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possible, at a small sacrifice in definition and covering power, to use lenses of 8-inch focal length, or even 7 inches. The illumination falls off appreciably at the edges of the negatives with lenses of less than 10-inch focus.

It is probable that a plane of the Douglas-Davis type, fitted with metal pontoons, will be as satisfactory as any. A plane for work in exploration should have a gasoline capacity of at least seven hours, and perhaps ten hours. It should be able to get off the water quickly with its load; a large wing area is desirable at a sacrifice of speed. There are few opportunities for landing except on the rivers, and pontoons only should be fitted. A Liberty motor, with Delco ignition, is desirable; with a 12-volt system, the same battery may be used for camera operation. The gasoline system should not be of the air-pressure type; the gas supply should be pumped from the tanks by either syphon or gear pump. There should be an auxiliary hand pump for the observer to operate in case of failure of the engine-operated pump. It is desirable that a small emergency gasoline supply tank be located in the upper wing. The seats should be designed to allow the crew to wear parachutes. It is likely that a compass of the earth inductor type will permit greater accuracy in making sketch-maps.

Provision should be made for mounting the camera inside the fuselage. A vertical view-finder, calibrated, should be provided for. The wings should be painted with aluminium dope to resist the sun's rays. Woodwork should have best protective varnish; wires should be well greased. Altimeter should be provided with a correction chart. A turn indicator should be part of the instrument equipment. A metal propeller should be furnished on the plane, and the design of it should permit quick climbing rather than high speed. The radiator should be extra large to ensure cooling when take-offs are necessary in the middle of the day or afternoon. Shutters should be provided for use at high altitude. Complete tool kit should be provided. Anchor and line should be part of equipment. Light-weight covers should be provided to completely cover the cockpits while the plane is moored. It is advisable to have four fittings for securing lines: one at bow, one at tail, and one at each end of lower wing, forward edge. Funnel and chamois strainer are necessary equipment. Oil-tank cap should be of ample diameter; oil tank capacity sufficient for ten hours' flying. Double stick control should be provided.

Future Work.- Some consideration has been given to making use of such a high-powered plane on a future expedition in this region, possibly two years from now. Tentative plans are to send a launch with aeroplane supplies up the Rio Negro, leaving gasoline and other materials at designated settlements, the latitude and longitude of which have been determined on previous Rice Expeditions. Another launch with supplies would be sent up the Rio Branco. Starting from a settlement on the Rio Negro, the plane would fly across to the Rio Branco, following and sketching in the courses of the nearest rivers that feed into these two larger streams; coming out on the Branco, the plane would be headed up or down river to the nearest settlement, where gas would be available. The plane would then move up river, fill tanks, and fly back to the Negro, again following the nearest watercourses, and making for the nearest settlement on the Negro. In this way, in a few weeks, assuming no motor trouble, the system of waterways of the huge area between these two great rivers would be mapped with reasonable accuracy. At the present time almost nothing is known of this waterway system; no two maps show these tributaries alike for direction or length, for the reason that geographers must guess, or work from meagre information furnished by Indians or by parties gathering balata, rubber, or nuts. With accurate information available, it may be possible for parties to work from one waterway to another. In fact, some of these are likely to be joined together by canals, as the Rio Negro and the Orinoco are joined by the Casiquaire Canal.

With a high-altitude plane and a wide-angle camera, the survey could be carried out photographically with greater accuracy than by sketching; with automatically driven camera, the sketching could be carried out at the same time by the observer, to ensure results in case of possible loss of photographic record (as might happen should large masses of clouds form between the plane and the ground). In case of motor trouble, there is a fair chance of making a landing in some waterway, when the crew of the plane would have to work their way to civilization as best they could. A large plane could carry sufficient firearms, provisions, etc., to give the flyers a reasonable chance for escape from the forest.

With wireless equipment on both launches, departure of plane would be given, and failure of plane to arrive on time would be communicated back. Knowing the tributary followed from one river, and the probable stream followed to the other, relief parties could start out immediately from both ends, which would increase the chances of the aviators. A few rockets, to be used nights at a certain designated hour, by both aviators and relief parties, would perhaps be worth using.

While motors are now very reliable, there is always a chance of trouble, and every precaution should be taken to ensure reliable operation, for a forced landing on any of the many flights that would have to be made, would be considered by those acquainted with the Amazonian forest a very serious situation for the flyers, even though the plane be landed on a waterway without damage. If not over a waterway, parachuting would be advisable before the plane crashed in the massive trees of the forest; the only hope of the flyers would then be to find the wreck of their craft, and secure food. With machete and compass, they could perhaps cut their way to the nearest river, build a raft, and escape. A broken arm or leg would mean certain death, of course. These are chances that people who venture over this region must take, and no expense would be spared to give them as reliable an aircraft as may be had at the present day.

THE CAPTAIN SCOTT POLAR RESEARCH
INSTITUTE

THE

HE inauguration of the Institute for Polar Research in memory of the late Capt. Scott took place in Cambridge on May 22 last, and now that it formally enters upon its career it seems proper that a full statement of its history and aims should be published for the information of those who may wish to use its facilities or who are ready to assist in its aims.

The germ of the idea may be said to have been born in 1913, when certain of the scientific members of Scott's last expedition sat down to prepare their reports and found considerable difficulty in obtaining the scientific reports of previous expeditions. It grew to large proportions when, in 1919, the member in charge of the report on the maps and surveys found that without access to the original records he could form no judgment of the value of earlier work. After diligent inquiry he obtained some of the field note-books of a former expedition, but found that the usual fate of such things in the past had been to be relegated to the lumber room of the original owner or dispersed as souvenirs to friends and relatives. In examining the few original journals which were obtained he and others engaged on the reports made the sobering discovery that observations which they had fondly considered were originated by them were often enough noted in detail many years before, but, not being published, had been unknown and inaccessible.

