Evening star., 1933-02-12

the coast, It b still O blank on the
maps. No wonder men are drawn to it.
But what difference, asks the man
In the street, whether mountain, low
land or high plateau, when 1t Is all
covered with snow and ice?
Perhaps so, for 1t is not always easy
to translate directly the search for
knowledge into material values. Knowl-
edge to be Of use must grow. But the
explorer is merely the vanguard, the
scout, in that small army of investi-
gators who open new paths for human
progress.
Therefore we should not fx our at
tentton too tntently upon the utility OF
the explorers immediate interest lies
Rather Is it to enlighten mans under
standing concerning the planet upon
which he lives.
The thing that Is important is that
the human mind should grow. It Is
where there Is no vision that 1.-THE
people perish" Whenever primitive
races commenced to look upon the
ocean, not as q terrible barrier sepa-
rating lands, but rather as q means OF
communication with distant countries
they increased In wealth and power and
beheld the dawn Of new ideas and great
discoveries
Down even to our own day the power
and progress Of nations may, in a sense
be measured by the extent to which
their explorers and learned men have
| been able to overcome the barriers OF
ignorance and superstition In order to
extend the bounds Of human knowledge
TO the farthermost corners Of the earth
The History Of civilization runs parallel
with the acquisition Of new knowledge
Prof. Picard not long ago made his
second balloon ascent into the strato-
sphere. One may perhaps wonder con.
corning the value of such a seemingly
abstruse effort, yet who knows when he
goes about an investigation to increase
the bounds of knowledge, however re-
mote his subject may be from the ordi-
nary walks Of life, what applications the
future may have in store for the result,
he gains. Helium was found originally
in the sun, 93,000,000 miles away; traced
to the stars infinitely more remote
More than . quarter of a century
| elapsed before 1t was finally identffle6
upon earth to fill q useful need.
| But there are other reasons than the
search for knowledge why sometimes
men 60 exploring, for knowledge is not
everything In life. Science may be
satisfied where the soul is not. I refer
to the strong temptation in certain
men to strive for the attainment of the
unknowable.
Call the incentive what you will, but
Tor man to struggle up Mount Everest
or to the North and South Poles out oi
sheer love Of conquest is indeed "au
affair OF the spirit" To prove his spirit
higher Is no doubt the secret at the
heart OF the idea, which is all part and
parcel OF mans perpetual struggle to
overcome that which Is material.
therefore hope that the white crest
OF Everest. spiritually serene above the
noise OF the world, above the dust of
conf1ict. may never be humbled by q
| first conquest through the air, lust as
the North and South Poles were not
We are all too prone today to resort to
mechanical means for our conquests.
Only Everest and Antarctica remain as
Natures last strongholds against mans
invasion. No doubt both will eventually
VIII, except BY means Of aircraft-the
pity Of 1t!
How Ellsworth Became Explorer.
When all the world is explored,
charted, diagrammed; when everything
is known In and about Its surface, what
very dull place 1t will be to live In!
Much OF the poetry and glamour of II
will have vanished. We are fortunate in
| our age that there is still some igno-
rance left, still something to marvel
over-white peaks that lift aloft, as
though defiant of change, and deserts
of snow and ice. Soundless and ten
antless, uncanny and desolate to the
last degree, touched with mystery and
the romance Of the unknown, they seem
to stand as barriers against any fur
ther invasion.
Long may they stand-the ages through
Undimmed by time, untrod by man,
A flash Of light on Natures plan,
A wall Of white against the blue!"
My interest In Polar exploration, as
well as the opportunity to participate,
trace back to very definite, yet simple.
heginnings-to boyhood fascination
I'm two sledses ensaasd N ~ Amsrican