FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 
which, as assistant surgeon, I lent my most attentive hear- 
ing, and all three bewailed the utter commercialism of the 
expedition. Is it not a hideous marvel that Dundonians 
should show such splendid enterprise as to send four 
ships out here for whales, and at the same time show 
total disregard for the scientific possibilities of such a 
cruise ? 
Our walk over the snow was short and warm. A thou- 
sand yards over deep, soft snow, under a blazing sun, 
did us brown. D. tried barrel-staves as skis. They might 
have supported an average-sized man, but in this case 
they only sank deep blue trenches in the snow, which we 
following found of use. 
Much to our regret, we had no opportunity at this time 
of meeting Dr. Campbell of the Diana. He, we under- 
stand, has been more fortunate than we on the Balaena, for 
Captain Davidson gives him every opportunity of collecting 
specimens. If we lay hold of glacier rocks or birds' skins 
we raise a whirlwind of objections, and an endless reitera- 
tion of the painfully evident truth that 'this is no a scien- 
tuffic expedeetion.' A most painful state of things this, to 
see common albatross skins collected by the score, and rare 
penguins killed by the hundred, their bodies eaten, and 
their skins chucked overboard. Emperor penguins, king 
penguins, an endless variety of birds, some unheard of, 
all go over the side because they are supposed to be of 
no commercial value. To the whaling skipper, animal life 
beyond his own and the Bowheads is absolutely uninter- 
esting. His knowledge is limited by immediate necessity. 
In bird-life he can distinguish a hen from a kittiwake, 
