Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-13

thousands Of attempts Were the Ice out
of the case, polar storms would still be
most serious obstacles to encounter
AS near as the prevailing cause of the
| general failure in polar exploration could
be expressed, in one word, it would be that
of-starvation. With ships either stuck or
crushed in the ice or hel lplessly floating in
ice packs, the men making long and
| wearisome journeys over rough and
| treacherous surfaces, with temperature
to which zero would seem as a day in
June, all this journey on foot, car
rying q weight of clothing sufficient to tax
the strength of strong man; added to all
this, subsistence to sustain physical vigor
| and maintain animal heat, what about
would be the extreme maximum limit OF
distance that any human creature could
| cover under such conditions? Let it be
conceded, as seems probable, that there is
within this border an open polar sea and
climate of mildness. What is this to the
famished, frozen, starving explorer who has
no equipment for the water, who can draw
no subsistence from his surroundings, who
dares not even linger and who has still be-
fore him the appalling terrors of a return
journey, with constantly diminishing en-
ergy to meet its requirements? Ali this
and still 400 miles from the goall
Yet on such basis, all this work has
hitherto been, and is now being, prose-
cuted. Even if there were a solid route to
and around the pole, of what avail would IL
be, if such explorers got to the vicinity, but
could not remain to become conversant with
the men and unknown order of things In
the face of such facts, any further effort on
these lines should meet with the sevsress
condemnation and if persisted in, should BE-
prosecuted criminally
But is this mystery to remain forever un.
solved? Must the contribution that would
enrich our store of scientific knowledge
then remain forever unacquired?
No, not at all; for, without . doubt, .
wider grasp of the subject and the prosecu-
tion of the undertaking on broader, more
liberal and more comprehensive scale,
would allow that region to be thoroughly
explored
But how?
Let the work be national, or, if considered
too vast, let it be international, as the case
may demand. Let vessels with men and
means In abundance, approach as near as
is consistent with safety and establish
depot on terra 6rma- This may be on either
of the coasts of Greenland. as that continent
probably affords as good an approach as any
other. From this base of operations, q
corps of men may go forward to such dis
tancs as may be considered practicable and
there establish station, making a subter-
ranean excavation in the ice, if deemed
necessary. Provision and equip this sta
tion. Let this be repeated IN successive
steps Of approaches, keeping up commune
cation with the base, moving fresh men to
the front and exhausted ones to the rear.
Connecting Stations by Wire.
In large measure orders along the
column can be transmitted by wire and
their execution much expedited. If an
open sea be encountered, sections Of vessels
may be taken over the line and launched,
carrying light submarine cables to COM
municate with the shore. But win tele-
graphy be operative where magnetic storms,
in suroral streamers and banners, express
themselves on the crimson sky? Probably
not, but we shall know, and it il probable
also that reither the telephone nor tho
electric light can be made use of, all Of
which We may learn, and we may then ap-
ply ourselves to the task OF accounting.
for it.
If the open Polar Sea be not interspersed
with islands, boat stations can be established
with anchors, and lines of singing buoys can
be placed to guide the mystifed mariners on
their return.
If it be a fact, az all previous explorers
seem to affirm, that water and other fowl go
poleward. there is land there; then there Is
a moderate temperature there; there must
then, almost necessarily, be aboriginal forms
of life there, and possibly there may be
found the long lost and much looked for
"missing link, which biology seems to de-
mand, to connect the genus homo with his
inferior congenersl N.