Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 55.djvu/727

Rh form of journey only-—that of following the land, a singularly blind limitation, considered in the light of the little that was positively known of such land extension as the expedition had counted upon, and one that is disagreeably emphasized by the lavish expenditure of money that had been put to the expedition, and the personal confidence that had in some quarters been expressed in its success. Without wishing in any way to disparage or minimize the importance of Mr. Jackson's work, or to underestimate the hardships of any form of arctic exploration, one can not but feel surprised and in a measure disappointed that an expedition designed primarily for an advance upon the pole, which passed the better part of three years beyond the eightieth parallel of latitude, and whose members during this time did not know a single day of sickness—an almost unprecedented performance in arctic methods—should have found itself in a condition unable even to make an effort upon the "open." The recollection of Parry's performance in the frozen sea north of Spitzbergen in 1827, of Markham's advance in 1876, and of Peary's "treck" across the north of Greenland in 1892, emphasizes only more deeply this feeling of disappointment.

Mr. Jackson has made a very careful study of Franz-Josef Land, and has brought that region into a condition of knowledge similar to that which the different Peary expeditions have brought to the north of Greenland. His narrative is simple and direct, virtually a transcript of notebook and diary, without embellishment of any kind, and with a statement of facts and conditions such as they appeared almost at the instant of time of their occurrence. While indisputably impressing a truthfulness and reality, it can not be said that this method adds to the readableness of the book, which is overburdened with repetitions, frequently in identical words and sentences, to a useless and, one is tempted to say, most distressing extent. It is to be regretted that an explorer of the marked energy, routine, and persistence which are Mr. Jackson's qualities should have faltered in what by some travelers has been considered the most arduous part of their task—the proper preparation of a report—for surely it can not be conceived that a good purpose was subserved, either in a popular or scientific aspect, in the publication of wholly unimportant matter, over and over repeated, merely because it formed part of an official diary. The work is abundantly illustrated throughout with half-tone reproductions from photographs, taken by Jackson and his companions, that give a vivid reality to the journey which no amount of word-painting, even when so skillfully handled as by the present author, could prove a substitute for. Scientists will be gratified to know that supplemental reports, prepared by specialists in different departments, may be expected before long to fill out the full scientific aspects of the exploration.

On one point in connection with Mr. Jackson's discoveries the geographer, not less than the lay public, has the right to break straws with the author—that is, the method of naming the new points of land, water, and ice. Zoölogists and botanists have long been guilty of an absurd levity in the discharge of their obligations as namers of new species, and have burdened the vocabulary of animal and vegetable names with thousands of personalia which in no way called for perpetuation, and many of which were suggested only by way of ridicule or jest. So long, however, as these were dressed in Latin or Greek form and remained merely the possession of the scientific world there was little to complain of, and even the objections of the extreme sentimentalists might have been met by an