The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-06-22
The Scientific sIgnincanoe or tho ArU-

We have received full reports of the testi-
mony Of the rescued officers Of the Polaris;
but as it is only cumulative of what we have
already printed, and by no means so graphic
or interesting as were the HERALD s accounts,
we decline to print any more of it as not pos
sessing sufficient interest for publication.
The facts differ in no essential respects from
our previous accounts. Now, however, that
all the facts are before us we may gather the
main results of scientific discovery attaching
to the expedition of Captain Hall Promi-
neut among these and of the highest interest
to science and the world at large. is the un-
looked for intelligence Of the changes in the
magnetic dip and deviation of the mariners
needle. The report of Captain Tyson and Mr..
Meyer shows that in-the high latitude attained
by Captain Hall the dip of the needle was
only forty-ive degrees and its deviation only
ninety-six degrees-less than DR.. Hayes and
Dr. Kane found them at the more southerly
points where they wintered. This wonderful
behavior of the seamen's guide has excited
worldwide concern since Columbus voyage
to the New World, when it was observed, to
the alarm of his crew, pointing several degrees
to the west of the astronomical pole. In 1882
Captain John Ross, with immense exertion
and care, toiling on foot over ice and snow,
and led by an unerring calculation, found the
north magnetic pole Of the earth, spot
marked by nature with no monument to
denote the centre of one of her great and
dark powers, but accurately located by Ross
in north latitude seventy degrees five minutes
and seventeen seconds, and ninety-six degrees
forty-six minutes and forty-fve seconds west
longitude This discovery-its counterpart in
the Southern Hemisphere has not yet been
made-was the greatest addition ever made to
the knowledge of terrestrial magnetism, and
enabled physicists to construct the magnetic
chart now in universal use by seamen Ac-
cording to this chart Captain Halls needle in
Polaris Bay ought to have had a vertical dip
Of about eighty degrees and deviation OF
one hundred and ten degrees, in order to
point to Ross magnetic pole, lying in Boothia
Felix. The reported variations, if assumed
to be correct, as they doubtless are, would indi-
cate o very decided change in the locality of
the north magnetic pole since 1892 and It's
gradual removal westward and southwark. In
this case the magnetic equator would bend
down through South America to the Tropic Of
Capricorn, while the American line of no decli-
nation would probably be more accurately
drawn as running from near the Bahamas
ENTHUSIASTICALLY through Lake Superior and
Lake Winnepig. If the new magnetic obser-
vatons are confirmed they will evidently lead
to thorough overhauling of all our present
magnetic charts.
The information regarding the auroral phe-
nomena and the coincidence between the
magnetic agitation of the instruments
and the display Of the red auroral
streamer confirms the observations so
often before recorded Of the magnetic
needles in both terrestrial hemispheres trem-
bling simultaneously in response to the un-
seen waving of the auroral banner.
The intelligence regarding the thermo-
metric conditions Of the air and the minimum
temperature as to months will be of con-
siderable value in deciding the best periods
for future active efforts on the part Of any
Polar expedition that may be outstanding.
The natural history collections will not be
without interest and scientific value; but the
most significant and most important Of all
the reported discoveries is the finding in New
man Bay Of the large quantities Of
drift wood, walnut, ash and pine,
much of which is stored in the
Polaris. That most vital problem-vital for
all future geographic research in North Polar
regions, whether Greenland projects to the
Pole itself-is very nearly cleared up, if not
solved, by these drift-wood discoveries around
Newman Bay and the determination. of the
prevailing winds and the set of the current.
The current from the open Polar Ocean was
steadily to the southwark and the winds were
generally northeast. If Greenland had any
high northward extension it is easy to see that
the projected land would serve as barrier
against the drift timber Of the Spitzbcrgen
seas or the Arctic Ocean, east of Greenland,
penetrating to Newman Bay or Kennedy
Channel 1t is next to impossible that this
drift wood, seen and secured by the Polaris.
could have come from Asia and the
Pacific Ocean, through the narrow inlet at
Behring Strait, and found its long way north
eastwardly, through the numerous insular
sleeves and ice-connected archipelagoes west
of Ellesmere and Grinnell Land Northeast
of Spitzbergen all expeditions have found
immense masses Of drift wood and Norwegian
raft wood and other debris from the North
Atlantic shores, and on the west coast trunks
of trees, logs and Gulf Stream matter have
been seen in high piles along the waters
edge. In 1859 Lamont found vast deposits in
southeastern Spitzbergen and on the Thousand
Islands, which, he says, were exclusively or
chiefly, pine. The prevalence of northeast
winds in the track Of the Polaris and the south