LIFE AT THE SOUTH POLE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 806, 2 May 1910, Page 9

LIFE AT THE SOUTH POLE.

DENIZENS OF THE FROZEN SEA,

| An address on "The Scientific Work ' ?nn! nn Antarctic Expedition of 1907-9 was given by Mr. Jnines Murray, F.R.S.E., biologist to tlio expedition, at tho sov<?lith ordinary 'meeting of tho Royal Socioty of Edinburgh. Mr. Murray, at tho out-sot, said there Woro many striking phenomena in the Antarctic for which one was ;prepared. The lecturer referred to a kind of shadow, which Captain Scott described •as earth shadow, but for which Dr. Mill had suggested the inoro dcscriptivo title of aerial shadow. The shadows of mo.untnin peaks projected into the clear atmosphere wore visible as lone dark bands, probably owing to tho present of invisible ice particles in the air. A very remarkablo shadow of this kind was tbat thrown by Mount Erebus to tbo opposite sido of the Sound. It was in the fcrhl of an arch. Aurora occurred with great frequency, being scarcely ever absent from the sky, when tlie woather was clear enough to see it during tho dark months. This was probably unusual, as on tho Discovery expodition it had not been so frequently seen. Discussing fresh water biology, Mr. Murray said they found abundftilce of microscopic Jifo in littlo Jakes, which only thawed for a fow weeks in summer. Tho deeper ones did not thaw in ordinary sujnmcrs, but oven in these, at a depth of fifteen feet, they found abundance of living animals embedded in the ico. During tho period when tho lakes were melted, some of the organisms increased at a prodigious rate, so that one, of a blood-red colour, produced largo red stains on the pebbles on tho margin of tho lakes. These microscopic animal.? were preserved from season to season in an adult condition, and could survive the greatest cold experienced there. They were also proven by experiment, on return to Great Britain, to Im ali/o to withstand a much greater nold. When in a dry condition tliey ;dso survived heat not far short of boiling point. . I