The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-01-14
GListtIIantpns.
A NEW ROADWAY no THE
POLE.

For many centuries the belief
has obtained that somewhere IN the
heart of the frozen regions Of tho
north thore exists q sea lane con-
Meeting the waters Of tho North
Pacific and the North Atlantic
The earliest attempt TO discover
this Northwest passage dates from
the middle ofthe sixteenth century,
and from that period until now nu-
morous expeditions have been fit.
ed out, s,,pplicd with everything
the bounty Of government could
bcstow, and guided by marvellous
Intelligence, to solve the frozen
riddle, TO result only IN disappoint.
ment, desolation, and death. And
not satisfied with the hecatombs
plready offered up TO tho mystery
Of Polar navigation, three separate
expeditions are now under way, or
are soon to set out, again TO attempt
the hazardous experiment. A very
curjos theory has recently been
pot forth by an eminent navigator,
which leads many scientific men,
who have given it consideration,
to hope, If not to believe, that the
question of centuries has at last
been answered.
The theory is embodied in an
address by Captain Silas Bent, Of
the American navy, at n recent
meeting of the ST. Louis Historical
Society--a theory to which he has
given the name Of Tho Thermo-
metric Gateway to the Pole" Tho
publication af this theory, which
he tells us is tho result Of thirty
years' study and exploration. has
an emincntly humane purpose, and
is Of no less Importance than the
actual saving OF human life, by
preventing further sacrifice in the
pcrilous attempts to find thus gate
way in the manner so often tried.
The theory is based on tho i'm
mutablo law Of nature, that water
will seek its equilibrium, that there
is o circulation IN the ocean, and
that every oceanic current has Il
corresponding counter current.
Tho two great currents Of the ocean,
tho Cult Stream Of the Atlantic,
and its colleague Of the Pacific, tho
Kuro>Swo, both rivers in the
ocean, Fastening northward with
their heated waters from the cqua
I, rial belt OF fire, with sufficient
heat and force, it IS said; "to raise
mountains Of iron from zero to the
melting point, and to keep in flow
from them o molten stream Of met
al, greater IN volume than the wa.
ters daily discharged from The Nus.
sissIppi river they carve their
way through tho polar Ice by the
energy oi the suns heat, to their
confluence at the Pole, making
thiIher a permanent. navigable
water highway Tor seaman. The
Gulf Stream has always been an inter
esting physical mystery, but that it
had for its mission to create north
west passage has only been hinted at
before. 1t is due to the heat of the
Gulf Stream that the harbor of Ham
merfest in Norwa", 73 degrees north,
is ever free from ice in the seyerest
winters, aud that the coast of south.
western Europe has its equablc cli-
mate. The Kuri Siwo, of the Pacific,
is almost identical in dimensions,
volume and velocity. Their currents
tend in the same direction. The eff
ect Of their heated waters upon the
climates of the adjacent countries is
the same. From the archives Of the
Royal Society Of London it appears
that, in 1868, Dutch whaler sailed in
Aperfectly free and open sea to within
one degree Of the pole, and about the
same period another had gone two
degrees beyond it, which was made
possible by following accidentally the
very pathway science now points out
rs affording the only gateway to the
pole. 1t is also insisted that the Gull
Stream and tho Kuri-Siwo are the
prime and only cause Of the open sea
about the pole, with its temperature,
as repeated eXpiditiens have discover
ed, so much above that duo to the lati'
tude; that tho only practicGbls avenues
by which ships can reach that open
sea, aud thence to the pole, is by fol-
lowing the warm waters of these
streams into that sea, end that to find
and follow these streams the water
thermometer is the only guide,
Such is the new theory, and should
il prove to be of any practical impor-
tance, il will be discovery of great
Commercial value. 1t will shorten
the time, by water, between New York
and San Francisco sixty days; New
York to Canton ninety days; New
York to Japan one hundred days.
-
peA- A philanthropic naturalist
Mr.. Higford Burr, who resides IN
a beautiful mark ut Aldermnston,