The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-09-20

Judge 81 the achievements Of the two
claimants for the honor OF reaching the
top Of the world, will rely very greatly
Oh the appearances Of the diaries Of the
two explorers
Washington scientific men say that
three factors enter into the method Of
proof which win Judge the explorers
claims First, their daily observations,
taken with se2tant, must tally with
conditions known to have existed at that
time
Second. astronomical sharps will look
ior certain slight error which, il i said,
must Of certainty appear IN ealeula-
lions made Will the instruments the
two intrepid men used IN tehir obserya-
tions.
Third. the record Of these observations
must infalliby show. IN the opinion Of
scientists. the conditions under which
they were made that is, ii the explor-
ers entered their records while actually
en route and AZ the pole that dairy
would certainly we a we'll thumbed,
dirty. smearv voumne The figures
ought 10 he struggling 20 indicate that
cold benumhed fingers penned them.
II Is in the last two factors that DR..
Willis Moore. president Of the National
Geographic society, chief IF the Y. y
weather bureau. and a wen known seien-
tist. believe the burden Of proof will
rest
IF an explorer. intent upon taking
observations, was an expert astronomer,
and a mathematical marvel, II might
d j ~. a.. ffus "a
day record that would hold water said
Dr Moore to-day when asked as 30 the
possibility Of 4fake" records Still, this
looks TO me to be a difficult task But
granting he could do this, il would be
siill harder to duplicate a thumh-worn
log book. and the lack Of errors il his
account would convict him. For a faker
would have no means OF knowing, even il
he compiled Bis record under the most
favorable conditions. how to reproduce
errors that arose from conditions exist.
ing at the time Ne claimed 10 have dis
covered the pole"
DR.. Moore declares that semitic men
are not expecting any great conflict Of
The Cook and Peary claims after the
records Of each Of the claimants have
been passed upon by scientific authori-
ties The observations 81 an explorer
said he, would be similar to those Of
navigator However. since he does not
have the facilities 81 an ocean liner, bis
observations would probably vary slight.
ly--though, if they were taken carefully
this variation should not De more than
few minutes To make these observa-
tons would not require SO experienced
an astronomer as il would 10 duplicate
them, had they not been made All The
instruments needed would be a sextant
and mercurial horizon-the latter be
ing a plate and a tube Of mercury used
to secure an exact level
THE observations would be based upon
the apparent elevation al the sun above
the plane Of the horizon. An explorer
would be certain that be bad found the
pole when this elevation remained practi
cally the same throughout the twenty
four hours. Naturally, this means that
any explorer claiming To have located
the pole must have remained there one
entire day-msrely for the sake OF qon-
irming this'
Prof. Milton Updegraf, professor Of
ZIG NAtEAANtAtAes ~ % AYE ana MAlNttAI %
the Nautical Almanac, further explaining
this. said.
To an observer standing exactly at
the pole, the sun would during the day
move around the horizon at an altitude
Of about IL degrees, The hegiht slowly
increasing as the declinstion Of tile sun
increases By third Of degree day.
IL the observer were provided with a sex
tant and a mereurial horizon, he would
measure tae altitude Of the sun hour by
hour. and aside from the aboye.men.
toned gradual increase Ia the declina
ton Of the sun, the altitude Of the sun
would remain the same
Upon Dr. Cook ability To make these
observations with benumbed hands no
facilities for conveying his instruments,
and The most diseonraging conditions for
recording them, rests his claim to dis.
covery Of the pole
On April 2l, when Cook claims to
have discovered the northernm0st point
Their would be the sun for observations
During the months from October to Feb.
ruary. the sun az and near the pole Is
below the horizon. Observations during
that period would have to BE- made from
the stars