THE NORTH POLE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LII, Issue 187, 11 September 1909, Page 2

THE NORTH POLE.

' THE WOBTH O»,BP. . , BQEffiRFLC nffOHTANCB OF THE PROFBS6OB DAVID'S VIEWS. '"* '. "If the Korth Pole hi* really been i discovered," said Professor David, whea ; interviewed at Sydney on Friday laaft after the receipt of varm* of Dr. Cook's achievement, "and if there is land near ' it, the discovery will have considerable scientific value. lit the first place, the geographical poles are in; theory great dkUnguithing. centres of tft* earth** ati mosp'here. it the pole*, aopording, to theory, flke air which' has arrived, thete by * path high overhead from the Equator, descends to earn, tod then blows back Bquatorwarofc The poles an the nub*, of the atmospheric uni- ,, verse, s* -well a» befog the axle* of the earth* rotation.' . ■ „ „, "No one has yet lieen near enough to the North Pole to find whether there i« any truth M the theory. So our I scientists' first questions would lie as *a the atmospiierie pressure and humidity and the direction, and speed of the air current* in the different sonea passed through, on, the way -to the Pole. He answer* to tbest suction* wouMiwto in determining tfie, question of aßiojpherio circulation, and wotfi be a atQfJ important contribution to meteorology. They would ultimately, help toward* accuracy in weather-forecasting. ' ATR *AT THE POLES. "It would be most interesting to know the actual temperature at the Pole. Many scientist* hare held "that the pole* are not necessarily the coldest part* Of the earth. The temperature there would be .raised, they think, by the rapid-de-scent of" the air carried up from we Equator still, keeping some of it* heat Several romances based on this theory have shown the climate at the Pole ** mild enough for aft sorts of plant* and animals and m*a. fiat it is extremely unlikely that the 'temperature would be much higher (Sao, f&at) of latitude* a little further souta," ." Professor David explained that this great polar air vortex might be about one hundred miles across. Butitwon^ beovertheTblfcitaeit That would only happen, said- Professor David, if all the land and water, were' distributed evenly along flte parallels of latitude. Which, of course, tifey are not. "The upper atmosphere probably does carry a good deal of heat with it from the Equator, at leas? to the South Pole," Professor David went onj "because during violent blisxards, when the atmospheric circulation is much accelerated, there is always a good rise in temperature. The Shackieton expedition found that from ten to twenty-four boors af the wind begsa to blow tit* temperature would rise 80 or 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Part of this rise would b* due to latent n«at set free when the moisture of the air from the Equator was converted into snow oa teaenktg the Pole. But tfa rise would Id due in the main to the warmth of the air itself.! LAND POSSIBILITIES. "Aga&, if there is land at the Poic; its gMlojnesl formation would be intersating.' In Greenland, and near it, there have been found tossii plants w&ich show tiie climate was once temperate there, fit th&carboniferon* period— that i«, a little before the Newcastle and Bulli coal measures 'were formed— there Vas plenty of vegetation far witSia the Arctic ciide. lAnd associated with these coat measure* an great manes of limektone, which show that the sea* were warm. For instance, at Spitsbergen there are seam* of very good coal near the beach. Whalers sad steam yachts visit them sometimes, though they have never been worked commercially. When E was coming back (rom.Lyttelton I met a couple of young fellow* who had coaled their yacht from these seams in Spitsbergen only the y*ar before. "Fossil remains of animals or plants ! Found anywhere near the Pole," he went I ■n, "would be of intense scientific value. [t is most unexpected to find land there it all. Besides, there might be iron. Hear Disko Island, and on th» north* rest coast of Greenland, Peary found tasalts containing iron. The Eskimos ise it to make knives. These basalts night crop up again further north. OCEAN CUKKENTS. > "Again, Ift discovery of land at the forth Pole would have an important tearing on the Arctic Ocean current*; nd from our knowledge of these we educe the laws wnieiv regulate climate, leluding snowfall nmd.rattfaU. "Beside*, the dis*o*«ry of dam* or nimalfossUs near the Pole might affect na bi-polsr theory of ihs dmlopaeat

