Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-26
OBSERVATORY AT aAITHERsBURG, MD.

sun Vega, in the constellation OF the harp.
This Is the star mostly used along the base
line. Upon this the seven transits are
focused nightly in Japan. Turkestan and
the United States. There Is a certain path.
straight through the heavens which this
fixed star should appear to take were earth
steady at the poles. But just as much as
Vega, or the other stars used. staggers
along this path. just that much the poles
are webbing. / say the poles. but as q
matter of fact the northern axle OF tho
earth is the only one known to be loose.
1t Is presumed. however. that the south pole
repeats these weddings. This cannot be
definitely ascertained, however. until a base
line is drawn along some parallel In the
southern hemisphere and until chain OF
stations is installed along It.
Velocity and Period of Shifting.
But what has been learned at these sta
tons? Their measurements are tabulated
with infinite care and submitted annually
to sort of clearing house I'm Berlin. where
they are averaged up and reduced to a
technical chart by the learned astronomer.
Prof. TIL. Albrecht. The figures thus far
prove beyond a doubt that the north pole
is undergoing periodic webbing So far
no steady, progressive changes OF positions,
in one general direction. have been noted.
Were pencil attached to the pole so that
1t could write upon fixed sheet of white
sky an irregular, splral-like tangle would be
pole after travelling in one direction sweeps
around and returns by opposite route.
Its speed is very slow. II has never been
observed to travel more than four feet In
a week. Sometimes ii has required more
than a month to cover yard. In six
months it has described an Irregular SEMI
circle more than sixty feet in diameter.
While IT is known that point which is the
north pole today will not be the north pole
tomorrow. no one can predict where this
nomadic spot-the great magnet of the ex-
plorer-will be the next day, the next hour.
the next year. The arctic surveyor may in
sert his chain pin at the point which today
marks the exact pole. but like some living
thing this dot on earths crust will be
crawling away from Kim the while.
Wondering About Aimlessly.
After describing its irregular sixty-foot
circle it passed within about foot OF tho
charted pole. Since then it has been wan
dering about aimlessly. in "A somewhat
spiral path, sweeping further and further
outward. 1t now seems to be completing
its ragged circle about the pole OF the maps
every 400 days-about II months. The Same
antics are daily being performed by our
every point of latitude. OF course. Exami-
nation of data collected before the chain Of
observatories was established indicated that
this webbing period was 3tS days In IVA.
and that ii had slowed down to Az days in
1880. If this be correct Its speed of wob-
bling has again become accelerated.
These periodical changes are now thought
by some to be due either to the precipitation
of rain or snow or the action of ocean cur
rents of aerial currents unequally on differ
ent hemispheres or to conclusions In the
interior of the globe.
But let us hope that only the periodical
Weddings will continue and that the pole
VIII always recover its truant steps, for the
predicted shifting of tie tropics to the poles,
and vice versa, would probably drown half
of us during terrible thaw and freeze the
other half to death If taken unawares.
JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS.