Smyrna times., 1859-03-17
Cause Of the Polar Sea.

The ex slence of a space of open water around
the north pole has iong been suspected by Arc
TIC navigatOrs. Ross Parry, DE Haven and
others. while densely surrounded by ice, no.
lced that birds were flying northward coDtlnu.
ally, as it towards zone of mIlder temperature,
and that the clouds. which hung over the far
distant horizon IN that direction. betokened The
presence of large body Of water.
De Hlven and others even penetrated far
enough up Lancaster Sound to think they de-
scribed this open ocean. 1t was reserved, how
ever for DR.. Kane, IN the expedition which he
personally conducted, to remove all doubts re-
garding his Polar Sea. Its existence is no
longer dream. 1t has ceased to belong TO The
mere speculatiOns of geOgraphers. No one can
call it table any more. In truth, science
now that the fact itself is proVed-steps in and
accounts for il so cOnclusively that The wonder
is how any intelligent mind could have made
the subject matter Of question. For the laws
Of nature render Polar sea necessary to the
economy ofrhe globe as they do the gulf stream,
the trade winds, mountain ranges. rain, sun
shine, day or night
Every school boy knows what is meant by
the procession of the equnoXes. lfthere was
no such apparent movement OF the sun. no such
real movement Of the earth, the sun would
shine all the year round vertically on the equa-
tor, and the two poles have their day and night
of twelve hours duration like the tempera e
and torrld regions. But the oscillation of the
glObe-its dip, SO to speak, to the plane of the
ecliptc-incnes the north pole for six months
toward, the sun, and the south pole towards
it for The other slz. The result is that, during
The north ern summer, when it is day on the
Greenland side of the pole, 1t is day Iso clear
I'D TO the north pole and for twenty-three de-
grees and half on the other side. Thus, du'
ring the Arctic summer, there ls space oi
twenty three and a halt degrees on both sides
ef the north pole, on which the Gun never sets.
Over tha vast surface, therefore, there Is, Tor
that period, a heat too great TO admit the for
nation of ice; while south of this latitude,
where the sun sets nightly, The GOODNESS of the
nipbt counteracis in part, the heat of the day.
| Hence the phenomenon of an open sea around
the pule in spite of colder belt 10 the south ol
II. Hence also the fact that the actual pole
does not agree with the pole OF greatest cold
1t is probable, likewise, that the magnetic
! influences which are known to exercise SO sub
tie and potent a control over the earth, have
something to do with this pecuIarlty. 1t II
certain, az least, that the magnetic pole is IN
different latitude from the actual pole. and tina
it closely approaches to the locality of the pole
of maximum cold. II has also been conJecturet
that the gulf stream that mystery even yet u
men of science, plays a n important part IN I'M
matter, though whether as a cause, or an effect
remains TO be determined. 1t is known tina
this current reaches to the shores OF Spl'zber
zen. and II has even been traced further north
as if whiring about the pole. The suppositio
, ia. therefore, that il circles around the POla
Sea, re-enrering lower Iattudes near Behring'
: Straits, aud thence passing eastward along tn
, northern shores of America. If the gulf streaI
really circumnavigates the pole in this way, W
, have hit on the solution OF the origin of ths
. strange current, which set Mcclure easiwar
from Behring's Straits, and which bore DE III
ven, pnwerless souhward through Davis Stral'
and lar into the Atlantic. The subject Is on
to be decided by careful array and analysis
facts. II richly deserves the notice oil men
science - Baltimore Sun.