The New York herald., 1877-03-22
ARCTIC EXPLORATION.

IT'S HISTORY AND IT'S UTILIrY-LEcrURE BY
JUDGE CHARLES p. DAILY BEFORE THE
XAVIER UNION.
Notwithstanding tho bad weather the rooms of tho
Xavier union at No. 20 West Twenty seventh street,
were well filled last night by tho members OF the
society and their friends to hear lecture on the
ssUulty OF Arctic Exploration" by Judge Charles r.
Dalv Of the Court OF Common Pleas. Tho
lecturer assisted ut the end in tho
illustration OF several theories regarding the ante
glacial period OF Arctic vegetation and animal lie by
Professor charles H. Boyle who explained tho preces-
OF the equnoxes oy means Of an apparatus Of his
own invention. Tho lecturer FIRST gave a history Of
the different expeditions that have been made with
view TO Arctic discovery. and concluded with an
PLANTATION OF the utility Of their discoveries.
Judge DAILY began by saying that his chief difficulty
in treating he subject IT. vast extent. Its history
extended over thrco centuries and during that time
there had been moro than ono hundred and forty.sx
different expeditions for geographical exploration or
scientific discovery The results Of those various
peditions were contained in over one thousand VOL
umcs Two questions presented themselves in con.
siderng the subject-What in the past had been the
object OF arctic exploration and what shall be its u
turc? Its object had Deen thrcefoldthe nsberes and
br northeast passage India, ana thirdly, gcographi.
cal exploration and scientific discovery.
II was singular physical fact Judge Daily said that
there IS portion OF the earths surface SO teeming
with animal te beneath the waters as the Arctic region
Therefore 1t resorted 10 for The purpose of nshng
from very early period ORGY, Norwegian naviRa-
In the ninth century landed on the northern coast
OF Europe and found IL already peopled by barbarous
races. The Russians were actively engaged in the
fisheries thcre during the ftoenth century Tho pur-
suit had been actively continued for over two and
n half centuries In 1876 the Dutch had 130 vessels
engaged in tho trade Between 1861 and 1855 there
were II 46l voyages made to these regions by Dutch
nil we no
actively engaged in that these seas became compara
lively ished out and their trade has mucn decreased
of late. Whalers Also chiefly American and Scotch,
freuuentcd these seas The decrease in the fur and
whale trade had however, been compensated for by tho
chinery and tho discovery OF petroleum and coal
THR PASSAGE TO THE INDIES
The next branch Of the subject dwclt upon was the
attempts TO discover the passage to the Indies either
around the northern coast Of America, Europe and
Asia He reviewed at length the history Of the different
expeditions started Tor this purpose The Portuguese
1900 discovered the coast OF Labrador. Sebastian
1917 penetrated far north as 81 degrees o at
tudc In 1923 French expedition tho rst enter
tho hRrbor OF New York. this, however, was disputed
In 1924 the Spaniards reached the shores OF New
around North Cape and dcovered Nov zemba win.
terng thore and returning TO England the next year
In 1894 Barendt Dutch navigator, discovered spz-
ago, another expedition found the huts papers and
books that his crew had left behind just where they
Ice Another Dutch expedition in 1896 was
said to have discovered Franz Joseph Land aud to
Cooks expedition took place and in 1918 Sir John
Franklins In 1929 John and James Ross discovered
the magnetic pole Of the earth near Aadson's Bay In
North western Passage. but found 1t impracicabe Tor
the uses OF commerce. Other expeditions were dwclt
upon at length. The arthcst point north ever reached
by man attained by Aldrich-laltude SO deg, 20
min, 26 sec.-in the last Arctic expedition In 1915
UTILITY THESE DISCOVERIES.
The utility Of the discoveries maze by these expe.
ditiops IL as as the subject continued the lee
turer they are useful in investigating the physical
abnnnV Vnnn nj thn tn
metcorology and to all the physical sciences They
also contribute to tho advancement OF astronomy, bo
these regions the spcctroscopc can DO applied
to the discovery the
OF the worlds around The discoveries animal and
vegetable remnins In proiuson prove that during the
moccne period there must have been much greater
heat the poles than at present Great deposits OF
coal have been discovered there Forests OF fossil
frs, oaks, elms, pantans aures and magnolias have
been found. Ivory from FOSSIL elephants has been
found in great profusion along the north coast OF
Siberia. THIS has grown into quite trade. In 1921
90 600 pounds Of ivory exported from these
arctic regions. All the white ivory that We now use
comes from there, In conradisnction to the yellow
ivory that Is obtained from living animals. The only
vegetation now found rs q small sample OF willow,
mosses, lchens ana scurvy grass. The question IS
how these fossil remains got there. Several
theories we're presented by the lecturer that had
been entertained at different times. Lyel the
many elevations on the earths surface and the
hea. was better distributed at the poles. Dr. Hunt
heavier and more charged carbonlc acid Another
explained 1t by supposIns that the earths axis was
formerly more incline TO the plane OF It's orbit An
other thought that due TO changes Ia tho excen
rrcity OF the orbit.
Dr. Boyle, who present at the lecture last night,
held the theory that the cooling process TO which the
earth has been subjected began at the poles and
qucntly animal ana vegetable life first made their ap'
pearanco there. Judge DAILY said that he also mad a
theory, and that that we didn't know much about
II and could not know until u greater collection o
facts had been made by future expeditions
| la conclusion the lecturer said that one great ad
to be gained from these discoveries was bet
conception OF the truths OF God revealed in HIS
works. There could be conflict Of science and re-
| ligon because they both derived from the same
| great Author. A theo0gian might err in the state
mont OF scientific fact, but religion could
never conflict with science. There nothiLg
that filled the mind OF with such
majestic conception OF God or such sense OF HIS
goodness. Whether We turned our attention 10 the
infinitely great revealed In the wonders OF the side
real universe to the infinitely little revealed In
:hc microscope, were struck with the same admra
ton tho contemplation Of that divine power that
| SO wonderfully adapted to all His creatures