SCIENTISTS IN ANTARCTICA

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 100, 22 January 1935, Page 8

SCIENTISTS IN ANTARCTICA

The day has passed when men journeyed to the polar wastes lor the love of exploration and geographic discovery. Admiral Byrd s expedition is not at Little America merely in quest of new territory, nor yet to make aerial incursions on the hermit-like privacy of the South Pole. There were 22 points in the expedition’s programme, and their enumeration in Admiral Byrd’s summary of operations reads more’like an elaborate university science syllabus than a list of the occupations of men in one of the loneliest spots on earth. The midnight sun must have witnessed some strange scenes during the last few years. Old-time explorers might venture the opinion that Antarctic expeditions are going to the dogs, but for the fact that the once indispensable huskies are being driven into unemployment by tractors and aeroplanes. These modern explorers have little in common with the adventurers who broke the snow trails north and south a generation ago. They are there to collect scientific data, to wrest from a reluctant Nature some of her last secrets, and they omit no factor which will play a part in their success. Every item that money can provide plays its part in the perfection of the expedition: powerful wireless sets overcome isolation: supply ships ensure regular provisions: everything is organised with a completeness that almost kills romance. It is like the advance of civilisation after the pioneers have shown the way. , . Nature is not easily overwhelmed, however. Byrd.and his men. despite their greater preparedness than previous expeditions, have yet faced perils of overwhelming magnitude. The elements of those unpropitious polar regions are as devastating as ever they were, and the march-of science is attended still by a splendid spirit of self-sacrifice in its disciples. '