Abstract
MR. MURRAY has produced in a singular attractive form a remarkably clear and readable translation by Mr. Chater of Captain Roald Amundsen's account of his expedition to the Antarctic regions in the Fram, which culminated in the attainment of the south pole, and settled the last of the old romantic problems of exploration. The main and avowed object of Amundsen's expedition was to reach the pole; everything else, including scientific observations, was merely incidental, so that at first sight it might appear that little notice need be taken in a scientific journal of the story of a big piece of record-breaking. In other places the ethics of record-breaking have been freely discussed in connection with this expedition, and the question has been raised whether it is decent and permissible for two explorers to try to reach the same point at the same time from different bases and by different means. The controversial aspects of Captain Amundsen's book do not concern us here, nor need we allow our national feelings to affect our opinion as to the manner in which the Norwegian expedition was designed, executed, and described.
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“The South Pole.” An Account of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition in the Fram, 1910–1912. By Roald Amundsen . Translated from the Norwegian by A. G. Chater. Vol. i., pp. xxxv+392+plates+map. Vol. ii., pp. x+449+plates+maps. (London: John Murray, 1912.) Price, 2 vols. 2l 2S. net.
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MILL, H. Amundsen's Antarctic Expedition . Nature 90, 515–518 (1913). https://doi.org/10.1038/090515a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/090515a0