, it is equally certain that the younger generation in this country would rather see the "siege of. the South Pole" made an object. of international rivalry, the achieve- ment of which by any one nation would be a more or less con- vincing demonstration of that nation's "efficiency." This is only natural, since Britain has unquestionably taken the lion's share in Antarctic exploration, and still leads the way with " Scott's farthest" in 1902. As has been said, "James Gook defined the Antarctic region, and James Ross- discovered it." Now we may add that Scott explored and described it. It is to him and his colleagues, with their notes, photographs, and sketches, that wo are chiefly indebted for a glimpse of this wonderful land and a knowledge of its varied interest. All honour, however, to the earlier explorers, Biscoe, Balleny, Weddell, and others, who accomplished so much in such trying circumstances. Few nowadays would care to brave the Southern gales and face the perils of the pack in a crazy old coasting brig accompanied by a pilot cutter. Yet it was in vessels of this type and tonnage that those men sailed and made their great discoveries. The conditions aro very different now, with all the resources of modern science at our command. All honour, therefore, to these heroes and consummate seamen, the earlier Antarctic explorers.
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