PREFACE. 



In November 1909 I received in India a cable from Captain Scott asking 

 me to join liis expedition as meteorologist. Arrangements were quickly made 

 with tbe Government of India who granted me three years' ' leave without pay ' 

 and by the end of the month I was on my way to England. On January 1st 

 I commenced five months of strenuous work during which instruments had to 

 be begged, bought, designed, manufactured and tested and journeys made to 

 Scotland, Germany, Norway and Denmark in order to discuss with the scientists 

 in those countries the problems which we intended to investigate. 



I soon realized that my work would be seriously handicapped if I had 

 to depend on the general funds of the expedition for the cost of my instruments. 

 After discussing n\y difficulties with Captain Scott and nunierous friends in my 

 native town, Derby, it was decided to issue an appeal to the inhabitants of 

 Derbyshire to subscribe sufficient funds to give me a free hand in obtaining all 

 the instruments necessary for my work. I cannot be too grateful to the late 

 j\Ir. W. Crowther and to his daughter Miss Ethel Crowther who acted as 

 honorary secretaries to this appeal, for in consequence of their indefatigable 

 efiorts £500 was collected which relieved me of further financial anxieties. 

 Subscriptions were received from all classes of town and county and I trust that 

 these public- spirited givers will accept this work as some tangible return for 

 their generous gifts. 



In addition to the instruments bought by the Derbyshire fund we received 

 the loan of many special instruments particularly from the London Meteorological 

 Office, the National Physical Laboratory, Mr. Mum-o, The Gutta Percha Company, 

 the Australian Meteorological Office and the New Zealand Meteorological Office, 

 to all of whom I wish to express the thanks both of the expedition and of 

 myself. In consequence of this generosity all the instruments required by the 

 expedition were ultimately obtained. 



I doubt whether any expedition sailed with a niore coniplete outfit of meteoro- 

 logical and niagnetic instruments, but it is possible that other expeditions have 

 come back with more recorded observations, for I find in the reports of other 

 expeditions accounts of many observations which we never attempted. One of 

 the chief reasons for this was the want of trained help. Captain Scott's ship 

 did not stay during the winter in the Antarctic, but after landing the shore 

 parties returned to New Zealand. Thus we were deprived of the scientific help 

 which nearly all previous expeditions have received from the navigating officers 

 of the ship when their own work was in abeyance during the sojourn of the 

 ship in its winter quarters. There were probably more trained scientists at Cape 

 Evans than have ever been together in any previous expedition, but each and 