of life. Accordmg to this theory lift commenced on 6bth poles of the earth at once, and spread Equatorwards. Th-J auumption it tnat the earth Ml at one time too hot about the Equator for life to exist. The poles would be the Jrst ■pots 1o cool, and life would arise than.** "lieutenant Bsary may hart also reached the Pole." Profeaeor David ectv clnded. "In Antarctica we fully expected thai he would have reached it between May aad July* of this year. Saackleton was psrtfeularly aaxiona to get to ths South Pole for that two*." A WOBD FOR DR. COOK. QiT^BVuiw whA akothir ARCTIC TRAVELLDL Captain Ballier dv **ty, who was * member of the Ant Cheroot Ksnsditioa to the Antarctic, ha* personal knowledge of Dr. Cook through M. de Gee-. laehe, the Belgian explorer, with who** Dr. Cook served in the Antarctic. \L de Gerlache spoke to him in the highest terms of Dr. Oook, and he is iadined to lend absolute credence to anything said by Dr. Cook. Captain dv Bety, interviewed at Hefbonrne. considered that whateTcr glory Dr. (took had achieved, much of it belonged ts> Usutsnoat, Peary, who aade seventeen attempts along the same route. Dr. Cook served under lieutenant Peary. Captain dv Baty recently performed a marvellous journey in a 40-ton ketch from France to Kergueien Island*, thence to Mellioarhe. Asksd About Dr. Cook hating been deceived by, mirages, Ca>ta4» da Bsty explained that they art. Of frsqusat oc- « -' i_ A.fL A UliJavat *jsmiisUta»k 44Eefc AtL OQXXfIDM la *!•• Xvlmfm npilli' WP •#»• srt made. One day off GrahamV Iftii we thought wo' saw * big- house, aad It iseemsd to be miles tjwajr. It was Vat a box whith had boa* Hows »w»y fwm the Ftaaosis, the Teeael in whieil the ICmaroot Bxp«ditioa tailed, and tt was only *bout ftfty yards off. Captain dm Baty, still referring to mirages, sal* I that sometimes they made an object look much further off than it really is. "Dr. Cook,** «ld Captain 4a Baty, I "referred to daily astronomies! obatroI ttons. We did the Ume in the AntI arotio, usuallr choosing midday for the V I task. The dMinary OaodoDta & wnl,. :--■ I with an artificial horinflß," Captain 4* ' 1 Baty spoke feelingly' of Dr. Cook's 1»> 1 f ormatkm a»*ntt|i '#fi» cold whleF^ Ito «x»eriebft4a. "li waW had e— Wh* I be said, "off Graham's la*4, where, dnr. I ing the winter, the ordinary taasperaItnre is 40deg. centigrao> below astOf land this has led lo a somewhat =U*I couragiag remark by our Trench «ava«*\ IM.1 M. Lerasseur, who deseMtea ther tern as the lowest that has bee* registered. lam of opinion that a lower Ltenrperatwe has bee* isjlstsrai ia\«1 berja, and> moreorer, fi ha* a^wnfa | been thai lower teaMraI turea exist than is the case in the clsee nekMarbood of the Pole. We suffered enough with 40deg. centurrade^jplow sero t and the cold which Dr. CeV^pi' perienced must have been terribh)fav pedally \u> with a atroag wind, benisja weatiter w» did not fact the ettresM cold nearly as badly as whan it Mew ban*. Where Dr.. Ootk was lucky wat to hare hit e«kimoe with him. v , "Out dogs were hardly any good 10 us in the Antarctic, because wo could < oever learn to drhre them properly.. Oaa Eskimo can* drive a team of twenmf dcoa; Dr. Cook talks of havbtt bats) astonSshed to find land ice. this it easily, distinguishable, because it is «*• censted -with stones -=- hence the tern land.ieV M . ? ; Asked t«p explain^ what Dr. Oook\ . meant by desenbitf UafAoias in the ice as the laet signs of. avHd aarth, Da Baty said that the explanation VM simple. "The btowhelee, I *** stated, "are mads by the seals far fscpiratory pmrk posey. .We made k«lo» in the ice to . -catch fish,, -and sometimea. we #«re surprised to see the hea4 of a great btf seal pushing up through^ the hole. 1« was easier for the seal* te use our holes than to make them themselves. Their uaoal way of making ihole* is to ae». ' their teeth, This is how Ssldmos OMafc seals. They make holes )a the foe, and directly the seal puts in an appearaatc, off goes the harpoon. • The holes mads .• by the seala are « soes> sign of land being sear, as seals, as o rale do *i*s wander very far from Asm" It was mentioned to CtpUiii do Ba!v that some of th«pU«s described by Dt Cook could not be iounf.in any of Us maps that were avaiflaH« Tlos fa not astonishing^ he explained. "Wause ttfs explorers — Peaty an* 'Sverdroep — v» €tni\jr coined- » +t new n«m«s» and these. do not appear as yet oh «ny map." . " • i Tm U*jx>t 1007 tfH «9w York TriSUift> in reporting' 'the Interaatimnt Polar Congress af wusiels. said: Ths, fact wa#Wsolosfid that an Am»rfeas was preparing i» uaderttike an exped^ tion to the Bouth Poh> in l»10 upon plank worked out by tteitteaant Betry. The latter, however, te ttst to take port in the expedition. . . The identity of the Americas who is to mate the < voyage "ibms ate* teen jJevealed." TheAmert can referred to must be, of course, Or. CoofcvV