Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1900-04-10
NO GEARING TO GET.
If ANY Man Ever Reaches the North
Pole He Will BE Lost for Sure.

If ANY Man Ever Reaches the North
Pole He Will Be Lost for Sure.
If any one really got to the north
pole he would, in common parlance,
be utterly Eat sea-" simply because at
the pole there is no possibility of as
certaining ones whereabouts. A per-
son arriving there would find an alto
gether different world before him.
Like blind man he would grope about
and vainly endeavor to get back
whence Re came. This by no means
enviable situation is calculated to de-
stroy 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 direc-
ton to the south. The longitudinal cir
cles, and hence also the meridian of
the locality, would coincide with the
horizon. Hence an astronomical de-
termination of the locality, according
to latitude and longitude, is precluded.
The same may be said as regards
determining ones bearings in any di-
rection The compass, too, will fail
there, because its horizontal intensity
Is so slight as to preclude the POSSIBLE
ity 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 altitude
above the true horizon, is found to CO.
incide with the value of the declination
of the sun for the day in question.
Moreover, In those regions there is
scarcely a day on which dense fogs do
not prevail, and 60 or more degrees
CO. of cold, such as mostly exist there.
will enhance the difficulties of observa-
ton TO such an extent that it can only
be a question of approximate esti-
mates. 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 4 sojourn at
the pole a neyerendlng torment. Worse
| than all the rest. one cannot count the
passing hours there; in other words
there is no criterion for determining
the time Of day During a period of six
months the sun viii neither rise nor
set, but during the whole of the time
viii 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, circuit of $50 degrees
around the sky. being visible at an alti
| tude equal TO the destination whenever
| declination is of the same name as the
pole AT which the observer is stationed
Thenumerous attempts hitherto made
| to reach the pole have, as a matter OF
course, been by water-that is to say
i by ships and sledges. The idea that
one might get there by an aerial pas
sage has not gained ground until re
Gently, but il we consider that balloon:
are not navigable, and hence are liable
TO he carried away by air currents il
any direction that may accidentally
prevail. and in the most unlikely even
only to the pole no one possessed O
hut a moderate allowance of common
sense will comprehend how success
| could have been expected from suel
an enterprise. Moreover. determine
lions OF locality cannot possibly b.
made from balloon with any approx
mate degree OF accuraey.-Nautica
! Magazine.