Danskeren. [volume] (Neenah, Wis.) 1892-1920, 1913-02-26


My answer is that to extend
human knowledge is always
worth while. The time has sure
" come when we human beings
can no longer be content without
knowing even the little planet on
which we live. We must realize
that all that we have and are we
owe to the scientists, the pa
tent searchers after knowledge.
Without them we should probably
still be killing our meat with
stone knives and crunehing it
raw. knowledge must first come
to the scientist before it can be
applied to the practical everyday
concerns of the world and become
of benefit to all humanity,
The Importance of the polar
regions in the household economy
of nature is little realized. The
North Pole and the South Pole
have been aptly called the two
steam boilers of the earth. Ii the
power they generate were sud
denly to cease, all activity on
the earth would come to an end.
1t is a new thought to most Of
Is that life and power come out
of the frozen Businesses of the
Poles, and yet it is true. We have
all learned in our school days how
the heavier water of the Arctic
regions presses in on the lighter,
because heated, water Of the
equatorial regions, and so cau-
e ocean currents, just as the
same process in the air causes the
trade winds, but it is only recent
ly that the science of oceanogra-
ply has revealed to us the stimu-
lating, rejuvenating effect Of
these frigid currents ON the plant
and vegetable life in the ocean.
The teeming fish life in the At
lantic Ocean depends for its ex-
istance on the food brought il on
the currents from the virgin ice
fields Of the north. With the
mixture Of the northward flowing
warm current and the southwark
flowing cold waters from
the Polar Basin fish life
is walked to activity the
fishes begin to spawn and be-
come, as it were, resuscitated.
If my Polar expedition brought
no other result beyond an exact
study of the Polar currents in
question, their course, velocity
and direction, as well as the ami
NAL and vegetable life they con
tain - then the expedition would
richly have paid for itself.
The meteorological obserya-
tons will constitute another i'm
portant phase Of our expedition.
In this ! am working in conjune-
ton with Professor Hergesell,
Count Zeppelin's partner, who is
thoroughly in sympathy with the
project. j propose to take a wire
less apparatus with me, and Pro
fessor Hergesell hopes, through
the generosity of some of his
German friends, to establish four
or more meteorological stations, to
be placed in such a way that they
encompass the Polar Basin where
! shall be closed in - one being
probably in Alaska, one in 81
IBERIA, one in Spitzbergen and one
in Labrador. If this can be done,
the Fran will through her wire
less apparatus be in constant
communication with these sta
tons; we shall all make Il OBJ
servations as to wind and weather
at the same time, and in this way
cover a much larger area for a
longer period and in a much more
exhaustive manner than would
otherwise have been possible. What
! have said Of the Polar currents
in the water holds good Of the
currents in the air; they give the
key TO the weather conditions
the world over.
In speaking of the scientific
value of the expedition | wish
to lay especial stress on the mag
netic observations. Our work in
this field will doyetail with that
of the Carnegie Institution, which
has at its service the good ship