892 
an expedition with Professor Gregory for 
its scientific chief, with as freea hand as 
English law would permit, was bound to 
yield great results. 
The Committee deputed me to ask Pro- 
fessor Gregory if he would consent to be 
nominated. In doing sol carefully explained 
that he could not have the full powers of 
the German scientific leader. He consented 
to consider the offer favorably, but wished 
for amore definite statement of his position 
and powers, and for a program of the 
Expedition. Shortly after this he was ap- 
pointed professor of geology at Melbourne, 
and left England. On the voyage he wrote 
a long letter to the Hxecutive Committee 
(dated January 19, 1900), which he posted 
to me at Port Said. In it he said, ‘I have 
heard so many rumours as to what is 
wanted, that I cannot be sure whether I 
correctly understand the views and wishes 
of the Executive Committee: I therefore 
write mainly for the sake of correction, so 
that I may avoid any misstatements in 
communicating with the Council of Mel- 
bourne University, when the proposal from 
the Committee reaches me.” The plan 
drafted by Professor Gregory in this letter 
included the provision of a landing party 
with house, observing huts, dog-stable, etc., 
and he argued that its organization should 
be placed ‘in the hands of the scientific 
staff,’ but that, under any circumstances, 
the Scientific Leader should have the op- 
portunity of controlling a small independent 
party on land. This letter was read by all 
the members of the Executive Committee, 
and, on June 15th, at the close of the meet- 
ing, the Secretary despatched a cable to 
Professor Gregory containing the informa- 
tion ‘‘ Your letter of January 19 has been 
received and approved.” As soon as Pro- 
fessor Gregory received this he sent a 
decoded copy to Sir Clements Markham, 
who did not correct it. Indeed, at this 
period Sir Clements Markham frequently 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Vou. XIII. No. 336. 
expressed opinions which implied that he 
contemplated the establishment of a land- 
ing party independent of the ship. Pro- 
fessor Gregory applied for and received from 
the Council of Melbourne University per- 
mission to take the appointment on the 
lines of his letter of January 19th. 
Professor Gregory’s name was very 
warmly received by the Joint Committee 
and he was appointed Scientific Head on 
February 14, 1900; the words “ Formally 
appointed, wire when fully able to decide,” 
being cabled to him a few days later by Sir 
Clements Markham. 
' Lieutenant Robert F. Scott, Torpedo 
Lieutenant of H. M. 8. Majestic, was ap- 
pointed Commander of the Expedition 
by the Joint Committee, on May 25, 
1900. 
In June, 1900, my attention was called to 
a statement in the Press describing Professor 
Gregory as ‘ Head of the Civilian Scientific 
Staff.’ Feeling confident that the word 
‘ civilian ’ was not employed in the resolu- 
tion accepted by the Joint Committee I 
wrote to Sir Clements Markham on the 
subject. In his absence the Secretary re- 
plied, ‘The words ‘Head of the Civilian 
Scientific Staff’ are the exact words of the 
resolution passed by the Joint Committee 
appointing Professor Gregory, and I know 
Sir Clements himself was very anxious to 
have the word ‘ civilian’ in, so that no dif- 
ficulty might arise between Professor Gre- 
gory and the Commander of the Expedition, 
since the civilians would not be the only 
scientific men on board.’? The word ‘ ci- 
vilian’ does certainly occur in the minutes 
of the meeting. On the other hand, Sir 
Clements Markham was not present on 
that occasion (February 14, 1900); the 
word ‘civilian’ did not occur in the in- 
structions issued to the Executive Commit- 
tee, and was not used in my letter to Sir 
Clements (February 15th) describing the re- 
sult of the meeting and asking him to cable. 
