TEMPERATURES Rg 
tained, but it is quite clear that many of them are new and un- 
expected. Enough data have been collected to require many 
years for their adequate discussion by specialists. A few numeri- 
cal results obtained during the first year are given in the table at 
the end of this article. 
Throughout this book there have been constant references 
to temperature and wind—two meteorological factors which 
have been of vital importance to the members of the expedition. 
It appears therefore that it would not be out of place to ex- 
amine here these two factors from the scientific point of view 
to see what justification there was for the verdict passed on them 
from purely physiological experiences. 
TEMPERATURE 
The mean temperature at Cape Evans during the first year of 
our stay was —0-4° F., which compares with — 1-3° F. found for 
the two years that the Discovery was in the same region. The 
corresponding temperature for a place in the same latitude in 
the Arctic is 2-5° F., thus the difference is not very great. The 
lowest temperature recorded at Cape Evans was — 50° F., which 
is not particularly low, for many well inhabited towns in Alaska 
and Sibera experience lower temperatures every winter. The 
real severity of the Antarctic climate is not shown in its low 
minimum temperatures, but in its low maximum temperatures. 
The July temperature at the North Pole has been calculated to 
be 30° F., the mean temperature at Cape Evans during Decem- 
ber 1911 and January 1912 was 21° F. Thus the summer tem- 
perature at our base station over 900 miles from the South Pole 
was 9° F. below the summer temperature at the North Pole 
itself. It is interesting to compare the mean temperature through- 
out the months of the year at Cape Evans with that of a station 
in the corresponding latitude in the northern hemisphere. The 
comparison is made in the table on p. 318. 
Thus during the three summer months our temperature was 
more than 15° F. below what would have been experienced at a 
similar latitude in the Arctic. The low temperature during the 
summer in the Antarctic is one of the outstanding features of its 
climate and has not yet received a really satisfactory explanation. 
As stated above, the lowest temperatures experienced at Cape 
