The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-12-27
TO SOUTH POLAR LANDS,
THREE EXPLORING PARTIES FOE 4
NEGLECTED FIELD

After an Interval or FIFTY Years Efforts -
Bs Made to Lenrn More of the Grent
Antarctic Continent-A Belgian. n NorA
weEinn, and Maybe nm American Ventures
After an interval Of fifty years the scientific
world has taken up again the matter OF Anti
arctic exploration. and II seems likely thai
during the coming year much important ina
formation will be obtained regarding a region
Of the carth's surface OF which wc ~ yet know
hardly anything. whose area covers noe
less than 1. 1000. 900 square miles about once
and a half that of the United st ties, and equal
To that OF the great Chinese empire.
II was with good reason that ut the lAst
International Geographical Congress. held In
London In tho summer OF 1895. the hrse
general resolution OF recommendations ems
bodied tho statement that the greatest piece
Of geographical work that was left for he
future. and one that should lie taken up inl-
mediately In the present. was the exploration
of this terra or aqua incognita. Not since the
days OF Sir james Clark Ross and Capt. after.
ward Commodorc) Wilkes of the United States
navy, or tho years lSi0.1Si2. has ANY sys-
tematic research been conducted In this Greae
expansc OF southern ice and water. the Ice bnrs
riers OF which have for one reason or another
been assumed to render access to its deeper
parts impossible. Yet. strange though IL may
appear. all this supposition OF inaccessibility
was DHeeQ upon JHe experiences Ol EullhnL bcb'
men whose highest resource was the sailing
vessel. and to whom the modern methods OF
polar research, as they have been developed
within the last quarter OF a.century, and par
ticularly in the last decade-the period which
compasses the remarkable work of Pea-y and
~Nansen-were practically unknown. Whether
in tho Arctic or in the Antarctic tracts, the WORK
that was ACCOMPLISHED was done with the as
| distance of q heavy equipment. inciiicie. t cloth-
tpp md n aDuFcp nj fDDn SUNNY which kEpw
little or nothing of canned materials ana th'tp
proper association of sweetmeats and, Negeta-
bles which have done so 1nuch To Danish scurVy
from the sailors Arctic dreams.
At the present time three expeditions are boz
| ing planned or actually being placed in Gene
mission For the important work OF discovery
in the south polar regions. At the head or
wink. who. In association with his commander,
Capt. kristensen. IN 5000; while on
latitude 74S south. and IN .de the first landing
on what lie commonly designated the ANTARCTIC
exists. Borchrrevink's fitness for, this com.
mand seems eminently established. ana the
lucid, graphic; and wholly unnretentl9u rs a aG.
credit a confidence similar to that which has
been reposed in the still more illustrious sire o.
Norwegian soil. Fridtiof Nansen. To him
scientific men owe tho first discovery, of vege-
table forms as part of the product of the souths
ments OF what appear to be true licbens were
picket up OF the bleak and forbidd'nG rocks OF
Cape Adarl. on Victoria Land. and the offlyin9
Possession island. IT. had been assumed that
not a trace. type. or form OF vegetation Of any
south~a tract Of land or ice as destitute of ter
restrial fauna as II was assumed to he ol a cover-
ing or partially. covering vegetation. STRANGE
~ contrasting is the discovery made by Capt.
Larsen In 1893 on Seymour Island. a patch OF
Antarctic land lying almost due south OF pata-
gonia. of an abundance of fossilized plant re-
mains-remains not indicative of u low type
OF vegetable, organization. but OF the noble
structure OF the South American pine or Arauca'
ria. However Ineagre or absent may be vegeta-
tion OF the far south to-day. the evidence Is con-
zt,-{,.n chat ~ a fnr,,,.r nnrNnI nf fIn pnT
history. and one that IS quite recent when
measured by geological. standa%rds-perhaps ex.
even considerably less-a goodly vegetation cf
forest trees. and with It. doubtless. a multi
gave life. color. and freshness 10 the landscaps
OF Antarctica. the landscape which to-day sees
hundreds OF miles in length and as many ree5
In height. undulating m"untain slopes buried
beneath perhaps thousapds OF ;rei 1Gic I Z OK
cones. like Erebus. sending skyward the prod
ucts of the internal Gestruction OF the earth.
direction OF Lieut.. Gerlnchc. u young Belgian,
and it receives in addition to the warm SUP
| port of the town. Antwerp. from which IL Is
expected to take It's departure. the Official
patronage OF the Belgian government in the
| shape OF a timely financial backing: presum-
ably. therefore,. n possible failure on It's pais
will not be due to the absence of those 'stnews
of war which are go eminently necessary for
this far-oft exploration. 1t is gratifying to
learn that the scientific men Of America arc
fully ~. axe To the Importance OF the explora-
lions that are planned, and to the discover
les that await the successful investigator Of
Antarctica. At the last annual meeting OF
mittee was appointed to examine into the prac-
t%icability and the ways end means OF turth"r;
the meeting In Boston of the same body; in the
lttter days OF the present month, the SUB
feet will DO taken up again: Profs. Angelo
Heilprin and f. D.. Cope of philadelphia are
members OF this committee. and Ills known
that they strongly favor the immediate $50 FAR
as it may be p~ossihleJ equipment OF such an
expedition. 1t is thought. that $4,000 VIII
penetration. with one or more steam whalers
from the Newfoundland or Norwegian feet.
ali expeditions will be the region Of Graham'g
Land, south Of Patagonia. WHICH lies nearer
OF Ross. and offers additional ADVANTAGES 10
exploration which are not found in the trAck
over. hopes of important scientific results even
with the failure or the objective ann or any
II was In this track that Larsen Obtained his
fossil plant remains. aud also a number OF
marine fossils, identical with those found by
Darwin sixty years earlier in Patagonia,
which so strongly point To a former connoc.
tion with the South American continepi. some
1928. penetrated to latitude 74' -, SOUTH
and the same year Can't. Benjamin Morre!l.
saptng from New YORK NJ aad Pretty much in
moderately nigh temperature and "A sea nrao-
points the assumed ''impenetrasle" barrier
would be met, II met ut all, only an cnors
at penetr At,oh can ue,erni.rt, , as Is ~ ast IN
rho"' W ~ ~
throw its front edge TO positions. depending
upon the year. fully u Thousand miles apart
from each other. AT all events a chance Is
here presented.
OF the substance of our kno" ledge Of Antarc-
tica il must he said that most of IL Is bound up
with the researches of Russ about Wet ria
Land. ANA with the less mporiusAa2s thar
have been made in the region Of Grannm land.
Concerning the other land. island. or ice masses
that have been designated Clnria and, So
brina Land. Enderby Land. Alexander Land,
&c.-in fact, of the whole Wilkes L~and-oTr
Information is confes scdly scant. and surely
not sufficient to build M the great antarctic
continent which has been made n restoration
by many geoefaphcrs. OF the mctcorologS %
the REGION, and Of tides, currents, &c..' we
know equally little, aud manliestly stHl mmch
less OF the geology. ,%soNlogy. and botany. The
commonly accepted M, on OF the extreme So
verify of the south Polar cllmut Is not found
ed on fact any more than wRs tie slppoS ton
OF the shallowntss Of III" Arctic basin. which,
among MS many other discoveries. hansen nag
no?T so com. lrtclv dissipatrd. In fact, II Is all
but certain thar the winter rlgorS are far less
piCLGIlscd in the region about the south PIls
than they are IN the region OF the far north,
- .Ia, tI... t. tl.V.. Al n. n