An Old Arctic Hero Receives a New Honor
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
RECENTLY a new honor
was paid to the nation's
oldest living polar explorer by
his fellow-adventurers into the
Arctic and Antarctic wilder
nesses, most of whom were still
unborn when he made his first
bid for fame more than half a
century ago. He is Brig. Gen.
David L. Brainard, U. S. A.,
retired, the last survivor of
Gen. A. W. Greely's Lady
Franklin Bay Arctic expedi
tion of 1881-84. On his eight
ieth birthday the American
Polar society, of which he is the
oldest active member, elect
ed him its first honorary mem
ber "in recognition of his con
tribution to polar exploration"
and presented him with a scroll
in commemoration of his
achievement.
On this scroll was inscribed
a map showing the route taken
by Lieut. James B. Lockwood
and Brainard, then a sergeant
in the army, which enabled
them on May 13, 1882, to reach
the then farthest point north,
latitude 83 degrees, 24 minutes
and 30 seconds, on the north
ern coast of Greenland. This
surpassed the record which
British explorers had held for
275 years and their record
?tood for 13 years when it was
surpassed by Nansen in the
Arctic sea in the Eastern hem
isphere.
? ? ?
General Brainard, who has the
additional distinction of being
one of the few living retired gen
erals to have risen from the hum
ble rank of "buck private," now
lives quietly in Washington af
ter 42 years' service in the army,
the first ten of which he served
In the ranks. He was born in
Norway, N. Y., on December 21,
1856 and when he was nineteen
years of age enlisted in the Sec
ond United States cavalry. His
first fighting experience was
?gainst the Indians on the Great
Plains of the West and during
an engagement with the Sioux
on May 7, 1877 at Little Muddy
creek in Montana he was serious
ly wounded. This was the battle
in which Gen. Nelson A. Miles
narrowly escaped death at the
hands of the Sioux chieftain.
Lame Deer. Later in that year
Brainard was serving under
Miles when that famous Indian
fighter corralled Chief Joseph
and his fleeing Nez Perces in
the Bear Paw mountains and
forced their surrender. In 1878
he served in the campaign against
the Bannock Indians and after
eight years with the cavalry
transferred to the signal corps.
This change led to his assign
ment as first sergeant in the
polar expedition sent out by the
United States army as the re
sult of an international confer
ence at Hamburg, Germany, in
1(79 and at Berne, Switzerland,
in 1880. The United States joined
with Great Britain, Norway,
Sweden, the Netherlands, Russia,
Germany, Denmark, and Austria
in establishing a ring of widely
separated outposts, all within^the
Arctic Circle, to record a com
plete series of meteorological
and magnetic observations simul
taneously.
Departure of the "Proteus"
In August, 1881, the expedition
set up its base, Fort Conger, on
Lady Franklin bay, 1,000 miles
north of the Arctic Circle and
HO miles north of the last Eski
mo settlement. It was command
ed by First Lieut. Adolphus W.
Greely of the Fifth cavalry with
Second Lieutenants Frederick F.
Kislingbury of the Eleventh in
fantry and James B. Lock wood
of the Twenty-third infantry as
seconds in command. These with
Octave Pavy, assistant army
surgeon, eight sergeant*, includ
ing Brainard, two corporals and
nine privates, and two dog-driv
?r?, Jena Edward and Frederik
<?-??-?11 ? I .
MPNHSSni
RESCyE OF THE SURVIVORS OF THE GREELY EXPEDITION
Thorley Christiansen, comprised
the personnel of the party.
On August 26 this litttle group
of white men and two Eskimos
stood on the shore of ice-locked
Lady Franklin bay and watched
a little steamer push its way
cautiously through a "lead," a
dark streak of open water which
ran irregularly across the sur
face of the frozen sea. The steam
er was the "Proteus" which had
been held in the ice there for
six days while Captain Pike wait
ed in vain for a chance to cleave
a path through the ice so that
he could start south towards civ
ilization.
The departure of the "Pro
teus" marked the beginning of
what has been aptly called "one
of the supreme adventure sto
ries of the world," a story of
almost unbelievable human grit
and endurance which forms
one of the brightest pages in
the annals of the Amlftican
army. For two years this party
was as much lost from con
tact with their fellow men as
if they had been on another
planet, and when finally the
third attempt to rescue Greely
succeeded, of the original twen
ty-five there were Just seven left
alive and one of these died
within twenty-four hours. The
Hher eighteen had perished of
starvation or accident after a
series of adventures marked by
incredible suffering and incred
ible heroism.
