The Winter Nicrht. 2 is 



^j *J 



give it up and in despair take to doctoring the dogs. 

 Once a month he too had to make his scientific observa- 

 tions, which consisted in the weighing of each man, and 

 the counting of blood corpuscles, and estimating the 

 amount of blood pigment, in order to ascertain the 

 number of red blood corpuscles and the quantity of red 

 colouring matter (haemoglobin) in the blood of each. 

 This was also work that was watched with anxious 

 interest, as every man thought he could tell from the 

 result obtained how long it would be before scurvy 

 overtook him. 



Among our scientific pursuits may also be mentioned 

 the determining of the temperature of the water and of 

 its degree of saltness at varying depths ; the collection 

 and examination of such animals as are to be found in 

 these northern seas ; the ascertaining of the amount of 

 electricity in the air ; the observation of the formation of 

 the ice, its growth and thickness, and of the tempera- 

 ture of the different layers of ice ; the investigation 

 of the currents in the water under it, etc., etc. I had 

 the main charge of this department. There remains to 

 be mentioned the regular observation of the aurora 

 borealis, which we had a splendid opportunity of 

 studying. After I had gone on with it for some time, 

 Blessing undertook this part of my duties ; and when 

 I left the ship, ! made over to him all the other 

 observations that were under my charge. Not an 

 inconsiderable item of our scientific work were the 



