ect. It was Simpson's suggestion
that "the deposition of snow on the Barrier leads to an expansion due to
the increase of weight." Some admittedly vague ideas as to the extent and
character of the inland ice-sheet ended a clever and convincing paper
which contained a lot of good reasoning.

Simpson proved an excellent lecturer, and in meteorology and in the
explanation of the many instruments with which his corner of the hut was
full he possessed subjects which interested and concerned everybody.
Nelson on Biological Problems and Taylor on Physiography were always
interesting. "Taylor, I dreamt of your lecture last night. How could I
live so long in the world and not know something of so fascinating a
subject!" Thus Scott on the morning following one of these lectures.[142]
Wright on Ice Problems, Radium, and the Origin of Matter had highly
technical subjects which left many of us somewhat befogged. But Atkinson
on Scurvy had an audience each member of which felt that he had a
personal interest in the subject under discussion. Indeed one of his
hearers was to suffer the advanced stage of this dread disease within six
months. Atkinson inclined to Almroth Wright's theory that scurvy is due
to an acid intoxication of the blood caused by bacteria. He described the
litmus-paper test which was practised on us monthly, and before and after
sledge journeys. In this the blood of each individual is drawn and
various strengths of dilute sulphuric acid are added to it until it is
neutralized, the healthy man showing normal 30 to 50, while the man with
scorbutic signs will be normal 50 to 90 according to the stage to which
he has reached. The only thing which is certain to stop scurvy is fresh
vegetables: fresh meat when life is otherwise under extreme conditions
will not do so, an instance being the Siege of Paris when they had plenty
of horse meat. In 1795 voyages were being ruined by scurvy and Anson lost
300 out of 500 men, but in that year the first discoveries were made and
lime-juice was introduced by Blaine. From this time scurvy practically
disappeared from the Navy, and there was little scurvy in Nelson's days;
but the reason is not clear, since, according to modern research,
lime-juice only helps to prevent it. It continued in the Merchant
Service, and in a decade from about 1865 some 400 cases were admitted
into the Dreadnought Hospital, whereas in the decade 1887 to 1896 there
were only 38 cases. We had, at Cape Evans, a