The official records of the
Greely expedition were made
public soon after Commander W
S. Schley (Admiral Schley, of
Spanish - American war fame)
had brought its survivors back
to the United States on the "The
tis," but it was not until nearly
half a century later that the
heroic human side of the story
became known. For more than
forty-five years the diary of Ser
geant Brainard, one of the seven
survivors, lay unused in an old
trunk. About ten years ago it
was brought to light and pub
lished by the Bobbs-Merrill com
pany under the title of "The Out
post of the Lost."
At that time there were but
two survivors of the expedition
? its commander, Greely, then a
major-general, retired, and the
man who had served as a ser
geant under him, Brainard, a
retired brigadier-general. So it
was especially appropriate that
his old commander, who once
called Brainard "the most re
turn the next year, if possible,
to carry the expedition away.
But if that were not possible
another relief expedition would
be sent for them in August, 1883.
In case it should fail, Greely'a
orders were to leave Fort Con
ger not later than September 1,
1883 and "retreat southward by
boat until the relieving vessel
is met or Little island is
reached," or until a sledge party
from the Little island base was
met.
Relief Ship Fails.
As a matter of fact the "Pro
teus" failed to reach them in
August', 1882. But, says Brain
ard's book, "The first year had
not passed disagreeably, and it
is doubtful if anyone regretted
the experience, future uncertain
ty thrown into the bargain. The
entire party had had the distinc
tion of spending a winter farther
north than any Arctic explorers
had ever wintered, with the ex
ception of an English outfit that
had wintered on shipboard. More
over tw? of their number had
set a new Farthest North record
in the centuries-old race to the
pole.
"That first winter there was
weather in which Medford rum
froze solid and the kerosene oil
had to be thawed out before the
lamps could be lighted. . . . At
first there had been plenty to do,
and the work was intelligently
organized by the commanding of
ficer and tackled with zeal by
the men. . . . But in a few weeks
cold and darkness put an end to
practically all outside work ex
cept the instrument tending near
the station. The monotony of the
Arctic night produces strange ef
fects on white men. They become
melancholy, sleepless and very
irritable. . . . Every diversion
twenty-five minds could think of
was tried out and dropped.
"Checkers are all the rage now,"
wrote Sergeant Brainard, the
faithful diarist. "But nothing
lasts like long, loud arguments."
However, "the second winter
was harder to bear than the
^flrst," and on June 17, 1883,
Sergeant Brainard wrote that
although "it is a few weeks too
early for a relief ship, we can
not keep our eyes from wander
ing hopefully to the south." But
again they were disappointed
and they began their tragic re
treat.
On August 9, 1883, they set out
In small boats through a "lead"
which had finally formed in the
THE LAST SURVIVORS OP THE GREELY EXPEDITION
At the left i? Mi). Gen. A. W. Oreely, who died in 1935 it the age of
ninety-one, and at the right ia Brig. Gen. D. L Brainard who ia still
Bring in Waahington at the age of eighty.
markable of a number of remark
able men of that expedition"
ahould write for Brainard's book
a "salutation" to remind the two
survivors of how "together with
our comrades we faced for nine
months the prospect of death day
by d*y and were harassed by
the sight of our associates perish
ing of starvation or from vicissi
tudes in the polar field."
When the "Proteus" sailed
away on August 26, 1881 it was
agreed that the ship was to re
? - - ?
ice after they had waited for it
for several days. Their course
was through Kennedy channel,
which was filled with grinding
floes of ice upon which Greely's
force camped when there was no
open water through which to push
the boats. Whenever they could
use the boats they hugged the
coast of Grinnell Land through
Kane sea. Early in September
they were forced to abandon their
boats and for thirty - four days
they were adrift on floating ice.
' ?
Finally they managed to reach
Smith sound and landed south
of Cape Sabine, north of and op
posite Littleton island, which was
two hundred and fifty miles away.
It was near here that the first
year relief ship had been forced
to turn back and far south to Cape
Sabine, the second year rescue
ship had been crushed in the ice
and all provisions lost.
Their Terrible Suffering.
The record of their stay at
Cape Sabine is one long story of
terrible suffering. Here for eight
een months they lived on two
months' rations. The simple rec
ord of Sergeant Brainard's diary
reveals the horrors of those days
as can no extended description.
