894 
one leader of the Expedition, and that that leader 
must be Captain Scott. 
My colleagues and myself were characterized as 
civilian scientific experts, accompanying the expedi- 
tion to undertake investigations in those branches of 
science with which the ship’s officers were unfamiliar, 
and it was proposed that, to maintain Captain Scott’s 
complete control, all the scientific men should be re- 
quired to sign articles. 
According to this theory, the position of the scientific 
staff is accessory and subordinate. The contentions 
of Sir Clements Markham and Captain Scott would 
completely alter the position which I was invited to 
take and which alone I am prepared to accept. Were I 
to accompany the expedition on those terms there 
would be no guarantee to prevent the scientific work 
from being subordinated to nayal adventure, an object 
admirable in itself, but not the one for which I under- 
stood this expedition to be organized. 
The Executive Committee met on Janu- 
ary 30th and drafted instructions on lines 
approved by Sir Clements Markham. They 
were opposed by my colleague Captain 
Tizard, but in my absence through illness 
were passed by two votes to one. 
A few days later the draft instructions 
were considered by the Royal Society’s rep- 
resentatives, who appointed Sir Joseph 
Hooker, Sir William Wharton and Sir 
Archibald Geikie to suggest amendments. 
They carefully considered the draft and 
suggested several alterations, the most im- 
portant of these being the instructions to 
the commander, (1) not to winter in the 
ice, (2) to establish between two named 
points on the coast a landing party with 
three year’s stores, under the control of 
Professor Gregory. 
The Royal Society’s representatives again 
met and unanimously approved these 
amendments, which were submitted to- 
gether with the draft instructions to the 
meeting of the Joint Committee on Febru- 
ary 8th. The representatives of the Royal 
Geographical Society objected that they had 
not had the same opportunity of consider- 
ing the instructions at a separate meeting, 
and that the amendments were sprung upon 
them. The meeting was accordingly ad- 
SCIENCE. 
(N.S. Vou. XIII. No. 336. 
journed until February 12th, the very day 
before Professor Gregory sailed. During 
the prolonged discussion which took place, 
the authorities on magnetism were unan- 
imous in affirming that a station on land 
was essential in order to obtain the full 
value of the observations made on the ship. 
Sir Clements Markham threatened that 
the Council of the R. G. S. would not ac- 
cept the amended instructions, whereupon 
Sir Michael Foster drew attention to the 
letter which Sir Clements had written at the 
time when the Joint Committee was pro- 
posed. 
The amendments were finally approved 
by 16 votes to 6, and Sir Archibald Geikie 
and I were deputed to explain to Professor 
Gregory, who was in attendance, that he 
was to be landed in control of a small party, 
if a safe and suitable place could be found, 
and to ask if he would accept these condi- 
tions. We reported his consent to the 
meeting, which was then adjourned for the 
consideration of other details. 
Two of the representatives of the R. G. S., 
Sir Anthony Hoskins and Sir Vesey Hamil- 
ton, resigned shortly afterwards, explain- 
ing that they could not agree with the 
action of the Committee. The R. G.S. had, 
however, the right, which it subsequently 
~ exercised, of appointing new members. 
At the adjourned meeting, on February 
19th, the question of the ship wintering was 
discussed at length. Those who had prac- 
tical experience of the Antarctic urged us 
strongly not to take the responsibility of 
permitting the ship to winter in the ice. 
Sir Joseph Hooker’s statement of the dan- 
ger was especially impressive, and the meet- 
ing decided in accordance with his opinion. 
At the same meeting Major L. Darwin 
proposed to modify the conditions accepted 
by Professor Gregory, by adding to them 
the additional consideration that he should 
only be landed if the time of the ship 
should not be too greatly diverted from 
