ds the Greenland coast or the American
polar islands he is of opinion that, supposing a landing could be
effected, there would be no probability at all of salvation. Assuming
that a landing could be effected, it must be on an inhospitable and
probably ice-bound coast, or on the mountainous ice of a palaeocrystic
sea. With a certainly enfeebled, and probably reduced ship's company,
there could, in such a case, be no prospect of reaching succor. Putting
aside the possibility of scurvy (against which there is no certain
prophylactic), have the depressing influence on the minds of the crew
resulting from long confinement in very close quarters during many
months of darkness, extreme cold, inaction, ennui, constant peril,
and the haunting uncertainty as to the future, been sufficiently
taken into account? Perfunctory duties and occupations do not avert
the effects of these conditions; they hardly mitigate them, and have
been known to aggravate them. I do not consider the attainment of
Dr. Nansen's object by the means at his disposal to be impossible;
but I do consider that the success of such an enterprise would not
justify the exposure of valuable lives for its attainment.

In America, General Greely, the leader of the ill-fated expedition
generally known by his name (1881-84), wrote an article in The Forum
(August, 1891), in which he says, among other things: "It strikes
me as almost incredible that the plan here advanced by Dr. Nansen
should receive encouragement or support. It seems to me to be based
on fallacious ideas as to physical conditions within the polar
regions, and to foreshadow, if attempted, barren results, apart
from the suffering and death among its members. Dr. Nansen, so far
as I know, has had no Arctic service; his crossing of Greenland,
however difficult, is no more polar work than the scaling of
Mount St. Elias. It is doubtful if any hydrographer would treat
seriously his theory of polar currents, or if any Arctic traveller
would indorse the whole scheme. There are perhaps a dozen men whose
Arctic service has been such that the positive support of this plan
by even a respectable minority would entitle it to consideration and
confidence. These men are: Admiral M'Clintock, Richards, Collinson,
and Nares, and Captain Markham of the Royal Navy, Sir Allen Young
and Leigh-Smith of England, Koldewey of Germany, Payer of Austria,
Nordenskioeld of Sweden, and Melville in our own country. I have no
hesitation i