i 9 ii] MODERN INTERESTS 289 
by the old Arctic voyagers with our own, and look into 
the causes. The aspect of everything changes as our 
knowledge expands. 
The expansion of human interest in rude surroundings 
may perhaps best be illustrated by comparisons. It 
will serve to recall such a simple case as the fact that our 
ancestors applied the terms horrid, frightful, to mountain 
crags which in our own day are more justly admired as 
lofty, grand, and beautiful. 
The poetic conception of this natural phenomenon has 
followed not so much an inherent change of sentiment as 
the intimacy of wider knowledge and the death of super- 
stitious influence. One is much struck by the importance 
of realising limits. 
Saturday, May 27. — A very unpleasant, cold, windy 
day. Annoyed with the conditions, so did not go out. 
In the evening Bowers gave his lecture on sledging 
diets. He has shown great courage in undertaking the 
task, great perseverance in unearthing facts from books, 
and a considerable practical skill in stringing these 
together. It is a thankless task to search Polar literature 
for dietary facts and still more difficult to attach due 
weight to varying statements. Some authors omit 
discussion of this important item altogether, others fail 
to note alterations made in practice or additions afforded 
by circumstances, others again forget to describe the 
nature of various food stuffs. 
Our lecturer was both entertaining and instructive 
when he dealt with old-time rations; but he naturally 
grew weak in approaching the physiological aspect of the 
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