The instrument recovered from the balloon shows an ascent of 2 1/2 miles, and the temperature at that height only 5º or 6º C. below that at the surface. If, as one must suppose, this layer extends over the Barrier, it would there be at a considerably higher temperature than the surface Simpson has imagined a very cold surface layer on the Barrier.
The acetylene has suddenly failed, and I find myself at this moment writing by daylight for the first time.
The first addition to our colony came last night, when ‘Lassie’ produced six or seven puppies – we are keeping the family very quiet and as warm as possible in the stable.
It is very pleasant to note the excellent relations which our young Russians have established with other folk; they both work very hard, Anton having most to do. Demetri is the more intelligent and begins to talk English fairly well. Both are on the best terms with their mess-mates, and it was amusing last night to see little Anton jamming a felt hat over P.O. Evans’ head in high good humour.
Wright lectured on radium last night.
The transformation of the radio-active elements suggestive of the transmutation of metals was perhaps the most interesting idea suggested, but the discussion ranged mainly round the effect which the discovery of radio-activity has had on physics and chemistry in its bearing on the origin of matter, on geology as bearing on the internal heat of the earth, and on medicine in its curative powers. The geologists and doctors admitted little virtue to it, but of course the physicists boomed their own wares, which enlivened the debate.