On October 2 he writes:
"I took an inventory of the
commissary stores last evening
and found only 35 days full ra
tions of bread and meat re
mained. These rations can be
extended to 50 days, if we sub
ject ourselves to a greatly re
duced diet, but the suffering will
be extreme in this low temper
ature where a man requires from
two to three times the normal
diet. Also, we have some very
hard labor ahead of us incident
to the building of winter quar
ters."
March 4, 1884:
"Lieut. Greely reduced the
bread issue to eight ounces per
man."
Occasionally members of the
party were able to shoot a fox
to supplement their rations. But
as the weary weeks passed the
inadequate food, severe cold and
the conditions under which they
lived took their toll. One by one
eighteen of the members of the
party including Lieutenants Kis
lingbury and Lockwood died.
On the evening of June 22, 1884,
Sergeant Brainard lay in the little
fly tent which had blown down
upon him and his six comrades.
Beside them lay the dead body
of another. But they were too
weak to move it or even try to
raise the pole of the tent. Sud
denly a voice called out-*'Gree!y
are you there?" Brainard raised
himself in his sleeping bag. He
knew that voice! It was the voice
of Norman, first officer of the
Proteus" in 1881.
Its Norman!" he shouted in
a weak voice. He crawled from
beneath the tent and Norman
thrust a hardtack in his hand. A
moment later Lieutenant Colwell
came running over the hill.
Brainard was sitting on the
ground gnawing at the hard
tack, bat as he saw an officer
approaching, the old habit of
the regular army sergeant as
serted itself. He tottered to his
feet and attempted to salnte!
But Colwell clasped his hand
and they went together into
the tent, there to rouse the
dazed Greely and to tell him
that the ship "Thetis" had ar
rived with relief at last.
? ? ?
In 1886, two years after his
return from the Arctic, Brainard
* Z" """missioned by President
Cleveland as a second lieutenant
in the Second cavalry in "recog
nition of his distinguished and
meritorious services" with the
Greely expedition. He was suc
cessively promoted to higher
ranks and was commissioned a
brigadier general in the National
anny on October 2, 1917, made
a brigadier general in the regular
army on July 25. 1918 and re
tired from service two days later.
In 1885 the Royal Geographical
society awarded him its Back
?n'for.his ^ctic work and in
1928 the American Geographical
society presented its Charles P
Daly gold medal to him.
In 1929 the Explorers club of
New York awarded Brainard its
Explorer's Medal and in 1933 he
was presented with the Purple
Heart decoration by the secretary
of war. The honor conferred upon
him recently by the American
Polar society comes as a climax
tothe career of one of the most
remarkable characters in all
American history.
? Weelere Nmptptr Union.
Keeping Up
? Science Service. ? WNU Service.
Study Silversword
to Solve Hawaii's
Botanical Puzzle
Rare, Beautiful Plant
Interesta Scientists
WASHINGTON. ? Silver
swords, among the rarest and
most beautiful of Hawaiian
plants, constitute one of the
world's prize puzzles in botany.
Scientists of the Bernice Bishop
Museum in Honolulu and of the
Carnegie Institution of Wash
ington, under the leadership of
Dr. David D. Keck, have lately
been making a new effort to get
more definite facts about this
spectacular plant's kinships
and origin for it is believed
that through such data new
light may be shed on the still
greater scientific riddle of
Hawaii's unique forms of plant
life, unlike anything else in the
world.
The silversword forms a ball-like
cluster of narrow, sword-shaped
leaves, white with a silvery coating
of hairs. From this basal rosette
there shoots up a three to six-foot
flower stalk, thickly beset with
blooms. The plant is a member of
the huge botanical family known as
the Compositae, which includes
such familiar things as sunflowers,
dandelions, artichokes, thistles,
goldenrod, and lettuce.
Not American Ancestry.
It has hitherto been considered
more nearly related to the tarweeds,
found on the Pacific coasts on both
Americas, but Dr. Keek's re
searches now indicate that it is not,
and that the silversword is more
nearly related to the tree-like com
posites of Hawaii, a very remark
able group of plants whose nearest
kindred are found far southwest
wards across the Pacific, in Poly
nesia and the Australia-New Zea
land region. The elimination of an
American ancestry of the silver
swords, and their assignment
to an origin in a diametrically op
posite direction, is considered an
important step in plant geography,
Modern Baking Is
Freed From Trial
and Error Method
LONDON. ? How to tell what
kind of bread a variety of flour
will make before starting to
bake it is told in recent re
searches by two British physi
cal chemists, Drs. P. Halton, of
the Research Association of
British Flour Millers, and G. W.
