304. Obituary. 



scientific member of Captain Scott's second Antarctic 

 Expedition, perished with the leader and other heroic com- 

 panions "from want and exposure '' is now a matter of 

 history and will never be forgotten. The little band of five 

 who undertook the final advance, after overcoming almost 

 insuperable difficulties succeeded in reaching the South Pole 

 on the 18th of January, 1912, about a month after 

 Captain Amundsen reached it ; but on their triumphant 

 return towards the base camp, when within eleven miles 

 of a place known as One Ton Depot, where safety, shelter 

 and supplies awaited them, Captain Scott and his three 

 remaining companions (for one had already died) were 

 overtaken by a terrific blizzard, and all perished. It is not 

 necessary to enter here into the harrowing details which have 

 reached us of how these brave men died, first Seaman Edgar 

 Evans on the 17th of February, then Captain L. E. G. Gates, 

 6th Inniskilling Dragoons, on the 17th of March, and finally 

 Captain R. F. Scott, R.N., the leader of the expedition, 

 Dr. E. A. Wilson, and Lieutenant H. R. Bowers, Royal 

 Indian Marine, about the 29th of March. On the 12th of 

 November following, one of the search parties, sent out 

 under Mr. Wright, while proceeding along the old southern 

 route sighted Captain Scott's tent and within it found the 

 bodies of the last survivors, together with all the written 

 records and private diaries of the Southern Party. 



The heart-breaking story has been read and mourned over 

 wherever the English language is spoken and has commanded 

 the respectful sympathy of all nations. We have at least 

 the satisfaction of knowing that Captain Scott and his 

 companions lived to realise their dearest wish, and reached 

 the goal they so ardently desired. That they should not 

 have been spared to reap the full triura|)h of their great 

 scientific undertaking will always be a matter of profound 

 regret to their fellow countrymen. 



Edward Adrian Wilson inherited his love for ornithology 

 from his grandfather and great-uncle, Edward and Thomas 

 B. Wilson. The latter was settled at Philadelphia, and it was 

 he who j)urchased and presented to the Academy of Natural 



