1876 SNOW-BLINDNESS. 299 



actually necessary. The men fully know the value of 

 taking care of themselves, and of the sledge on which 

 their lives depend. The most minute attention is given, 

 therefore, to every article of dress, equipment, and 

 provisions. The horn spoons occasion many jokes ; 

 they melt in the hot mess and become nearly flat, 

 having to be bent into shape again before getting cold, 

 so that literally each man has to fit his spoon to his 

 mouth, and when it is spread out nearly flat his mouth 

 must be stretched to fit his spoon. Metal spoons are 

 now carried, each man keeping his own as warm as he 

 can in his bag. 



' The sun rising fifteen degrees above the horizon 

 the glare during the day is becoming very decided, and 

 owing to the extreme cold it is difficult to protect our 

 eyes. When wearing neutral-tinted spectacles the 

 evaporation from the eye condenses so quickly on the 

 glasses that they have to be taken off and wiped every 

 few minutes. A gauze veil, from which the conden- 

 sation cannot be removed, is even more useless. 



4 Previous to the sun attaining an altitude of about 

 fourteen degrees little annoyance is experienced from 

 its glare and cases of snow-blindness are rare. This is 

 in consequence of the sun's rays being only refracted by 

 the snow at and beyond a radius of about twenty- two 

 degrees from it. At that distance during clear weather, 

 the most brilliant prismatic colours are displayed by 

 each minute snow-prism, and in combination form a 

 sparkling arc on the snow-covered ground, the bright 

 light from which is too powerful for the unprotected / 

 eye. The " diamond dust," as we term it, becomes 

 more open as the length of the radius is increased. 



