Semi=weekly graphic., 1899-05-10
AT THE NORTH POLE.
IF ANY MAN EVER REACHES IT HE EWILL
 BE SURELY LOST.

AID AmpOsslDlIlty G1 Oetting BearlnRs-
 Dense Fogs and Extreme Cold are There
 For Six Months the Sun Hangs in the
 Sky Without Rising or Setting.
 If any one really got to the pole he would, in common parlance, be utterly lat sea-" simply because at the pole there is no possibility of ascertaining ones whereabouts. 4 person arriving there would find an altogether differ ent world before him. Like a 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 diree- tion. The compass, too, will fail there, because it's horizontal intensity is so slight as to preclude the possibility of it's 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 ques- tion.
 Moreover, in those regions there is scarcely 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 enyiable, 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 sojourn at the pole a 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 will always remain either above or below the horizon. AS the earth revolves around it's axis in twenty-four hours, the sun apparently describes, during the same interval, a circuit of 360 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.
 |he numerous attempts hitherto made to reach the pole have, as a matt ter of course, been by wate4-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 if 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 coAprehend how success could have been expected from such an enterprise. Moreover, determi- nations of locality cannot possibly be made from a balloon with any approx innate degree of accuracy.