THE NORTH POLE FOUND 45 



As to the lay of the land, the set of the currents, the rise and fall of tides, 

 the location of other islands or the expanse of water and its depth, Dr. Tit- 

 mann concluded Dr. Cook must have secured valuable information. That it 

 will be much easier in future to reach the pole there can be no doubt, in Dr. 

 Titmann's opinion. 



Dr. Titmann suggested that if Dr. Cook had the proper equipment he 

 might have taken pendulum experiments that would develop interesting addi- 

 tional data as to the figure of the earth. 



In general Dr. Titmann, while greeting the alleged discovery with delight 

 as opening up a valuable field for scientific investigation, concluded that the 

 discoveries made by Dr. Cook, or hereafter to be made by scientists following 

 his lead, would be for the most part of further details about subjects already 

 known in part. 



Dr. Titmann doubted, however, that any of these discoveries could have 

 any great immediate practical importance. Navigation as a science will gain 

 nothing, nor will meteorology. But in the verifying of what heretofore neces- 

 sarily has remained in the status of theories Dr. Titmann said much will be 

 gained. In the matter of pendulum experiments regarding the mass and 

 figure of the earth he said all civilized nations are now making experiments, 

 and experiments taken at the pole would add to their fund of information. 



Prof. William H. Brewer, of Yale University, said: 



"There are really no scientific theories as to what is immediately around 

 the pole. There are some theorists who think there is an open sea and some 

 who believe that a fertile spot is there. Scientific men are inclined to think 

 that there may be little difference in immediate conditions close to the pole 

 from those in the Arctic regions miles from there. 



"The discovery of the North Pole ranks as a great achievement. Before 

 men began to climb mountains we didn't know much about mountains, but 

 men have climbed mountains till there are few left unclimbed. Now when 

 a man climbs a mountain for the first time it's a great achievement, but we 

 have learned so much about mountains that his act may not aid much to the 

 scientific knowledge about mountains. Just so with the scientific value of 

 the discovery of the North Pole. 



"All reports from the Arctic seas indicate that last year was unusually 

 severe, making it possible for Dr. Cook to proceed rapidly over the ice. 

 Climbing over, the ice and icebergs toward the North Pole is like climbing 

 through a city without streets. You have to climb over the houses. The 



