THE WINTER NIGHT 245 



Once a month he too had to make his scientific observa- 

 tions, which consisted in the weighing of each man, and 

 the counting of blood corpuscles, and estimating the 

 amount of blood pigment, in order to ascertain the num- 

 ber of red -blood corpuscles and the quantity of red 

 coloring matter (haemoglobin) in the blood of each. 

 This was also work that was watched with anxious 

 interest, as every man thought he could tell from the re- 

 sult obtained how long it would be before scurvy over- 

 took him. 



Among our scientific pursuits may also be mentioned 

 the determining of the temperature of the water and of its 

 degree of saltness at varying depths; the collection and 

 examination of such animals as are to be found in these 

 northern seas; the ascertaining of the amount of elec- 

 tricity in the air; the observation of the formation of the 

 ice, its growth and thickness, and of the temperature of 

 the different lavers of ice; the investisfation of the cur- 

 rents in the water under it, etc., etc. I had the main 

 charge of this department. There remains to be men- 

 tioned the regular observation of the aurora borealis, 

 which we had a splendid opportunity of studying. After 

 I had gone on with it for some time, Blessing undertook 

 this part of m\- duties : and when I left the ship I made 

 over to him all the other observations that were under 

 my charge. Not an inconsiderable item of our scientific 

 work were the soundings and dredarinCTs. At the o^reater 

 depths it was such an undertaking that every one had 



