THE WORTH OF IT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2896, 15 September 1909, Page 23

THE WORTH OF IT.

GREAT SCIENTIFIC IMPORTANCE* WHAT PROFESSOR DAVDD SAYS. "If the North Pole has really been di** . covered," said Professor David to a repre* j sentative of the Sydney Morning Herald; j "and if there is land near it, the discovery f will have considerable scientific value. la '" the first place, the "geographical poles are \ in theory great distinguishing centres oH . the earth's atmosphere. At the polesj- • according to theory, the air which has arrived there by a path high overhead : from the Equator descends to earth, an<f . then blows back Equatorwards. The pok*f are the hubs of the atmospheric universeas well as being the axles of the earth's rotation. j "No one has yet been near enough to thY North Pole to find whether there v an* truth in the theory. So that our ecientutri

first questions would be as to the pressure and humidity, and the ••". Section and speed of the air currents in the different zones passed throu^k on the way to the Pole. The answers to tihese questions would help in determining the question of atmospheric circulation, and would be a most important contribution to meteorology. They would ultimately help towards accuxacy in weather forecasting. "It would be most interesting to know the actual temperature at the Pole. Many scientists have held that the poles are not necessarily the coldest Dart« of the earth. The temperature would then be raised, they think, by the rapid descent of the air carried up from the Equator still keeping , «ome of its heat. Several romances, based on this theory, have shown the climate at the Pole as niild enough for all sorts of plants and animals and man. But it is extremely unlikely that tho temperature •would be much higher than that of latitudes a little farther south." Professor David explained that this great polar air vortex might bo about 100 miles across. But it won't be over the Pole itself. That would only happen, said Professor David, if all the land and wat©r iwere distributed evenly along ■ the parallels of latitude. Which, of course, they are not. "The upper atmosphere probably does oarrj a good deal of heat with it from the Equator, at least to the South Pole," Professor David went on ; " because during "violent blizzards,, when the atmospheric circulation is much accelerated, there U always a good rise in temperature. The Shaoklefcon expedition found that from 10 to 2+ hours after th© wind began to blow the temperature would -rise 30 or 40 degrees 3Ta!hr. Part of this rise would be due to latent heat set free when the moisture of the air from the Equator was converted into snow on reaching th© Pole. But t.he .rise would be due in tho main to tho warmth of the air itself. "Again, if thore is land at the Pole, its geological formation would be interesting. In Greenland, and near it, there have been found fossil plants which show theclimate was once temperate there. In tho carboniferous period— that is. a little before the Newcastle and Bulli coal measures ;v«>ro foTined — there was plenty of vegetation far •within the Arctic circle. And associated -with these coal measures are great masses of limestone, which show that the seas ■were warm. For instance, at Spitzbergen ttere are seams of very good coal, near the beach. Whalers and steam yachte visit them sometimes, though they have never been worked commeroiallv. When I was waning back from Lyttelton I met a couple «rf young fellows who had coaled their yaon-t from these seams in Spitzbergen only «he yeair before. ' "Fossil remains of animals or plants found anywhere near the Pole." he went en, would be of intense scientific value. It is mo3t unexpected to find land there mt all. Besides, there might be iron. Near Xhsko Island, and on the north-west coast <pf Greenland. Peary found basalts containing iron The Eskimo use it in making Knives. These basalts might crop up again further north. "Again, the discovery of land at the North Pole would have an important bearing on the Arctic Ocean currents; and

from our knowledge of these we deduce the laws which regulate climate, including snowfall and rainfall. "Besides, the discovery of plant or animal fossils near the Pole might affect the bi-polar theory of the development of life. According to this theory, life commenced on both poles of the earth at once, and spread Equatorwards. The assumption is the earth was at one time too hot about the Equator for life to exist. The poles would be the first spot to cool, and life would arise there." Commander Peary sailed from Sydney, Cape Breton, on July 17 last year, in the Roosevelt, with the object of making another attempt to rench the North Pole. He proposed to takp up winter quarter* north of Grant Land, where he wintered in 1905-6, and to be awaj' two years. The attempt to rc?ch the Pole was not to be made until after the winter solstice on February 21. This virtually ends storms and bad weather, and rrakes it possible to travel with comparative convenience. Commander Peary's intention ivas to attempt his dash over the floes with his own personal party of four, assisted by as many of the Newfoundland crew as might wish to volunteer for the work ; and lir> also took north with him from Etah 25 Eskimos and 250 dogs. He prnnosed to <i>H»'ance northward froan Cane Columbia with a numerous party, \who would feed from one sleigh until it was exhausted, and Hien the driver would drop br.rlc tr lord TV> ; -- pncess wou'd be repeated until only Peary ami ori/» or two • i -i:<>ti-= not<> "■■* Meanwhile, those who had gon« back would reload their 6leighs and go north ayain f-o meet rhos<- -. iri) •>' '<<r es possibly a trail would be laid across tho floes towards the Pole, and this would be followed by tho parties, both going and returning. When, on th<» evonintr "f August 18, ilic Roosevelt started for Ihe Polar Orean by what is kno^vn as the North Water — Smith Sound, Kennedy Channel, and Robeson Strait (a watercourse from 10 to 20 miles wide, through which some of the ioe annually formed in the Polar basin is shot out by way of Baffin's Bay to the x\tlantic) — tii^» ice and weather conditions were re-ga-rded by Commander Peary as very favourable, and he was hopeful of reaching v. lony distance by tho steamer, as every mile gained in this fashion would lessen the ice journey From this place, where he would go into winter quarters, he would cross tbe snow-clad land to Cape Columbia, the northernmost point of Ellesmere Land, whence -h© ".would make his dash acioss the floes towards the Pole Before Dr Cook's achievement Compander Peary was credited with the i.onoQ'rs of having approached nearer theNorth Pole than any other explorer. On Aqsril 21, 1906. he reached 87deg 6m in N., thus, being within 174 miles of the apex, of. "the earth. liieufcenaifF Peary watf born at Qfesson. Pa., on May 6. 1856. arxi was educated at Bowdoin College. Mair.e, graduating in 1877. He entered the United States navy as civil engineer, with the rank of liei'tenant, in 1881, and in 1884 was appointed assistant en^ipeer of the survey for the Nicaragua ship canaj Lieutenant Peaij

began his important work on the ioe-cap of Northern Greenlamd in 18£6. The only assistance in these investigations which ho received fram the American Government was a formal leave of absence frcn his duties as a civil engineer in the navy. He had to depend entirely on the help of his friends, the proceeds of his own lectures, and his wife's publications, whioh have been of material value. His work has been invaluable to the cause of Arctic exploration. Hia first expedition, that of 1886, when his ship was the Eagle, brought him nearly 100 miles over the inland ice. and much further north than the route of Nansen. Peary, as a result, laid a great scheme for crossing the ioe from one coast to the other, and completing, if possible, tho exploration of the North Greenland coast, and then making for the Pole itself. In 1891 he resumed hie work, and accompanied by his yountg wife and a carefully selected crew, ultimately landed on the shores of M'Cormick Inlet, to the north of Inglefield Gulf (77d©g 40min N.). Peary unfortunately broke both his ankles just after the start, but preparations were at onoo made for sledge parties over the iceScientific obsorvatilon and research occupied the staff through the winter, and in. the following spring (1892) be#an the famous " White Maroh " over the inland ice to th© northern shores of Greenland. The whole party moved forward on the first stage of the journey, but tho greater part of the course mapped out (500 mile 3) was accomplished by Peary and a companion, Bivind Astrup, since dead. After a series of exciting adventures th© two explorers made their way out ro the Northern Arctic coast in 81.40 N. and 34.5 W., reaching a point each further than any predecessor. The information concerning Greenland and the ice-locked north which Peary was able to bring back was scientifically of the utmost importance, and generally most fascinating. Th* return journey was even more trying than the outward, and was rendored considerably moro difficult owing to the necessity of making large detours in consequence of th© inaccuracies of the existing maps. In the spring and summer of 1696 Peary again traversed his old routes and corrected his observations on tho regions crossed. He i-übsequently paid two more visits to NorthEast Greenland with a view to removing the great meteorite of 90 tons, which has been known since Ross's time Peury succeeded in bringing this vast rnaro lo America, thus making another valuable contribution to scientific knowledge. He published, in 1898, the records of all his expeditions in a volume entitled "Northward Over the ' Great Ic© ' : A Narrative of Life and Work Along the Shores and Upon the Interior Ice-cap of Northern Greenland iri the Years 13E6 and 1897." His wife wrote some years ago a small volume containing a brief account of one of his earlier expeditions. The work accomplished by Lieutenant Peary and dealt with in these volumes comprises: — (1) A summer voyage and reconnaissance of th© Greenland ica, 1886; (2) a 13-months' sojourn in Northern Greenland, inoluding a 1200-mile j dedg© journey across the ice-cap, and the . determination of tho insularity of Green- j land, 1891-92; (3) a 25-months' stay in North I Greenland, including a second " 1200-mile

sleds;© journey across the ice-cap, the completion—of the study of tho Whale Sound natives, a detailed survey of that region, and the discovery of the Great Cape York meteorites, 1893-95 ; (t) summer voyages, in 1896 and 1897, including the securine of the last and the largest of the great Cape York meteorites, a 90-ton mase. In January, 1897, Lieutenant Peary received theCullum gold medal from the American Geographical Society. In 1898 Lieutenant Peary made another Arctic expedition for the discovery of the Pole, and this time ho was away about four years. He rounded the northern end of Greenland, the most northenly known land in th© world, and reached 84deg 17m in N. latitude, the higbe&t attained up till then in 6Ee~ western hemisphere. ♦