Scott Blair, of the physics de
partment of Rothamstead ex
perimental station.
The "shortness" of a dough de
termines many characteristics of a
finished bread or cake. By deter
mining this ease of tearing of the
dough in a mechanical way it is
hoped to bake even better prod
ucts than those that "mother used
to make," without depending on the
highly trained judgment of an ex
perienced baker.
Scientists have attacked the prob
lem by learning something about
the fundamentals of baking. They
have found that a short dough ? one
that tears easily ? has long, heavy
fibers.
Novel Test Devised
To determine shortness accurate
ly, they use an instrument that tells
Mow easily dough will flow through
a nozzle when the pressure that
pushes it is increased. Using this
tester, they find that they can make
the dough shorter by adding lard,
iron chloride, or a phosphate, and
less short by adding amino acids.
Most peculiar of these acids is cys
tine, which makes the dough fibers
hang together by hooking the long,
thin molecules in strands like a
series of rope ladders.
The tests are more sensitive than
are those of the baker, and more
accurate. Furthermore, they are
resulting in changed flour charac
teristics so that the finished prod
uct can be rigorously controlled.
Molasseg Has High
Nutritional Value
CALCUTTA. ? M olassei,
cheap by-product of the sugar
industry, has a higher nutrition
al value for human beings than
the pure crystalized sugar that
is sought as the principal product, de
clare Drs. J. C. Pal, N. M. Roy and
B. C. Guha of the Calcutta Institute
of Medical Research. They state
that molasses has a notably high
content of vitamin B, and C, and of
calcium, phosphorus, and iron.
1 1 - "miinir ? I If. 1 nmffc mA I ii
Breakfast the Event
for Which People Are
Most Often on Time
Studies in Punctuality
Made in a College
BREAKFAST is an attraction
to which the average per
son is most often on time. To
band and choir rehearsals he is
late about half the time. Busi
ness appointments are met
punctually about three-fourths
of the time.
These are not guesses or esti
mates. They are based on stop
watch measures made secretly of
the students at Ripon college by
Dr. George J. Dudycha and the few
members of the faculty, sworn to
secrecy, whoqi he took into his con
fidence. The stop was kept hidden.
Notes were made in code. In gen
eral, the peculiar behavior of a man
who insisted on making notes at
breakfast, at football games or en
tertainments as well as at class was
dismissed without comment and
with little notice by the students.
Not only do the different situa
tions call for a more or less strict
adherence to punctuality, but they
also call for a greater or less
amount of promptness or lateness,
Dr. Dudycha found.
Earliest of Entertainments
The crowd gets together earliest
at entertainments (where the best
seats are at a premium?). They
come moderately early to breakfast
and vespers. They manage to get
there just on time for an eight o'
clock class or a business appoint
ment. They are generally slightly
late to extra-curricular activities.
Nevertheless, despite all this va
riation in punctuality for specific
situations, a significant association
was found between an individual's
promptness, or lack of it, on the
different occasions. There really
is a general trait of punctuality or
of tardiness, Dr. Dudycha concludes
in his report to the Archives of Psy
chology. The laggard may not be
late on all occasions, he may show
up early for breakfast quite often,
but still in general it may be said
that he is chronically tardy.
The punctual student is likely to
be more intelligent than the ten o'
clock scholar. The less neurotic
students and those who are more
self-sufficient tend to be more punc
tual.
How Nerve Messages
Are Transmitted
by Electricity
NEW YORK.? New light on
how you think ? the electrical
means by which messages are
transmitted through the nerves
of the body ? was presented to a
meeting of the American Phys
ical society here.
Drs. Kenneth S. Cole and Howard
J. Curtis of the department of phys
iology of Columbia university's Col
lege of Physicians and Surgeons de
scribed the new experiments on this
most-baffling of scientific problems.
They said:
"The exact mechanism by which
a nerve transmits its message is
not understood at the present time,
but it has long been known that a
nerve impulse is in part at least
electrical in nature.
Measuring Electrical Properties.
"In order more fully to under
stand the process of excitation it is
necessary to measure the electrical
properties of the nerve in the same
way as it is necessary to measure
the electrical properties of a wire
before its current carding ability
can be predicted. This paper re
ports such measurements on rest
ing nerves. It was found that the
membrane surrounding the individ
ual nerve fiber offers a high re
sistance to the passage of an elec
trical current, which means that
the ionic carriers of electricity find
difficulty in getting through this
membrane.
