Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-24

| I/I/HHN\N(NS PROBABLY those OF the
/INHGE United States as we'll
Sdit' There is now q move
in Norway for an expe.
dition to start in the summer of 1890 in the
effort to reach the pole by the way of Franz
Josef's LAND, a route to the north pole which,
more than any other of those essayed, com.
mends itself to those learned in Arctic ex-
ploration. To the students who, in
the ages to come, are to look back
on our own age, seeking to know
its motives, the spirit which leads to Arctic
and Antarctic voyages will appear as
one of the most indicative chapters in the
history of this century. In the centuries
before, the Arctic ways were sought for pur-
poses of gain. Through them was supposed
to lie short way to the Indies, by which
the perils OF the sea might be reduced and
the wealth of the far east be less taxed in
the way Of transportation to European mar
kets. In the nineteenth century, the ex-
plorations have not been with any such in
tent, but solely to obtain knowledge with
out hope of profit commercially. The stu
dents who from afar look back upon our
time will doubtless recognize in the spirit of
Arctic discovery a feature showing the
magnitude and energy of the scientific
motlVe In tnls age.
WE ALWAYS LEAD.
Along with the rapid development of the
commercial instinct in the time since our
grandfathers were born, has gone the
equally intense though less widespread de-
votion to research. 1t is true that in every
! age individual men have devoted themselves
to such inquiries and braved much danger
in their pursuit; but only in modern times
has this spirit of inquiry become so general
that it has affected the masses of our people
and led large companies of men on cam
paigns against natural dangers more serious
than any which the battlefield brings to tho
/ soldier
! The loss of life and expenditure of money
! as we'll as OF devotion in the effort which
has been made to attain the center OF the
frozen wildernesses about the poles has been
| greater than that of many a war which has
found great place in history. There are
those who decry such adventures, who
mourn the loss of life and property which
they entail, regretting that the energy and
means should not be expended in more i'm
mediately profitable ways. Such persons
forget that the best Of all deeds for the men
who do them, and for the race which ap-
plauds the doing, are those which bring no
return Of an economic sort, but which serve
a
people.
Our own country has earned great name
in such works of selfdevoted research. By
our possessions in Alaska We are one of the
few States whose possessions border on the
Arctic sea. Although we have given much
of life and treasure to such explorations it
is to be hoped that the Norwegian expedi-
tion may be associated with one from the
United States. In terrestrial physics, in
meteorology, there is enough yet to be won
in that country to make such labor profita-
BILE in the scientific sense.
Itour Government enters again on this
path of exploration, 1t should be in pursu-
anee of some we'll defined plan, which shall
be followed up for generation. In place
of raids for information, we should have a
we'll devised and determinedly executed
campaign. Better than any other country
in the world, we can afford to expend money
for such conquests. The scheme OF our
Government does not contemplate foreign
possessions, but if we are debarred BY the
traditions Of our ancestors from territorial
domains beyond this continent, we are free
to win the knowledge which the ends of the
earth may afford.
INTERNATIONAL INDICATIONS.
We have evidently come to point in our |
system of meteorology in which the work of |
the weather bureaus can no longer efficiently |
be carried on without a larger measure of |
cooperation between different countries
than now exists. The goal before our me-
teorologists is to find the grounds on which
to attain to larger, more wide-ranging pre-
diction as to the forthcoming seasons. Al
though our present systems help the work
of man in many ways, even with their fore
casts of few Gays, they should not rest un-
til they have ascertained to the utmost the
grounds on which we can found larger
measure Of prediction. If 1t is movable.
we must know the conditions of our seasons
some months in advance of their coming.
Even tolerable prophecy which would
have enabled our people to know the char
acter of the winter which is just passing
away would be worth much in life and
money. Let us suppose that our weather
prophets could safely assure us that the next
summer was to be hot and dry, our farmers
could plant with reference to the foreseen
conditions. Suppose further, that in the
summer time we could know that the next
winter was to be one of extreme severity.
Our soil tillers could likewise make
ready for its coming to their vast
advantage. If the people of our cities
could know the demands in the way of
artificial heat which would be made on
their household supplies, it would be much
to their profit. lnvalids could provide
themselves with safe resorts against the i'm
pending dangers. In fact, nearly all human
would derive a vast advantage
from knowing even three months in advance
what the weather had in store for them.
There is hardly any doubt that all the es-
sential conditions which determine the char
acter of the next summers weather are now
in existence, either in the conditions of the
sun or in the reactions now going on In our
which determine the climate.
To bring these conditions into the field
of knowledge demands a systematic
study OF terrestrial climate which
cannot be secured by any learned
institution, private or governmental,
now in existence. The end can only be ef.
fected by a close accord between all the
states of the civilized world. 1t seems fit
that the United States should take the lead
in the endeavor to bring about the great CO.
ordination in meteorological inquiry.
Surely the field is one which promises the
most beneficent effects from the point of
view of predictive meteorology, and it may
nave value in the bringing about of that
record between nations which it should be
he first object Of all higher craftsmanship
% further.
FoGs AND ELECTRICITY.
For some time it has been known that
lust, as we'll as fine particles OF commingled
water vapor and carbon, which make up the
London fogs, can be removed from the at
nosphere by means of a brush discharge
rom an electric engine. 1t is now seriously
to make use of this interesting
principle in removing the -four dust from
mill !, in which experience SHOWS the .ex-