Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1899-04-12
At THE NORTH POLE.
-
tFANY MAN EVER REAGHE6tT WILL
BE SURELY LOST.

Tho Impossibility OF Getting bearings
Dense Fogs and Extreme Cold are There
For six Months the sun Hangs in thu
Sky Without Rising or Setting.
If any one really got to the pole no
would. in common parlance, be utterly
at sea" simply because at the pole
there IS no possibility Of aseertaIning
ones whereabouts. a. person arriving
there would find an altogether differ
ent world before him. Like a blind
man he would grope about and vainIy
ende2Eor to get back whence he came.
This by no means enyiable situation
Is calculated to destroy the illusions
which he may have cherished when
starting en- his polar expedition. His
completely changed situation would be
accounted for by the fact that when
stationed at the pole the direction Of
the noFth.W0uId be found 10 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 asfonomi-
cal determination of the locality. ae-
eording to latitude and longitude, is
preeluded.
The same may BE- said as regards de-
ternirg ones bearings in any dIree-
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 chat one has arrived at the
pole is that The observed latitude OF the
sun, after having been corrected to al
tituda above the true horizon, l. found
% coincide with the value OF tie dec
Ina,ion Of the sun for the day in ques-
ton.
Moreover, in those regions there is
scarcely a day on which dense legs do
nor prevail, and sixty or more degrees
1C9 Of cold. such as mostly exist
there, viii enhance the difficulties Of
observation to sHeh an extent that it
can only be a question of approximate
estimates. Such conditions are by no
means eHyiable, and are scarcely cal.
eulated to induce is TO long for them
with all our hearts.
But these are not the only things
which are likely to make a soiourn 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
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 reYolyes 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 I
declination whenever decHnation is Of
the same name as the pole at which
the observer is stationed.
Ihe numerous attempts hitherto
made to reach the pole have, as mat.
ter of course, been by water-that is
to say by ships and sIedges. The idea
that one might get there by an aerial
passage has not gained ground until
recently, but if we consider that bal
loons are not navigable and hence are
liable to be carried away by air cur
rents in any direction that may acct
dentaliy prevail, and in the most IN
likely event only to the pole, no one |
possessed of but 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 I