Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-16
VERY SKEPT|CAL SCIENTISTS. They Don't Believe the North
 Pole Story. THEIR REASONS THEREFOR Irkutsk and ArchangeI, From Whence the Story
 Comes, Are $500 Miles Apart-Gen- , eraI Greeys Opinion.

Washington, Feb. 15.-In scientific Washington the interest of the report of Dr. Nansen's alleged discovery of the north pole would be much greater if the news came in a more authentic shape and with more definite particulars. The two points from which confirmatory dis patches are alleged to have been received, namely, Irkutsk, in eastern Siberia, and Archangel, in Europe and Russia, being more than $500 miles apart, in the opin- ion of Lieut.. William N. Scheutze of the navy, who is thoroughly familiar with the Siberian coast, cast grave doubts upon the authenticity of the reports that is to say the possibility of Dr. Nan sen having accomplished his mission by reaching the north pole and planting there the Norwegian flag in the dramatic way stated in the Irkutsk dispatches IS absolutely questioned. But reserVa- tion is made in favor of the theory that the hardy Norwegian explorer may nave escaped alive and that some intelligence to that effect may have been conveyed by natives in the mysterious way in whlch rumors travel among saVageS, anu may possibly have reached the widely ul- verged points from which the rumors come. ,. 70 Dr. Nansen when the doctor was curator of a museum in Norway, and who IS now one of the curators in the United otates National museum, thinks there IS notn- ing instrinsically improbable Tn the story and bears high tribute to pr; Nanse, s no , indomitable courage and fertility or re- source. , ,a
 "If :, said he. "Dr. Nansen found lana north of the new Siberian island 1t would be A comparatively easy matter TOT nm to proceed northward, for the oIs.anca ID
 hn avtf nm perienced in travelling over the frozen sea makes the task one of great hardship ana unmeasura bly increase the apparent dis- tance. We know that there IS land lur- ther north than any one has yet peen TOT inc req son that birds fly north of the limit of explora tions, raise their young and re- turn with them. These birds do not breed their young on ice; they must nave iahd, and because they do go north ana preeu is very good reason for believing that land is to be found there.
 Captain Herndon of the smithsonian was a member of the expedition of Lieut.. p 'P. Ray in 1881, which went as Tar n/rth as Point Barrow. Subsequently, Z the whaling business, Captain Hern- don spent five winters there. He mas thus had some actual experience In that northern country. "The surprising thing to me is" said he, that Nansen has been haa rd from at this season Of the year. Had he returned last summer we would certainly have heard from nm DeIore this. and we are bound, therefore, to be- Iieve that he has just returned. To one having no experience in these ice-bound regions it is almost impossible to portray the enormous difficulties encountered in travelling over the frozen seas. on land. even if it Is covered with ice, the case is quite different, and the only way I can account for Nansep's return at this time of the year Is the possible Iact that he has found land.
 Brig Gen. A. W. Greedy. the Arctic ex- plorer, gives little credence to the re- ported confirmation of the success of pr. Nanaen's attempt to reach the north pole He laid particular stress today. in speak ing of the report from Archangel, on the fact that Nansen's theory of reaching the mole was at variance with his alleged ar rival off the Siberian coast, which the explorer did not contemplate in his ar engagements for the expedition. General Greedy could not understand how infor- nation that Nansen was approaching the Lena delta should reach as remote point as Archangel. The absence of de- tails in both the Archangel and Irkusks dispatches was also arbitration for the disbelief of General Greely. There was nothing said as to how Nansen had been communicated with, nor anything about his journey. It was also unlikely that news coming from such an important place as Archangel. having excellent