"A JIG-SAW'PUZZLE"

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2288, 23 October 1914, Page 6

"A JIG-SAW'PUZZLE"

THE SCIENTIFIC PROBLEMS OF : • THE UNIVERSE. " i Sir Douglas Ma'wsoh, the _ Antarctic ' explorer and scientist, who is leaving for London to-morrow, was the guest of, honour at tho New Zealand Club's luncheon yesterday. In tho course of his address, Sir Douglas said that in times of peace there were still avenues offort with which to work off man's superabundant energies, in other ways than in killing one another, and what better manner could they employ those energies than in making war against their'common enemy—ignorance? _ Sir Douglas reiterated that the expedition was an Australasian expedition, but' the New Zealand Government had not made any grant. Ho had called upon; the then Primo Minister (Sir Joseph Ward) and sounded him .on the subject, but he found he was on a bad wicket, and so he had kept off it. The Mawson Expedition had .covered more ground than any other expedition, it had sledged more miles, and had achieved more scientific results than any other expedition. In a great measure one branch of science depended on the other. It was like a jig-saw two or three pieces were missing it was not possible to construct any figure, _ but given the complete set it was all right, and to get complete data for science every part of the earth had to, bo explored. They had' only covered that quadrant. immediately to the south of Australia, so theTe was plenty more work to do in the Antarctic. : Sir Douglas mentioned a curious fact when he, stated, that though the conditions in the Arctic were not nearly so bad as they were in the Antarctic, a groat deal; more life had been lost in,the Arctic. This he attributed in part to the dependency of some of tho Arctic expeditions on finding game for food supplies, and their subsequent disappointments, whereas in exploring tho Antarctic no reliance was placed on being able to secure anything in that way. As showing the difference in the severity of the climate, Sir Douglas stated that the temperature at the North Pole was given as zero Fahr., whilst at the South Pole it was minus 50 degrees, or fifty degrees colder. At the northernmost part of the earth,'the northern tip of Greenland, in 83 degrees N.; there were fields of poppies and other flowers, hares, and muskioxen, whilst at the samo parallel in the south the vegetation was restricted to lichens and mosses, and land animals to a kind of mite or spider no laige'r than a pin's head. - At the conclusion of the address, which was listened-'to with the,closest attention, a hearty, vote of thanks was accorded to Sir Douglas Mawson. At tho Grand Opera House last- evening, Sir Douglas Mawson retold the story of his successful journey into tho South Polar regions. 1 The narrative was illustrated by a splendid series of moving pictures; depicting the marvellous wealth of the sea, beautifully i tinted polar studies, and animal and bird life in the Antarctic. Such a, : series of pictures has seldom, if ever, i been seen hofore. , . , . Sir Douglas Mawson will give his final lecture this evening.