New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-10-06
wilkes LAND SEEKER.
Philadelphia Plans Expedition to
Region Around South Pole.
HOPES TO GO IN SEPTEMBER
Dr.. Henry e. Wetherill, Traveller and
Inventor, Says 1t Is Americas Duty
to Substantiate Claim to Vast Terri
tory Lying Within Antarctic Circle.

Now that the north pole has been
discovered the question is arising in
the minds of explorers, What of the
south pole?
Among those who are planning to go
south is DR.. Henry e. Wetherill of
Philadelphia, surgeon and inspector
of rifle practice in the Pennsylvania
naval reserves, once a companion OF
Commander Peary in arctic travel and
an inventor of scientific instruments.
DR.. Wetherill is preparing to explore
the region surrounding the south pole
known as Wilkes Land, which, he
said recently, was the most fascinat-
ing field for the explorer today. ut is
a vast territory" he explained, "lying
wholly within the antarctic circle and
in vastness can be said to be at least
&Wice the size of the United States
Commander Wilkes Of the United
States navy discovered it, approaching
from the south of Australia in 1910.
Lieutenant Shackleton crossed sec
ton of this land on his recent dash to-
ward the south pole, entering upon it,
as we'll as + can understand, from Il
South America
Fertile Field For Explorers.
''This great waste affords a fertile
field for the explorer because it is
land and upon it there is q chance
of discovering interesting conditions.
41shere is q comparatively small amount
of land in the north polar regions,
which makes that territory Of less I'M
portance, to my way of thinking, than
3 this region surrounding the south
pole.''
DR.. Wetherill pointed out the fact
that it had been question in the
minds of some as to whether Com
mander Wilkes actually discovered this
continent which bears his name, and
he thinks that since the north pole has
4 been discovered it is the duty of Amer
f leans to send an expedition south to
substantiate the American claim and
in a way to vindicate Wilkes.
"Such a PLAN" said DR.. Wetherill,
..'has been taking shape in the minds
kof certain members Of American scien-
inic societies for years, but now the
matter seems to be taking definite
of the Philadelphia Philosophical So
ciety and leading authority on south
polar conditions, has applied to the
Philadelphia Geographical society, and
think, to two other societies as well.
for support in bringing the question
i to the attention of congress during the
coming term. I understand that con-
gress will be asked to appropriate
money for the expedition, which
should think would require about $780,.
COO"
Would Take Three Ships.
Dr. Wetherill has made formal ap,
>E6iicat ton for the command of the ex-
petition should one be formed. and
In the meantime he is going ahead with
his plans, believing that the funds will
be Forthcoming. He would take three
small ships, to be built after the mode
of the auxiliary type. One Of these
would be used as a supply ship, sec
'ond for cruising at sea out of danger
of the ice fields, but within call by
wireless in case anything should hap
pen to the third ship, which he would
personally command and which would
be used for the actual work of eX
ploration.
DR.. Wetherill has been for years in
terested in inventing instruments 70
1sscientific USE He has recently invent
81 ed a patent sextant, also table TO
taking Greenwich time by what h.
calls lunar declination-that is, t
determine longitude by an observation
of the moon.
He explained that lunar observation
for longitude were made in the past
but the task was one of such complex
1ty that few navigators were equal t
it. He has devised simplifed meth
cd which he considers to be one o
his most important contributions t
the science Of navigation. BY the us
Of this table, he said longitude coul,
In fifteen minutes.
The Stellar Sextant.
The new seXtant which DR.. Wetheri
has invented contains, instead of tw
ref1ectors of the old type, only one re
fector, which makes it of especis
value in polar work, due to the fac
that star can be much more readil
observed through it, DR.. Wetherill nc
only devised this instrument, but b
actually built it, using, he said, til
model of an old quadrant. Because c
its service to navigation by the star
he has named it the stellar sextant.
DR.. Wetherill has Travelled extensive
1~iay. He accompanied DR.. Henry {
-Bryant when the latter went to Greer
land in 1894 to try to find the where
abouts of the naturalists Bjorling an
Kalestanius, who were lost in th