Captain Osborn and the Geographical Society have not, we are
happy to see, been cowed by the papers which affect to attach so much more value to life than the objects of life, into abandoning the Polar expedition. On Monday night Mr. Markham read a long paper by the great German geographer Petermann on the proposed expedition. Dr. Petermann is in favour of the Spitzbergen route, while Captain Osborn prefers the route by Smith's Sound. Dr. Petermann believes that an isolated Norse population will be found at the Pole. All the traditions of the Esquimaux show that an open sea is believed to exist at the Pole, and if the remaining de- scendants of the northward migratory Norsemen be found there, they will have been living in complete isolation for generations back. The Times deprecates endangering life to settle such points as these, though no one deprecates the much greater waste of life in grinding needles, making artificial flowers, or mining gold which is not wanted and depreciates the currency.
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