406 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Oct. 



supposition alone shows the difficulty of tracing an outbreak of 

 the disease to its exact source. 



It is important to lay stress on the foregoing remarks 

 because it is very commonly thought that unwholesome 

 tinned meat can be detected at once by the proportion of 

 tins that are ' blown.' Such a test must, of course, be a good 

 rough guide as between good and bad, but it does not achieve 

 the delicacy necessary to detect food which may cause scurvy. 

 As having achieved an unsurpassed feat in the prevention of 

 scurvy, Dr. Nansen may well be taken as an authority in this 

 matter; and more or less to this point he relates a story 

 where a party of men found a depot of provisions, selected 

 the best tins, ate of them, and got scurvy; his comment is 

 that they would have done better to have selected the worst 

 tins. 



On the many points of importance with regard to the 

 selection of tinned provisions I am not able to dwell — it is 

 sufficient to show that the question is more complicated than 

 appears at first sight ; and, further, it must be remembered 

 that there is no service where excellence is demanded so fully 

 as on polar service. The ordinary traveller may be obliged to 

 subsist on tinned food for weeks or months, but the polar 

 voyager may be forced to extend these periods to months and 

 years. 



One great practical certainty arises, however, out of this 

 complicated problem : one cannot be too careful ; without 

 being able to ensure perfection in one's tinned provisions, 

 one can go a long way towards it by very careful selection 

 and by preparing with all the safeguards which modern science 

 can suggest. Such a preparation requires time, and therefore 

 it becomes still more evident that ample time should be allowed 

 for the equipment of a polar expedition. 



With these few general remarks I would briefly trace the 

 history of such circumstances as may have led to the outbreak 

 of scurvy in the • Discovery.' I commence by giving some 

 account of the provisions which we carried. Owing to facts 

 which can be well understood from the shortness of time at 



