Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-03-17
AT THE NORTH POLE.
IF ANY MAN EVER REAcHEsiT HE WILL
 BE SURELY LOST.

The 1mpossibilfty of Getting Bearings
 Denye Fogs and Extreme Cold are There
 Tor Six Months inc Sun Hangs in the
 Sky Without Rising or Setting.
 If any one really got 10 the pole he would, in common parlance. be utterly "at sea" simply because at the pole there Is no possibility of ascertaining one's whereabouts. A person arriving there would find an altogether differ ent world before him. Like blind man he would grope about and yainly 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 BoIe 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, ae- cording to latitude and longitude, is pfeeIuded
 The same may be said as regards de- termiEg ones bearings in any direc- tiou. The compass, too, will fail there, because it's 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 ques- tion
 Moreover, in those regions there is scarcely a day on which dense fogs do not prevail, and sixty or more degrees tG.) of cold, such as mostly exist there, will enhance the difficulties of observation to such an extent that it can only be question of approximate estimates. Such conditions are by no means enviable, and are scarcely cal. eulated to induce US to long for them with all our hearts.
 But these are not the only things which are likely to make q sojourn at the pole never-ending torment. Worse than all the rest, one cannot l count the passing hours there; in other words, there is no criterion for deter mining the time of day. During 3 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 reyo1Yes around it's axis in twenty-four hours, the sun apparently 1 describes. during the same interval, a circuit of 360 degrees around the sky, being visible at an altitude equal to the deelinaion whenever deeIination 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 if we consider that bal looms are not nayigable, 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 a moderate allowance of common sense will comprehend how success could have been expected from such an enterprise. Moreover, determi- nations of locality cannot possibly ba made from a balloon with any approx. innate degree of accuracy.
 Pupil of the Eye.
 The-pupil of the eye is so called be- cause when looking in it a very small image of the observer may be seen, hence the term from the Latin, pupil lus" or little pupil
 ROUGH RIDERS STORIES.