The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1867-03-30
Tho Poles of tho Earth


For hundreds OF years the poles OF the earth
have excited the curiosity aud attracted the ci-
Lorts OF scientific men In all parts Of the world.
Their terrible inaccensiblity, begifl as they ate
~ hundreds OF leagues Of inhospitable ice THEN
remarkable astronomical conditions, and the
other varied scientific phenomena which may
there alone be satisfactorily investigated, have
combined TO make these extremes Of the globe
| now almost the only uncxplored regi0n---thc
study OF Investigators at home and the goal Of
explorers abroad. The sPcculaions OF the
imaginative and the deductions OF naturalisis
| have pictured scenes aud circumstances beyond
the icy barrier Of the North which have led a
score VI hapless expeditions 10 disastrous icTmi-
nations, or at the best 10 a very narrow measure
| VI success. Some Of the assumed features of the
| North Pole have been verified by these explorn-
tons, one Of the most important Of which is the
existence Of an immense Open Polar Sea, PIE
sumediy extending from Siberia 10 Greenland
aud from British America 10 Norway The
lameuied Dr. Kane and Lieutenant !. !. Hayes,
who has just published the result Of his expedition
| IN lsG0'Cl both established the fact Of the
existence Of the Open Sea anencualbered with
| iee-both saw It with their eyes-bui both failed
| IN their Efforts TO get afioat upon It's bosom
They have, however, demonstrated with tot.
cradle certainty the feasibility OF reaching this
water with vessels, and the attempt d, 10 he
made during the coming summer by an cxrc-
diiion with steam vessels, under the paironagr
W IEusctNu uutcfumtIt. lie locality
selected for the attempt 10 penetrate the i,c belt
V the Spiizbergen Sea, beiwrcn the Island ~
SpiizbeTgen and the coast OF Norway. shOUd
success crown the efforts Of this expedition, ami
the vessels make tie passage Of the zone Of Ice
what has heretofore bailied every attempt, and
50 sail into the Unknown Polar Sea, the impofiar,
oi the event scarcely he estimated. u o..
supposed that there will then be no obstacle io
reaching the Pole itself aud iha, n scientific ,aii,
VIII take observations " the heavens aud tie
earth at point where there is no longitude. O.,
sunrise or suns, save once year, aud no po,ni
OF the COMPASS except south, where six month
OF uninterrupted glaring daylight will be Succc,,
cd by six months Of terrible night, and all na,un
will be unlike 10 anything that is known
Strange reflections arise In contemplating IA
situation 80 novel. Those men standing ex-
ac,ly at the Pole tsupposing they fnd iravcrsAblc
land al that poini), could not take single step
in any direction without going south Whc,hrf
they go forward or backward or 10 the right or
10 the left they are still going south Cast their
eyes IN any direction they will the face Of
the land they will look directly south. The
is no north nor East nor west The sun cor.
up from golden horizon in higher aud hign
ascending circles, never again disappearing uiit
IL has reached is higher points at the end Of ibi
months and again descending in widening c.i
clings through another three months, when %.
highest disc will sink from view and the df,ad
winter Of the polar nigh, completes the year
should these men be able 10 walk souihwafd fur
iwelve-miles from the Pole the circumference ~
the earth upon that parallel would bc only about
iorty-eighi miles.
Suppose they should walk directly ~csiwnri
from that point Ai the rate Of two miles IA hout
IL would be 10 them as though the ,s.fih hnd
ceased her revolutions They would tCmaii
continually under the same point OF the heavens
the sun would not circle round them, but excel
ting the three months asc, ut from the horigo,
and the three months return would stand inlmoy
ably 10 The irmamen,. Travelling thus westward
at the same rate Of speed as the earth rcvolvcs g.
the eastward, the day as days ate marked hy III.
60! ID revolutions, would never cease. Starting
NJ noon on the Fourth day % July s67, H..
evening VI tha; day would nsvtr bc reached ami
these men might die twenty-five years hence, nj
noon on the Fourth day Of July, 1857. computing
the time Automatically. \ practical illustration
o; this phenomenon NAV be seen say day in
Syracuse
OhscrVe brakeman on the top 81 irclgii
train walking fearwari ai the same rate Of spa.
a. the tain progresses forward. lie reulaiu-
precisely opposite the point where hc started
and though the train ran till the engine reached
Chicago, IL there were cars enough 20 stretch
far, your brakeman would no, haze moved al
inch oVeg the surface az the earth Just 50 ~
Arctic travellers, ia the ease supposed, wouh
not inch in their relative position 10 a..
heavens, and it would still be the came hou.
upon the same day Astronomical time when
they ceased TO walk Il Is 10 be hoped, howcyr.
that the royal party. is,hcy succeed ia reaching
the coveted goal will not extend their rcscarchce
quite twenty-five years.