The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1901-01-26
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TIE NORTH POLE MOBILES

non, involving the opacity of the earth
! to the electrical rays from the sun. Ger
| tam perturba tons, others say, are also
| caused by the varying attraction of the
! moon due to the earth'S uneven rcta-
tlcn. rainfall and spring freshets from
| melting snow might add to the general
| effect, while Prof. Newcomb OF Washing
! ton calls attention to the discovered
chac3+=s in sea level mentioned above as a
coincident phenot?l anon. Periodic high
.ildes, ocean currents, and the movements
OF the atmosphere unquestierabiy play
| important parts in complicating the move
| rlent. -
Another and very interesting theory
| comes from Prof. Vito Volterro, the
famous Italian mathena t:cian. who is
able to account for the observed motions
by assuming permanent currents in the
molten interior Of the earth.
| Special attention has been drawn to the
still more positive factor in the pheAo-
menon, namely. the unequal distribution
of land in the northern hemisphere, as
well as its uneven massng around the
earth from cast to west.
| Prof. Newco!nb hints a possible COM.
hiEation of all these causes operating to
produce the observed f1uc. uations. If this
| is fact, it might easily happen that
they might at some future time all oper-'
ate in conjunction in the same directioni
and produce a great increase in the velo-i
city of motion of the poles which could
not at present be predicted, but which
would seriously affect geographical posi-.
| lions and boundaries determined in ternsi
of latitude and longitude.
| Prof. Chambers results showed a. great!
need for a more widely extended series
of observation, eplaaned especially for this
| purpose. In tWenty-nine series of Observ-i
| atoms, made at eighteen different sta;
| tons, Prof. Chandler has tested hisr
! theory thoroughly at three different.
langitudes-that Of Kasan, that of Ber-
| lin and that of Bethlehem, Pa.-and in
each case the results have been con-
| frnaed
Perhaps the most rigid test of his CON
| clusicns was his willingness 20 rest his
| theory upon the accuracy of his predic-
| ton of the movement of the pole through
several years Already the correspondence
| IL found to be remarkable and in spite Of
tho slight discrepancies not yet accounted
| FOR. the observations confirm the pre-
dictions so remarkably as to ''cut the
| ground from under the feet of those who
| wish to put aside the variation Of lati-
| tude as empirical or not proved The
evidence for its existence and for the
general truth of the law formulated by
Prof. Chandler is already overwhelming,
| and new sohserNationsson only add to it.
| The international Geodetic association
has prepared an elaborate scheme for the
systematic observation Of these variations
I Of latitude. The same general form Of
/ zenith incl oapt will no in, oil I,
| obse Batteries, and the best for the pur-
pose. Although three stations could have
determined the polar motion with con-
| siderable accuracy, yet for the sake of
| greater precision six stations have been
| selected. The work is now in progress,
| and the following the official obseTva-
| tories cooperating in the Investigation:
1. Tore di San Vittorio, Carloforte, in
the Island Of San Pietro, near the coast
Of the Island of Sardinia.
9. A place nine kilometers north Of
Charjui, on the ANU Daria.
g. The observatory at MizusaWa in the
valley Of kitakami, Japan.
4. The observatory established espe-
cial]y for this work at Ukiah, Cal.
g. The permanent observatory Of tie
University of Cincinnati
6. At Gaithersburg, Md, a station on
the Baltimore G. Ohio railroad, about
thirty miles northwest of Washington.
The work of observation has been in
| augurated, and reports are already being
received at Potsdam from Carloforte.
Cbarjui and Cincinnati. 1t is intended
that the observations shall extend
| through a period of five years. Deduc-
Lions of the observations will be made at
tha Potsdam observatory
The possibility Of a variation in latitude
was first raised by a German astronomer
| named Leonard Euler, who some years
ago was studying the mechanics of ro-
tating bodies, with special reference to
the movements of the earth. He came TO
the conclusion that theoretically the axis
| of rotation Of the earth could not be per-
fectly fixed, because of the unequal dis
tribution of the land masses, the land
areas being nassed iE the northern hen1i-
sphere. The earth was "topheavy' and
would probably show some gyrations like
top. AS a result he predicted that the
axis of the earth's rotation would be
found to be unstable. This he believed to
be theoretically true. but although the
| most precise methods of observation Of
his day were turned upon the subject,
yet only negative results were obtained.
The great mathematician, Leplace be-
lieved, on the contrary, that the earth's
axis was fxed-that is, that latitude
would never vary It is now known that
at his time instrumental precision had not
reached q point where the existing per-
turba tons could have been detected. At
any rate, Eulers idea was laid aside, and
down to the time of kustner, Fergoia
and Chandler astronomers have worked
on the supposition Of the stability of the
poles The first atten1E. to test Erler's
theory. however, was by G. A. F. Peters;
OF Pulk0wa observatory in Russia. Moth
Ing came of the work; the results were
negative. The OF Observations at Washing
ton yielded no evidence, nor did the re-
search work Of Clerk-Maxwell and Down.
ing upon data provided by the Greenwich
observatory. Finally, upon suggestion
OF Kustner, who noticed certain errors i'm
previous observations, the Geodetfc asso-
citation adopted new methods, which met
with immediate and conspicuous success.
Pref Chandler, to whom the creates
credit is due. made the most masterly
study OF all available data, ard himself
conducted series of observations durin.,
thirteen months, with an instrument es,
pecialiy designed for this work, called
the aimucanter,,,' which reyealed a nro.
gr'ssive change in the value II the lati-
-ude as given by this instrument. He was
unable to refer this to any defect In his
instrument, but he says later that he
hesftated to ascribe it to real change
OF latitude without further study. His
hesitancy induced him to lay aside the
WORK for six years. at the end Of which
time the publication OF the work Of Kust-
ner, which eorroberated his own. prompt
1ee him 70 undertake the study Wits re-