THE ARCTIC NIGHT. 223 



And say what you will, talk as you will of pluck, 

 and manly resolution, and mental resources, and all 

 that sort of thing, this Arctic night is a severe ordeal. 

 Physically one can get through it well enough. We 

 are and always have been in perfect health. I am 

 my own " ship's doctor," and am a doctor without a 

 patient. Believing in Democritus rather than Hera- 

 chtus, we have laughed the scurvy and all other 

 sources of ill-health to shame. And we have laughed 

 at the scurvy really and truly ; for if it does some- 

 times come in, like a thief in the night, with salt ra- 

 tions and insufficient food, which have not been our 

 portion, it does, too, come with despondency and the 

 splenetic blood of an unhappy household, from w^hich 

 we have fortunately been exempt. 



But if the Arctic night can be endured with little 

 strain upon the physical, it is, nevertheless, a severe 

 trial both to the moral and the intellectual faculties. 

 The darkness which so long clothes Nature unfolds to 

 the senses a new world, and the senses accommodate 

 themselves to that world but poorly. The cheering 

 influences of the rising sun which invite to labor ; the 

 soothing influences of the evening twilight which in- 

 vite to repose ; the change from day to night and from 

 night to day which lightens the burden to the weary 

 mind and the aching body, strengthening the hope 

 and sustaining the courage, in the great life-battle of 

 the dear home-land, is withdrawn, and in the con- 

 stant longing for Light, Light, the mind and body, 

 weary with the changeless progress of the time, fail 

 to find Repose where all is Rest. The grandeur of 

 Nature ceases to give delight to the dulled sympa- 

 thies. The heart longs continually for new associa- 

 tions, new objects, and new companionships. The 



