THE science of geography will enlarge its bounds if the expedition to the South Pole, planned by Sir Ernest Shackleton, ends successfully. A start is to be made next October from Buenos Aires, and the plan proposed is to cross the south polar continent from the Weddell Sea, on the Atlantic side, to the Ross Sea, touching at the South Pole en route—a distance of some 1700 miles. Altogether the party will number forty-two, twelve being actual explorers, and the remainder the crews of the two ships that are to support the venture, one on each side of the Antarctic continent. Of the explorers, six expect to cover the whole ground from the point of landing on the Weddell Sea to the point of embarkation on the Ross Sea. The other six will be divided into two groups: one, composed of a biologist, a geologist, and a physicist, will probably remain at an experimental station on the Weddell Sea side; the other party of three will be told off to explore the land to the east, which is at present entirely unknown. These two wings of the expedition will eventually be taken back to South America, while the party which will accompany Sir Ernest across the continent is to be met at the Ross Sea base by the second ship from New Zealand, whither it will take them.