Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-07-28
AT THE NORTH POLE.
IF ANY MAN EVER RREAcHEsiTH HE WILL
BE SURELY LOST.

The Impossibility Of Getting Bearings
Dense Fogs and Extreme Cold are There
For Six Months the Sun Hangs in tho
Sky without Rising or Setting.
If any one really got to the pole he
would. in common parlance, be utterly
"at sea- simply because at the pole
there is no possibility of ascertaining
ones whereabouts. A person arriving
there would find an altogether differ
en-. world before him. Like blind
man he would grope about and vainly
endeavor to get back whence he came.
This by no means enviable situation
is calculated to destroy the illusions
which he may have cherished when
starting on his polar expedition. His
completely changed situation would be
accounted for by the fact that when
stationed at the pole the direction of
the north would be found to coincide
with the line of the zenith-that is to
say, the point exactly above us. The
opposite point, viz, the nadir, would
coincide with the direction to the
south. The longitudinal circles, and
hence also the meridian of the local
ity, would coincide with the circles of
latitude; an equator would coincide
with the horizon. Hence an astronomi-
cal determination of the locality, ac-
cording to latitude and longitude, is
precluded
The same may be said as regards de-
terming ones bearings in any direc-
ton. The compass, too, will fail there,
because its horizontal intensity is SO
slight as to preclude the possibility of
its action. The only criterion for
judging that one has arrived at the
pole is that the observed latitude of the
sun, after having been corrected to al
titude above the true horizon, is found
to coincide with the value of the dec
lination of the sun for the day in Qlies-
ton.
Moreover, in those regions there is
scarcely a day on which dense fogs do
not prevail, and sixty or more degrees
CO. of cold such as mostly exist
there, will enhance the difficulties of
observation to such an extent that it
can only be a question of approximate
estimates. Such conditions are by no
means enviable. and are scarcely cal
culated to induce us to long for them
with all our hearts
But these are not the only things
which are likely to make a sojourn at
the pole never-ending torment.
Worse than all the rest. one cannot
count the passing hours there; in other
words, there is no criterion for deter
mining the time of day. During a
period of six months the sun will
neither rise nor set but during the
whole of the time viii always remain
either above or below the horizon. AS
the earth revolves around its axis in
twenty-four hours, the sun apparently
describes, during the same interval, a
circuit of $50 degrees around the sky,
being visible at an altitude equal to the
declination whenever declination is Of
the same name as the pole at which
the observer is stationed.
The numerous attempts hitherto
made to reach the pole have, as a mat
ter of course been by water-that is
to say, by ships and sledges The idea
that one might get there by an aerial
passage has not gained ground until
recently, but il we consider that bal
looms are not navigable, and hence are
liable to be carried away by air cur
rents in any direction that may acci-
dentally prevail, and in the most un-
likely event only to the pole. no one
possessed of but moderate allowance
of common sense will comprehend how
such an enterprise. Moreover, determi-
nations of locality cannot possibly be
made from a balloon with any approx
innate degree of accuracy
Indians in Wisconsin,,
Wisconsin has at this late day about
q non Indians of variouc trihoc III 80