EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY EXPLORER'S SNOW GOGGLES

A pair of early twentieth-century snow goggles. Brown leather (appears to be alligator skin) with white leather lining, two steel slitted lenses stitched in place with brown thread, fabric straps with steel clasps. Condition is excellent for a clearly well-travelled piece of field gear, with some wear to the leather lining and a little rusting to the clasps.

A rare pair of snow goggles designed for the use of polar explorers. Constructed with steel eyepieces, pierced with narrow slits, the goggles served to protect the wearer's eyes from the harsh conditions commonly experienced in the Arctic and Antarctic. They were also essential in preventing snow blindness, which was caused by the intense glare of sunlight reflecting off the snow, burning either the corneas or any exposed skin; sometimes leaving the men with blistered faces and often unable to see. Such goggles were worn almost constantly by Captain Scott's expedition team, and he describes the variety available in his 'The Voyage of the Discovery' (1895): "A few men preferred the ordinary wire-gauze type with smoked glass but the drawback to these was their liability to become frosted over. The alternatives were to have a piece of leather with a slit in place of the glass or to have goggles cut from a piece of wood. Personally, I much preferred the latter and in the end invariably used them; mine were very carefully shaped to fit over the nose and eyes, had a considerable cross-shaped aperture, and were blackened outside and in" (p.461). An example very similar to the present pair can be found in the collection of the National Library of Scotland, which belonged to explorer William Laird McKinlay, one of the scientific staff on the ill-fated Canadian National Arctic Expedition of 1913-18. A scarce survival, and an evocative piece of polar history.