POLAR SECRETS

Evening Star, Issue 20252, 13 August 1929, Page 12

POLAR SECRETS

lost race of mek Under tlio crust ot ice. a thousand feet thick that serves to keep the secrets ot Antarctica from the prying eyes of.man, just, what lies hidden.'' Shaekleton, Scott, Ross, Mattson, and JJvrd have all headed expeditions to the" South Pole, but they have only scratched the surface oW its secrets. That there is still, much to be discovered is shown by the fact that eminent zoologists, a taxidermist, a meteorologist, geologists, mid many others have gladly joined Sir Douglas Alawson’s new expedition, and all of them expect to hnd something which will provide material of value for thenrespective sciences. Some ot the scientists »vho are accompanying this expedition have told the Sydney ‘ Sunday Sun ’ of what they hope to accomplish “down south. ’’ “It is the proposal of the expedition to continue the survey ot the coast, where Sir Douglas Mawson left off in his 1911 expedition,” said Jnstructoi Commander H. Moves, who will act survey officer. “We aim to continue the survey along 1,500 miles of coast to Enderby Laud, the next point known to exist along the coast.” Wh at the expedition. would find in this 1,500 miles, Commander Moyes says it is impossible to .guess. Perhaps great mineral wealth, perhaps gold, perhaps only another huge break in the coastline, like the Ross Sea. At first it might appear to lie a mat ter of minor importance to Australians whether or not there are two Ross Sons in Antarctica—but actually the Ross Sea has already’ brought £250,000 _ of clear profit to Norway for the whaling it affords, and the discovery of a new similar sea might give Australia a similar hunting ground, with profits which at a stroke would wine away the costs of all .the Polar expeditions that there have ever been. If metal or gold mines are found, Commander Moyes says they could bo worked each year, from September to March or April. “Think of it,” said Commander Moyes. “ Wherever trawiings have been taken from the ocean bed in Antarctica, lumps of coal have been picked up—coal which certainly lias not been drooped by steamers. Where there is coal there must once have been vege r tation; where there were trees and greenstuff there may have been animal life—perhaps even human life. There is also just a chance, he thinks, of finding the breeding ground of that lost tribe, the fur seals, which Captain Cook discovered for America in the islands south from South America’, which brought America millions of pounds. They have since vanished, perhaps to some sanctuary in the very strip of coast which Sir Douglas Mawson proposes tp explore. FATTY DIET. “ It will be an education to help the other scientists in their laboratory work,” said Dr W. Wilson Ingram, medical officer to the expedition. “ The Pole is a very healthy region, and I do not think the party will need my services often, except for minor accidents. I propose to examine the increased ability to absorb fatty foods in extreme cold. If we, liVmg here, eat too much fat, we suffer from ketosis; a condition of diabetes. Yet the Eskimos live on a high fat diet. Is it possible for men accustomed to a warm climate and a low fat diet, when submitted to the changed conditions, to burn up more fat in theii food, merely because of the cold ? ” , ✓ ■

Professor T. Harvey Johnston ot Adelaide University, who will be in charge of the zoological work of the expedition, is looking forward to a busy time. A subject of absorbing interestto him. he said, would be to study the parasitic life that.infests-the fish,-, birds, and seals of the 'Antarctic, but that

would have to be subordinated to the general work of the collection and preservation of material. That Sir Douglas Mawson was impressed by the importance of the biological side of the trip was shown by the fact that he had deputed two other men to.assist in it—Mr H. O. Eletcher, of the Australian Museum, Sydney, and Mr Ealla, the New Zealand naturalist. ‘ ‘Wo hope to call in at an island or two. and collect material not only from land swamps, but from the sea front,” said Professor Johnston. “ Bird Jile will be studied more particularly by one of the assistants. I shall be on marine work. Dredging, for which the ship is particularly well equipped, will be undertaken whenever possible, and we should obtain a better ‘ under: standing of life on the sea floor, where already new forms of life have been discovered.”

Plankton —tiny forms floating and swimming life, -the utimate basis of marine life, will also, be investigated. Fishes and crustaceans live on plankton, and whales and bigger fish livo on the plankton-eaters,' so that plankton corresponds -roughly with vegetables and grass in animal life. The'man who will be in charge of this section, Mr W. Marr, who has long been studying the subject in South America, will be provided with special plankton nets. “Taxidermy will be a very different proposition from what it is in Sydney,” says Mr 11. 0. Fletcher. “We shall probably bring back more specimens of animal life in the Antarctic, and, in order to presetve them we shall have to begin work on them immediately they are dead. If we don’t the Mesh •will become frozen to the skin, and it will be like,chopping granite to skin the animals.”' He expects that the only sea birds seen will ho marine specimens.