342 WINTER CLIMATE. 



interior of the ships was deposited in the beds as moist> 

 ure instead of ice, and then rheumatic attacks were 

 troublesome among the crew. With this range, the 

 difference of heat experienced on going into the open 

 air often amounted to one hundred degrees. 



Much less food was consumed during the winter's 

 rest than during the labors of summer. On this ac- 

 count, the provisions were served out without weighing, 

 and considerable weekly savings were effected. The 

 men took instinctively just what nourishment tr-9 waste 

 of their bodies required. 



A vast abundance of the lower forms of life was found 

 everywhere in the inclement region in which the ships 

 sojourned. Small cavities, from two to six feet deep, 

 studded the under surface of the sea-ice. A greenish, 

 slimy substance, composed of animalcules and micro- 

 scopic plants, was found in these. The cavities, in 

 fact, had been hollowed out by the higher temperature 

 attendant upon the vital action going on in these minute 

 creatures. The most intense cold seemed to have the 

 power of destroying some kinds of life-germs. Mity 

 cheese, that had been exposed throughout the winter, 

 never again manifested any return of crawling propen- 

 sity. 



The influence of solar light was exceedingly small 

 during the depth of winter. A little trace of daylight 

 was always perceptible at noon ; but for seven days 

 before and after the 22d of December, chloride of silver 

 was not blackened by exposure to the south horizon. 

 On the 1st of January it began to assume a slight leaden 

 tinge. Mustard and cresses were reared with great 

 care ; but the young plants were composed of ninety- 

 four per cent, of water, and contained only half the 

 quantity of nutritious and antiscorbutic matters that 

 had been present in the seeds. 



