166 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 
Next to the spirit of adventure the love of Nature 
entered deeply into Bruce’s composition, and to the science 
of Natural History some of his most valued contributions 
were made. In this is partly to be traced the influence 
of Prof. Cossar Ewart and Sir William Turner during the 
two years Bruce spent as a medical student at the University 
of Edinburgh, study interrupted in 1892 by his first voyage 
to Antarctic seas on the Dundee whaler Balena. The 
importance of this voyage on his subsequent career can 
hardly be overestimated, for apart from the information 
he accumulated regarding the occurrence and distribution 
of whales in the southern oceans, he gained here the vision 
of Antarctic discovery which was the mainspring of his 
greatest achievement. Then followed a series of voyages 
to Arctic seas, when he visited Franz Josef Land, Novaya 
Zemlya, Wiche Island, Bear Island, Spitsbergen, and other 
places, returning always with fresh discoveries regarding the 
animal inhabitants of the land and the neighbouring seas. 
The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, inaugurated 
and carried out in the face of discouragements which would 
have daunted most, will remain an everlasting monument 
to Bruce’s memory. The natural history collections, 
identified by specialists of many countries, have proved 
to be amongst the richest ever obtained in southern seas, 
and have added enormously to the lists of recognisable 
species, and to the distribution of forms already known. 
Not least in importance are the rare creatures obtained 
in the sea in the neighbourhood of the newly discovered 
“Coat’s Land” at depths of over three miles. 
It is impossible here even to hint at the extent of Bruce’s 
zoological discoveries. His great collections, presented by 
him to the Royal Scottish Museum, form one of the finest 
series in that institution. His preoccupation with the faunas 
of Arctic and Antarctic seas and lands left him little 
opportunity for the investigation of Scottish natural history, 
but even here he seized every chance that offered, and 
during his residence at the meteorological station on Ben 
Nevis he made valuable observations on the insects to 
be found at great heights on our highest mountain. 