It was therefore with considerable enthusiasm that two or three of those engaged on the work at Cambridge approached various people with the suggestion that something should be done to preserve for the future whatever records were obtainable. They met with encouragement from all those who knew the real state of affairs, especially from the authorities of the Royal Geographical Society, who recognized that the Society, while remaining the inspiration and general guide of British polar exploration, could not undertake the specialized study of technical and literary records, and the direction of research, which was the central idea of the scheme proposed.

This encouragement and an introduction from Sir Arthur Shipley enabled the promoters to approach the Trustees of the "Scott Memorial Fund," which was established in 1913, and of which £10,000 had been allotted "in aid of polar research." At that time the trustees were Sir J. J. Thomson, as President of the Royal Society, Sir Francis Younghusband, as President of the Royal Geographical Society, and the Lord Mayor of London. They very kindly received a deputation of one of the promoters, and not only indicated their general approval of the scheme but gave a grant of money to enable a beginning to be made in the collection of material. They also wrote to the University of Cambridge promising a sum of £6000 under certain conditions in the future.

With this help the Institute came into being, but as it had no money except a small capital sum its work was not advertised in any way, and consisted of collecting by gift and occasional purchase the nucleus of the material required. The grant was exhausted by 1925, and a further appeal was then made to the Trustees. Sir Charles Sherrington, Lord Ronaldshay, and the Lord Mayor heard the appeal with interest, and decided to hand over the balance of the whole fund (nearly £12,000) to the University of Cambridge for the foundation and maintenance of the Polar Research Institute. The only condition attached to the gift was that £6000 of the sum should be set aside to provide a suitable memorial building for the institute, to be erected within ten years. The generous offer of the Trustees was formally accepted by the Senate of the University, and in January of this year it proceeded to appoint a Committee of Management. The Committee, consisting of Dr. A. C. Seward (Chairman), Dr. H. R. Mill (representing the R.G.S.), Mr. R. E. Priestley, Mr. J. M. Wordie, and Mr. Frank Debenham, appointed the latter as first Director of the Institute.

Such is a brief outline of the history of the Institute, and we must now consider its aims. Polar research is a wide and indefinite title, and though it was chosen for that very reason it is important that its meaning as interpreted by the Committee of Management should be clearly understood.

It will be conceded at once that polar research is not confined to the men who actually visit the polar regions. For every one such there are in this country alone many whose interest in those regions is just as keen, whose knowledge is in many ways just as deep, and whose services to polar research may be just as notable and lasting though perhaps less public. It is, in fact, the duty of all those fortunate enough to have taken part in a polar expedition to realize that their opportunity is often but the outcome of the thoughts and plans of hundreds who have, however indirectly, sent them there, and whose assistance is the real basis of all polar research. The author of 'The Siege of the South Pole' is one such : his services to polar work are already beyond assessment, and the fact that he is on the Institute Committee is an earnest for its close touch with all recent polar work. There are many others of equal zeal if less talent. For instance, the most complete press record of all recent expeditions of which the writer knows has been the result of years of compilation by a lady in the north of England, whose knowledge of the facts must now be as complete as are her records. There is a country rector in the west of England whose hobby for years has been the study of the Antarctic continent and its problems. To such as these the Institute will make a strong appeal, and from them it will in turn derive much support.

Granting then that there is in all sections of society much interest in the polar regions and eagerness to assist in polar research, we must consider how best the Institute may lend itself to the end in view.

Obviously its first duty must be to collect a library which shall be as complete as possible on its special subject. As far as the published narratives of former expeditions are concerned this is a comparatively simple matter, and the library already possesses some 300 volumes of that kind. More difficult to collect are the numerous pamphlets and papers relating to the polar regions which have appeared in the past and are not widely distributed. For these the Institute must trust to the generosity of those who possess them. The published scientific reports of expeditions are in general not inaccessible, and many will be obtained by exchange, the Publications Committee of the Mansion House Fund having, at the instance of their Secretary, Colonel H. G. Lyons, given the remainders of all the Physical Reports of the Terra Nova expedition to the Institute for this and other purposes. Most valuable of all, and most difficult to obtain, are the manuscript journals, scientific or personal, of members of expeditions. The most fragmentary journal of the humblest of eye-witnesses has a value in the eyes of the historian or the scientist who may be correlating facts or data in the future, and it is earnestly hoped that the present possessors of such manuscripts will realize that the Institute is the natural place for them, whether it be on loan or as a permanent gift.

A second duty will be to collect samples of what may be summarily called polar gear, that is to say, any technical gear which has a special polar form, ranging from the humblest of cooking utensils to theodolites specially designed for polar surveying. A mere museum of such things would be of general interest, but is not in itself sufficient, and must be accompanied by a suitable card index giving the details of material, maker, performance, etc., of the article in question. The subject of the form of sledges, for instance, is one which will never fail to raise fierce argument amongst polar men, and will remain a subject of great importance to the intending traveller for a long time to come, notwithstanding the successful entry of the airman into the problem of polar transport. The same may be said to a varying extent of a series of other articles, such as dog-harness, polar clothing, food rations, ship's gear. In general each expedition improves on the methods and appliances of its predecessors, but the improvement will be very much quickened if the organizers can examine those which have been tried before and found wanting, and if this "museum " does nothing more than show what not

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