"On the other hand, its electric
capacity, that is, its ability to store
up electrical energy, is high. Thus
an electrical current can pass into
(or out from) a nerve fiber without
causing it to lose any of its dis
solved salts which are essential to
the life of the cell. Work is now in
progress to determine the change,
if any, in these properties when the
nerve is in a state of excitation."
Soviet Geologists Find
New Mineral PepoaitB
MOSCOW. ? More than 800 geo
logical parties have been in the
field exploring Soviet Russia's
mineral resources and crustal
structure.
Half of them mapped the layers of
the earth, while 80 were engaged in
exploration. Other parties surveyed
deposits already discovered.
Discovery of large deposits of
high grade borates in the Lake
Inider district is expected to free
the Soviet Union from dependence
in this respect upon foreign coun
tries. New deposits of coal, lead
and zinc ores, rare metal ores and
bromine-containing salt were also
reported.
,ji. - I aitii k
Scraps
Only the Beginning
"Yes," said the self-made man
"I was left without a mother and
father at nine months, and ever
since I've had to battle for my
self."
"How did you manage to sup
port yourself at nine months?"
asked a listener.
"I crawled to a baby show and
won the first prize. That was how
I started."
"I wish my wife would not livt
beyond her means."
"Why does she do it?"
"Just to impress the Millers,
who live beyond their means just
to impress us."
The Important One
Daughter (scanning the pages)
? William means "good," I see.
James means "beloved" (blush
ing slightly). I wonder what
George means?
Father (tartly) ? I sincerely
trust, my dear, that George means
business.
Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription la a
tonic which ha* been helping women
of all ages for nearly 70 years. Adv.
A Time for Tour Say
Say what you think when you
can hit the bull's-eye with it.
EMINENT DOCTORS WROTE
THIS OPINION!
cerpt from medical journal. The
__ ALKALINE FACTOR in
LUDEN'S
MENTHOL COUGH DROPS 5^
HELPS BUILD UP YOUR
ALKALINE RESERVE
Endless
: colds result from
add condition of the
body : : : they prescribe
various alkalies"? er
Man as Nature
Nature is under law; man has to
subject himself to law.
Miss
REE LEEF
says:
'CAPUDINE
relieves
I HEADACHE
I quicker because)
it's liquid...
Fatigue Forgotten
On the day of victory no fatigue
is felt. ? Arab Proverb.
Dom't Sleep
o? i Left Side,
Crowd* Heart
m NE8ME MAT CAUSE DWCOWOT.
RIGHT SIDE KIT.
H you toaa In bad and aant e*eeo a*
rtsht akla, try Adlarlka. Juat OWE
doea relieves atomach GAS
?".h?art ao you eleep "aou'ndly."
Adlarlka acta on BOTH upper ami
lower bowela and bringe out fowl
matter you would naver believe was
hi your ayatem. Thla old m attar may
have poieoned you tor mofltha and
aauaad OAS, aour atomach. haadaaha
t Km. T~k,
**?. ?Utile. M 1 MW dwta,, AMmika
*T !"T "^"aae tartarla rol.?
Mrs. Jaa. Filler: "Qaa on my eSoaa
Mb Ma ao bad I could not eat or
?WvSvan my heart aaamad to MM.
The ?rat doea of Adlerika broooht aa*
" Now I eat aa I ' " "
your "bowela "a* REAL olaa?ala?
>M Adlerika ajad aee bow good yaw
feel. Juat ONE doee rallevea OAS and
?onatipation. At all Leading Druggists.
A FAMOUS DOCTOR
AS a young man ft*
late Dr. R. V. Five*
practiced medicine in Pa.
After moving to Buffalo,
N. Y., he gave to the drug
trade (nearly 70 yeai?
ago) Dr. Plcrce'a Favor
Ite Prescription. Women
who suffer from "nerves,"
irritability and discom
forts associated with functional disturbance*
should try this tonic. It stimulates the ap
petite and this in turn increases the intake of
food, helping to upbuild the body. Buy now I
Tab*. 50c, liquid $1.00 and $1.35.
AFTER YOU EAT?
After you finish a meal can you be sure
of regular, aucceaaful elimination? Get
| rid of waate material that causes gal,
acidity, headaches. Take Milneaia Water*
for quick, pleasant elimination. Each
wafer equate 4 teaepoonfuU of milk of ,
magnesia. 20c, 35c St 60c at drug stores.