The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-05-24
AT THE NORTH POLE.
What Would Happen if One Should
Get There.

Just as the magnet always turns to
the pole, so human endeavor for CEN
turtles past has been similarly directed.
Whether at any future time it will be
vouchsafed to mortals to reach the
pole is a matter as to which, for
various reasons, considerable doubt
may be entertained. But would such
an achievement be desirable? l assert
the contrary quite seriously.
If anyone really got to the pole he
would, in common parlance. be utterly
lat sea-" simply because at the pole
Il ere is no possibility of ascertaining
ones wherea bouts. A person arriving
there would find an altogether differ
ent world before him. Like a blind
man he would grope about in and vain
ly endeavor to get back from whence
he came. This by no means enviabIe
situation is calculated to thoroughly
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 to 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 locality, would coincide
with the circles of the latitude: an
equator would coincide with the hori-
Zon. Hence an astronomical determi-
nation of the locality, according to lati-
tude and longitude, is altogether pre-
cluded.
The same may be said in regards de-
termining ones bearings in any direc-
tIOn The POnn9SS tOO would foi
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 altitude of the
sun, after having been corrected to al
titude above the true horizon. is found
to coincide with the value of the de-
clination 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 most
" exist there, will enhance the diff
culties 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 call
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 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 viii neither rise
nor set. but during the whole of the
time will always remain either above
or below the horizon. AS the earth re-
wolves around its axis in twenty-four
hours, the sun apparently describes.
during the same interval "a circuit of
300 degrees round 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.
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