THE QUESTION OF ANTARCTIC RESEARCH.
pERSISTENTLY, as becomes men convinced of the ultimate success of their efforts, a sanguine band of savants and explorers have beset successive Governments with appeals to take up Antarctic exploration again. Their per. severance has so far been unavailing, although it is not easy to understand why, or to assign any definite reason for such strange unwillingness. Remembering how rich were the results garnered from the labours of Sir James Clarke Ross and his gallant coadjutors in the staunch, but undoubtedly clumsy, old 'Erebus' and 'Terror,' and how vast was the field opened up for subsequent workers, the fact that from then until now no attempt has been made to follow up this great work becomes utterly inexplicable. Yet, believing -doubtless "that all things come to those who will but wait," for half a century all those interested in this great question have waited, scarcely ever relaxing their efforts to awaken the powers that be to some recognition of the pressing claims of science to be heard in this matter.
But lately—when Belgium with the De Gerlache expedition, private enterprise in the person of Sir George Newnes with his 'Southern Cross,' and now Germany with an Imperial adventure, all the more remarkable from its contrast to the utilitarianism she is generally credited with, have taken up Antarctic exploration—the patience of our Polar research people seems to have reached its limit. They have determined to wait no longer. It is not hard surely for an ordinary in- dividual to understand how galling it must be for men who are not only Nestor& of research themselves, but justly proud of their country's glory as recorded in maritime annals, to see how in the plenitude of her wealth and power she allows the foreigner to take the lead in the elucidation of oceanic problems that naturally seems to be hers by immemorial inheritance. There can, therefore, be no surprise felt by
anybody who has read our maritime history that the gallant Admiral who presides over the deliberations of the Royal Geographical Society, himself an explorer of the highest reputation both for intrepidity and skill, should have felt that the time for action had frilly come. His straightforward appeal to the public which appears in the newspapers of the past week is a veritable manifesto, fully warranted by the situation, and as such commands all our sympathy. For- tunately, there is little room for doubt that, in spite of the multiplicity of demands being continually made upon the purses of all who either are or are reputed to be wealthy, the splendid example set by the Royal Geographical Society itself, and so munificently responded to by Mr. Alfred Harms. worth, will be largely followed, and that ample funds for the successful equipment of a British Antarctic Expedition worthy of the name will speedily be raised.
Beyond all question, the present time is peculiarly opportune for the prosecution of Antarctic research. For it must be borne in mind that in that vast and almost unknown area, more than twice the size of Europe, one expedition, however well equipped, cannot in the nature of things hope to do more than settle a portion of the problems that silently await solution. What is undoubtedly indicated as the ideal treatment of the Antarctic question is the estab- lishment of an International Polar Commission such as attacked Arctic problems in 1882. A cordon of expeditions surrounding the Southern Polar regions, representative of all the great civilised Powers, and working in harmony upon pre- conceived lines toward definite ends, would add more in one season to the needed data for the solution of the world problems involved than isolated efforts could do in a great many. But since there are now two separate parties at work in the Antarctic, and a third will, it is hoped, shortly be on its way thither, there must be much valuable collaboration, as well as many thousands of simultaneous observations taken at far distant points. This might have been the case at the time of Captain Ross's voyages, when the French and American expeditions were both in high Southern latitudes. But the opportunity was missed. Since then science has made such gigantic strides in the direction of instrumental equipment for such work, to say nothing of the invaluable adjunct of steam, that even with only four parties attacking the problem on differing meridians, the most momentous results may be expected.
After all, this planet of ours under the distance-destroying touch of these latter days has dwindled into a very small place. And it seems preposterous that a region like the Antarctic should have been allowed to retain so long the secrets it undoubtedly holds. The illimitable sea of stormy waters that rolls its unhindered way right around our globe, where no busy keel ruffles the wave or smoke of panting steamship mingles with the pure keen air—how strange that it should for so long have been allowed to maintain its primitive seclusion ! Those appalling barriers of apparently eternal ice, along which Ross sailed for hundreds of miles watching with an indescribable fascination the baffled billows hurl themselves against the glittering cliffs that rose sheer from the sea for hundreds of feet—what lies behind them ? Those burning mountains flaming high amid their frozen fastnesses, and lighting up the gloomy sky for many leagues throughout the long, long winter night, have they no story to tell ? And, in spite of all belief to the contrary, it may be that a land fauna will be found, that some animals may have been fitted to live in that wonderful country, which, as far as is yet known, is absolutely sterile. Many firmly believe that a warm Polar region exists at the Southern end of our earth's axis, but with recent light upon the theory of a wars Arctic sea, within the encircling barrier of ice there can be little expectation that any such marvel will be found in the Antarctic. The explorers will be fired with the thought that whatever their hardships, a virgin field lies before them if by any means they can get behind the icy barrier that seems to shut off Antarctica from a prying world, and that alone, apart from any discoveries they may make, is sufficient inducement to adventurous men to make them face any hard- ship. To stand where human foot has never before trodden, to come with the torch of science into the very penetraha of Nature, for this men in all times have risked all that life held dear, and in so doing have rendered incalculable services their kind. One by one the closed doors have been Ilan
wide open, the secrets have been made manifest, and now at the elose of the nineteenth century only this one remains.
What should encourage all those who hope for great things from Antarctic researches is the fact that the earliest ex- plorers were able to reach such high latitudes in small, weak sailing vessels. Weddell's voyage was made in a brig, the 4 Jane,' of 160 tons; and he was accompanied by a cutter, the 4 Beaufoy,' of 6.5 tons. He was totally unequipped for conflict with the ice, unprovided with instrumental for taking observa- tions; he was just a humble sealer earning a precarious liveli- hood. Yet he reached a latitude (74° 15' S.) only about one hundred miles short of that attained by the well-found and specially sent expedition under Ross and Crozier. For both Weddell and Ross were dependent upon the wind entirely for propulsion, and consequently dared not risk what even a low- powered steamship might do with impunity. Besides this, their inability to get swiftly from place to place hindered them from finding any sheltered nook where they might have laid their vessels up for the winter in case they had wished to do so in order to begin their labours as early in the ensuing spring as possible. But it is hardly necessary to -enlarge upon the immense advantages latter-day explorers possess in steam; they are sufficiently obvious. So, too, with all the other accessories which science has provided for her servants, most of the suffering and hardship attendant upon all these conflicts with the primeval forces of Nature has been greatly mitigated where not altogether removed. It only remains to congratulate the Royal Geographical Society upon the step they have taken, and to hope that their efforts may be crowned with the most complete success.
FRANK T. BIILLEN.
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