THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



did not look at all promising, for two of the toes on the 

 right foot were very much swollen and discoloured, 

 whilst the big toe remained black and Marshall was 

 of the opinion that part would have to be amputated 

 later. Except for this accident every one was in the 

 best of health. I asked the Professor to give me a short 

 summary of the scientific results of the ascent, and I 

 think they will not be out of place in this narrative, 

 for the object of the ascent was mainly to gather scien- 

 tific information, though, of course, there was a strong 

 desire to reach the summit of a hitherto unclimbed moun- 

 tain, of great height and unknown nature. 



"Among the scientific results," wrote Professor 

 David, "may be mentioned in the first place the cal- 

 culation of the height of the mountain. Sir James 

 Clark Ross, in 1841, estimated the height to be 12,367 ft. 

 The National Antarctic Expedition of 1901 deter- 

 mined its height at first to be 13,120 ft., but this was 

 subsequently altered to 12,922 ft., the height now 

 given on the Admiralty chart of the region. Our 

 observations for altitude were made partly with aneroids 

 and partly with a hypsometer. All the aneroid levels 

 and hypsometer observations have been calculated 

 by means of simultaneous readings of the barometer 

 taken at our winter quarters, Cape Royds. These 

 observations show that the rim of the second or main 

 crater of Erebus is about 11,350 ft. above sea-level, 

 and that the height of the summit of the active crater 

 is about 13,350 ft. above sea-level. The fact may be 

 emphasised that in both the methods adopted by us 

 for estimating the altitude of the mountain, atmospheric 

 pressure was the sole factor on which we relied. The 

 determination arrived at by the Discovery expedition 

 was based on measurements made with a theodolite 

 from sea-level. It is, of course, quite possible that 



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