oured in by the hundred from all quarters of the earth--from Europe,
America, Australia--from persons who wished to take part in it,
in spite of the many warning voices that had been raised. It was
no easy thing to choose among all the brave men who applied. As a
matter of course, it was absolutely essential that every man should
be strong and healthy, and not one was finally accepted till he had
been carefully examined by Professor Hialmar Heiberg, of Christiania.

The following is a list of the members of the expedition:

Otto Neumann Sverdrup, commander of the Fram, was born in Bindal,
in Helgeland, 1855. At the age of seventeen he went to sea, passed
his mate's examination in 1878, and for some years was captain of a
ship. In 1888-89 he took part in the Greenland expedition. As soon as
he heard of the plan of the polar expedition he expressed his desire
to accompany it, and I knew that I could not place the Fram in better
hands. He is married, and has one child.

Sigurd Scott-Hansen, first lieutenant in the navy, undertook
the management of the meteorological, astronomical, and magnetic
observations. He was born in Christiania in 1868. After passing
through the naval school at Horten, he became an officer in 1889,
and first lieutenant in 1892. He is a son of Andreas Hansen, parish
priest in Christiania.

Henrik Greve Blessing, doctor and botanist to the expedition, was born
in Drammen in 1866, where his father was at that time a clergyman. He
became a student in 1885, and graduated in medicine in the spring
of 1893.

Theodore Claudius Jacobsen, mate of the Fram, was born at Tromsoe in
1855, where his father was a ship's captain, afterwards harbor-master
and head pilot. At the age of fifteen he went to sea, and passed his
mate's examination four years later. He spent two years in New Zealand,
and from 1886-90 he went on voyages to the Arctic Sea as skipper of
a Tromsoe sloop. He is married, and has one child.

Anton Amundsen, chief engineer of the Fram, was born at Horten in
1853. In 1884 he passed his technical examination, and soon afterwards
his engineer's examination. For twenty-five years he has been in the
navy, where he attained the rank of chief engineer. He is married,
and has six children.

Adolf Juell, steward and cook of the Fram, was born in the parish of
Skatoe, near Krageroe, in 1860. His father, Claus Nielsen, was a farmer
and ship-owner. In 1879 he passed his mate's examination, and has been