i9"l THE DARK ROOM 161 



glimpse of the intricate arrangements of a first-class meteoro- 

 logical station the one and only station of that order which 

 has been established in Polar regions. It took me days and 

 even months to realise fully the aims of our meteorologist and 

 the scientific accuracy with which he was achieving them. When 

 I did so to an adequate extent I wrote some description of his 

 work which will be found in the following pages of this volume.* 

 The first impression which I am here describing was more con- 

 fused; I appreciated only that by going to ' Simpson's Corner ' 

 one could ascertain at a glance how hard the wind was blow- 

 ing and had been blowing, how the barometer was varying, to 

 what degree of cold the thermometer had descended; if one 

 were still more inquisitive he could further inform himself as 

 to the electrical tension of the atmosphere and other matters of 

 like import. That such knowledge could be gleaned without a 

 visit to the open air was an obvious advantage to those who 

 were clothing themselves to face it, whilst the ability to study 

 the variation of a storm without exposure savoured of no light 

 victory of mind over matter. 



The dark room stands next to the parasitologist's side of 

 the bench which flanks Sunny Jim's Corner an involved sen- 

 tence. To be more exact, the physicists adjust their instruments 

 and write up books at a bench which projects at right angles 

 to the end wall of the hut; the opposite side of this bench is 

 allotted to Atkinson, who is to write with his back to the dark 

 room. Atkinson being still absent his corner was unfurnished, 

 and my attention was next claimed by the occupant of the dark 

 room beyond Atkinson's limit. The art of photography has 

 never been so well housed within the Polar regions and rarely 

 without them. Such a palatial chamber for the development of 

 negatives and prints can only be justified by the quality of the 

 work produced in it, and is only justified in our case by the 

 possession of such an artist as Ponting. He was eager to show 

 me the results of his summer work, and meanwhile my eye took 

 in the neat shelves with their array of cameras, &c, the porcelain 

 sink and automatic water tap, the two acetylene gas burners 

 with their shading screens, and the general obviousness of all 

 conveniences of the photographic art. Here, indeed, was en- 

 couragement for the best results, and to the photographer be all 



* See Chapter X. 

 VOL. I II 



