April 1, 1895.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



77 



The greatest cold of the winter was experienced early in 

 February, but there were not more than fifty-two degrees of 

 frost (Fahrenheit), which is fourteen degrees less than in the 

 winter of 1891-92. Indeed, last winter was, on the whole, 

 rather milder than the former, but the spring was cold and 

 late. On February 14th we greeted the returning dawn, and 

 soon after, the final purchase of dogs was made for the all- 

 important journey. The natives bad quite a superfluity of 

 dogs, so that weeasily obtained thirty, making seventy m all. 



On March 6th all the necessaries for the expedition had 

 been brought up to the ice edge. The equipment was the 

 best possible under the circumstances. Peary would not 

 take with him a tent of any size, as he thought it would 

 be an unnecessary luxury with the warm double reindeer 

 suits. So far from sharing his view in this, I had already 

 last autumn expressed the decided opinion that not only 

 would ordinary canvas tents be necessary, but even tents 

 of reindeer or sealskin, considering the terribly low tem- 

 peratures which are experienced in winter on the inland 

 ice of Greenland, and with the terrific bone-penctratmg 

 spring storms which sweep the plateau. On the 7th the 

 expedition was collected at the autumn depot, where the 

 journey was to commence. There was a small tent left 



Eskimo Puppies, 



here, and this Peary had selected. It was quite insufiicient 

 to shelter the members. During our sojourn at the depot, 

 I was again seized with illness from eating our pemmican, 

 so that it was decided that I should not hamper an 

 expedition of such importance, and I returned with Peary 

 and Lee to Anniversary Lodge. Peary had left some 

 efi'ects behind, which he required, and Lee had his foot 

 frozen so that he could not walk. 



It was depressing in the extreme to be debarred from 

 sharing in the loug-looked-for journey, which was to eclipse 

 all our achievements of the previous year, but there was 

 no help for it. 



On Monday, !March 2(jth, Dr. Vincent returned with 

 Davidson, who had his foot very badly frostbitten during a 

 terrible equinoctial gale which raged here on March 22ud 

 and 23rd. During this storm the temperature fell to 

 fifty degrees of frost (Fahrenheit), which is an unusual 

 phenomenon with such a terrific wind as then blew. They 

 were all together in a little tent during the gale, and every 

 moment it threatened to split, and there is but one opinion 

 among the party, that had this happened, not a single one 

 would have returned to tell the tale. Several of the hardy 

 dogs were afterwards found frozen to death, and all were 

 more or less affected. 



I had no further news of the party till May 1st, as I 

 was engaged in a sledge journey to the unexplored shores 

 of Melville Bay. 



On this journey I was accompanied by a faithful Eskimo 

 friend. Beyond the geographical results of this expedition, 

 including the discovery of the greatest hitherto known 

 glacial complex with outflows in Greenland, we experienced 

 some exciting adventures in hunting Polar bears, reindeer, 

 seals, silver foxes, and other animals, and we had some 

 curious encoimterf: and sojourns with the natives in these 

 remote parts. On my return I learned of the sad fate of 

 Peary and his gallant companions. The dogs had mostly 

 died under the terrible frost — sometimes fifty degrees of 

 frost (Fahrenheit) — and Mr. Entriken had both feet frozen so 

 that he could not walk. All had suffered more or less ; in 

 fact, besides Peary there was only one man left to continue 

 the venture, which was therefore abandoned. 



The rest of the spring now sped rapidly, but to add to 

 our miseries the provisions began to give out, which 

 caused general indignation, as we had been told that we 

 were provisioned for two years. The result was a general 

 longing for the P'ali vn. 



At last, one simny evening towards the end of July, the 

 whole colony was suddenly roused by the welcome news 

 of two Eskimo messengers. My pen fails to describe the 

 joy which ensued at the gladdening news, the escape of 

 long-pent-up feelings and suspense. From twenty stentorian 

 throats hurrah upon hurrah rose on the still summer 

 air, and the c oboes reverberated again and again from the 

 straight towering walls of Mount Bartlett, gradually dying 

 away among distant hills and glaciers. We were saved 

 from a horrible starvation. 



The expedition is not at an end, as Peary nobly remains 

 on those bleak and inhospitable shores one year longer, 

 having obtained provisions and coal from the ship. He 

 has with him a young man, Lee, and his faithful nigger. 

 Matt. The rest of the expedition cannot disguise their 

 delight and thankfulness at being all safe once more 

 among civilized surroundings. 



THE EVOLUTION OF FRUITS. 



By C. F. Marshall, M.D., B.Sc, F.E.C.S. 



ACCORDING to its botanical definition, a fruit is 

 simply the matured ovary of the plant after 

 fertilization has taken place. If this is compared 

 with the structures popularly known as " fruits," 

 we shall find that in many of these so-called 

 fruits other parts of the flower are included besides the 

 matured ovary. 



Let us take the simplest form of fruit, which is called 

 an achene ; this is simply a case enclosing a single seed. 

 The buttercup affords a typical example of such a fruit, 

 and each of the so-called yellow "seeds" of the strawberry 

 is an individual achene. The seed-case of the achene is 

 known as the pericarp, and this usually 

 consists of three layers ; an outer the 

 epicarp, an inner the endocarp, and a 

 middle one the mesocarp. 



The simplest form of succulent fruit 

 is the drupe. In this the seed-case has 

 become succulent and fleshy, and its 

 three component parts are distinguish- 

 able and have taken on diflerent func- 

 tions, for reasons which we shall after- 

 wards see. The epicarp form.s an ex- 

 ternal, usually brightly coloured skin ; 

 the endocarp forms a hard protective 

 covering for the seed ; while the mesocarp 

 forms the succulent mass of the fruit. The cherry and 



Fie. 1. — Diagram 

 of a simple Achene : 

 ep, epicarp ; en, en- 

 docarp ; /H, meso- 

 carp; s, seed. 



