_Discoverer of the North Pole_
FRIDTJOF NANSEN · SIR ERNEST H. SHACKLETON
DUKE OF THE ABRUZZI · ROALD AMUNDSEN
ROBERT E. PEARY · ROBERT FALCON SCOTT
Ten years ago many, perhaps the majority, of intelligent people doubted
if the Poles of the earth would ever be reached by man. From east to
west, and west to east, the world seemed small. Jules Verne’s “Round
the World in Eighty Days” dream of not so many years ago had been cut
in two; but from north to south the world still stretched in apparently
unattainable infinity.
Within the last four years the two Poles have been reached three times,
and in their attainment the globe has shrunk to commonplace dimensions.
With the attainment of the Poles the climax of polar discovery has
been reached, the last of the splendid series of great world voyages
and mighty adventures has been finished. But while the glamour, the
mystery, the speculation, as to what exists at the ends of the earth
are gone, the work of detailed exploration, of continuous scientific
observations and investigations, will continue until to the scientist
and geographer the polar regions will be as well known as the more
favored regions of the earth.