Page:Canadian Alpine Journal I, 2.djvu/193

They have had to examine the effects of rain and rivers, frost and fire, ice and snow. All the elements that have produced the present configuration of the earth's surface are familiar to them, and in fact to all of us who have climbed the Alps with our eyes open—a normal condition of the Club's eyes, whether its members are scientific or not scientific men. By no means all of our best climbers have cared much for the science of the Alps. Leslie Stephen once made a scientific report on the state of the atmosphere at a certain time earlyish in the morning. An early morning start, after a night on some hard material, was not his best time. I remember once moving up to him, about half-past two in the morning, and saying something genial. He responded with: 'If you think I am such a fool as to be in a good temper at half-past two in the morning, you're very much mistaken.' (Laughter). Well, Leslie Stephen once made a scientific report on the state of things he found at the top of a peak. It took this form: 'If there was any ozone in the atmosphere, ozone is a greater fool than I take it to be.' (Laughter) That sort of thing is not confined to Alpine Club men. For example, we have with us here tonight Sir George Darwin. Sir George Darwin had a father. This was a remark made by the first lieutenant of the ship 'Beagle' to Darwin, who was engaged in dredging, and no doubt was making a great mess on the decks: 'If the captain would leave me in charge of this ship for one day I would have you and your filth overboard in five minutes.' (Laughter). The latest instance of the scientific nature of the Club is very interesting. It is this: The University of Oxford has given the degree of Doctor in Medicine to a member of this club, than whom none has a bolder record as a mountaineer, for a highly scientific treatise on mountain sickness. (Applause). Some of our visitors who have not seen Dr. Longstaff's treatise may not know, perhaps, that the com-