Evening star., 1925-08-30
World knowledge Increased by Geographic Society Eor

plorers' adventures were recorded by
photogra ply.
A gathering Of geography teachers
from all over the country at q conven-
ton of the National Education Asso-
citation saw motion pictures of proc
esses in the earth's making that nor
mally were completed before human
life emerged.
Hundreds of thousands of school
children and millions of adults have
had their interest quickened in the
study of geography by the photo
graphs and narratives of the perils
and adventures of these explorers.
Everywhere the vents OF the valley
produced colorful incrusta tions, now a
mass of bright yellow sulphur, now a
chunk of ash turned red and blue by
the action of heated gases, now lump
of pure white silicious material
For the first time naturai-color pho
Biography was employed on a scientific
expedition of this kind. and the re-
markable results obtained enabled the
society's membership to see what their
expedition had found, and also were OF
high value for further scientific study.
Color photography-not colored pho
tographs, but photographs in natural
color-are peculiarly adapted to dis
seminating geographic information
the society's officers believe. They as
sure the accurate portrayal OF color
as well as the forms of landscapes,
costumes and nature subjects. The
society makes use of color photography
to enable its members to identify birds
fish and flowers, as we'll as to convey
the hues and shades of scenery and
| life studies.
THE National Geographic Society is
exceptional among scientific socie-
ties in considering that its work is
only half finished when il collects
scientific information. It's chartered
purpose is to increase and diffuse
geographic knowledge"
BY means of the photograph, which
speaks the only universal language.
and by eliminating technical terms
which are essential to the laboratory
| but barriers to the layman, the Ma.
| tional Geographic Society makes all it's
findings and known facts intelligibie
to the laynan.
For example, the scientific results
of the Katmai expeditions were pub
lished in a series of morogra phs re
lating TO the tuff deposits. the chen1is-
| try of the fumaroles, the incrustations
and the coleoptera collected.
But the broader aspects Of the ex-
| plorations, ineligible to all persons
who take an interest in the world they
| live in, were described in non-technical
language and by photographs in the
society's principal organ, the National
Geographic Magazine; in its bulletins
to newspapers, and in it's weekly illus
| trated bulletins to schools. which con-
| stftute notable contribution to Amer
| lean public school education.
| The society's pioneer glacier expe-
dition, as well as it's first volcanic
study, had a sequel
A series of expeditions to Alaska
under Prof. Ralph S. Tarr, studied
| glaciers with a view of solving Ice
| Age problems The most startling dis
| covery was the geological trace Of
Jamaica fora, showing that Alaska
once had tropical climate.
| a FTER giving an impetus and doing
I important work on two funda-
mental geographical problems the So
ciety entered a third field, that Of
seismology.
Until the devastation of Toxic and
Yokohama, the most calamitous earth
| quake of modern times occurred al
Messina, Sicily. To this region of re
curing tremors the National Geo
graphic Society sent an observer,
Charles W. Wright, an eminent geol
ogist.
While Mother Earth keeps her chill
dren humble by chastisement of earth
| quakes and volcanoes, she likewise
| long withheld two forbidden zones
those around the poles
| The National Geographic Society's
participation in polar exploration be
| gan with it's co-opera ton in the Well
man expedition of 1898. and eliminated
in its support of Peary's expedition
which reached the Pole
! Wellman's party sailed from Tromso.
Norway, to Franz Josef Land There
| they spent the Winter, single night
of l27 days. At times the moon gave
| a light almost as bright as that of a
Winter day in temperate zones. en-
abling the party to take excellent pic
lures. Their explorations on Franz
Josef Land, then virtually terra in
coRnita. were important.
The party's report abounded in fas-
cinating geographical observations
| For example:
Just as the Gulf Stream is the
product of piling up masses of water
within the Gulf of Mexico by trade
winds of the southern hemisphere so
the Arctic current. which brings the
icy water down into the Atlantic from
the Polar Sea. is the product of north
ern trade winds. We were at the
-
poles of our earth.
! This constant movement of the
waters brings TO Arctic shores from
the headwaters of Siberian rivers
masses of driftwood for fuel and build
! ing purposes. 1t seems to US a re-
markable benefcence of nature that
we should find timber from the inte-
rior of Asia to put into our little hut
and to burn with blubber for our fires
a thousand miles above the tree limit
and within 600 miles of the North
Pole"
I"HAT is the use of Arctic explora-
tion? What is the use of cour-
age. of high adventure, of seeking the
unattainable?
THE layman doesn't realize how
many secrets of science the Far North
holds" said Macmillan. Every sports
man, every farmer, every civilized hu-
man being. in short, has been bene-
fitted and is yet to be benefited by the
facts about birds. flowers, fish, rocks.
magnetism and meteorology which can
only be learned in the Arctic.
Put all these aside, however, and
the literature OF Arctic explora ton
as noble recital of human coura ge.
loyalty and resourcefulness would
justify Arctic exploration
Pearys discovery of the North Pole
is the great hero story of the Arctic.
DR.. Gilbert Grosvenor, president of
the National Geographic Society, in
writing a history of Arctic ezplora-
tions as an introduction for Peary's
oun narrative of his explorations, calls
attention to this heroic quality and
mentions this incident: