INTERESTING SCIENTIFIC WORK IN THE ARCTIC 209 



Cook's and Commander Peary's statements as to having reached 

 the North Pole, we may properly quote here the views of a few 

 eminent scientists on the subject. Dr. Wright of the famous 

 Lick Observatory in California, has said: 



"The only instrument needed is a sextant. With three obser- 

 vations taken the same day Dr. Cook could have determined his 

 position with a possible error of less than ten seconds of arc. This 

 would be, roughly, a thousand feet, and Dr. Cook says positively 

 that the pole was somewhere within a circle of 500 feet radius 

 w r ithin which he himself was standing. 



"As these observations could be faked by any one with a fair 

 knowledge of astronomy, the discovery rests on Doctor Cook's 

 veracity alone. For my part, I do not think him a man who 

 would fake his observations, and from what I have read, I believe 

 he made the journey. 



"At the North Pole the sextant would read degrees minus 

 the declination of the sun for April 21, with a correction for re- 

 fraction. It would be a matter of little difficulty to fake three 

 readings that would indicate the discovery of the pole. So that 

 until some one else finds Doctor Cook's flag and brass tube at 

 the pole, the matter rests with his veracity alone." 



Prof. George Davidson, of the University of California, a 

 writer of note on astronomical subjects, has said that with a 

 proper outfit of instruments Doctor Cook could have determined 

 the position of the pole within a possible error of a mile, provided 

 that he had a clear ice horizon for his observation. This possi- 

 ble error of a mile would mean an error equal to one-thirty- 

 second part of the disc of the sun as viewed with the sextant. 



"If Doctor Cook's observations are sufficiently numerous,'' 

 said Professor Davidson, "any imperfections in them can be 

 used by astronomers to determine the general credibility." 



Professor S. Alfred Mitchell, of Columbia University, said: 



* 5 In the sledge trip to the Pole, a distance about equalling that 

 14 



