1902] WORK OF THE OFFICERS 231 



' Hodgson, our biologist, goes steadily on with his outdoor 

 work, and I think this is the first instance of dredging being 

 carried on throughout a polar winter. He is rather inclined 

 to scorn assistance, and seems almost to prefer to do everything 

 himself — the manual as well as the expert work connected 

 with his task. Lately he has accepted the assistance of a 

 single man, but it is currently reported that this individual is 

 required to look on whilst Hodgson digs, and much digging 

 and a great deal of preparation is necessary before the nets 

 can be actually used, so that it is only occasionally that a 

 frozen mass is borne into the wardroom, which, on being 

 thawed out, discloses the queer creatures that crawl and swim 

 on the floor of our polar sea. Hodgson tells me he had 

 expected to be obliged to devote the winter to working out 

 his summer catches, and that it was a pleasant surprise to 

 find that he could continue his collecting work during the 

 dark season. No doubt it is also an excellent thing for his 

 health, and he certainly remains surprisingly fit. 



' Bernacchi up to the present has found plenty of employ- 

 ment in the care of his magnetic instruments ; in addition to 

 taking and developing the records, he has spent much time 

 in tending the heating lamps in the huts and in endeavouring 

 to render them more efficient. By banking up the principal 

 hut with snow he has been able to keep it at a more equable 

 temperature, but he tells me that even yet it is by no means 

 satisfactory, which I very much regret to hear, as we are 

 making very great sacrifices of oil in order that his lamps 

 should be kept going— sacrifices which would land us in an 

 uncomfortable predicament were we obliged to remain a 

 second winter. In Bernacchi's department are also included 

 electrometer, auroral, seismic, and gravity observations ; the 

 which leave him no time for other physical work. As far as 

 I can see at present, this is the point at which we are most 

 lacking; with such curious formations of land and sea ice 

 around us, we should possess a physicist and chemist who 

 could devote his time principally to the many curious 

 phenomena which they present. 



