254 WHAT SCIENTISTS SAID 



still greater extent, and they do what they like. When, therefore, the Eskimos 

 took resolution to accompany Dr. Cook on his expedition toward the North 

 Pole, neither they nor Dr. Cook felt bound to render Peary an account. 



"Another and quite as futile a detail in the accusation of Peary is when he 

 says Cook went into' his domain. Does Peary really mean that he can assert 

 the right to this territory? I think Peary cannot be so childish. It is very 

 likely a stroke in the air to gain the sympathy of unsuspecting people. The 

 American people have a great stake in arctic exploration. They deserve the 

 undivided admiration of the whole civilized world for the splendid result 

 which two of their brave sons have just brought home. 



"We shall always honor Cook as the first man on the geographical north 

 pole of the earth. We shall always admire Peary as the man who didn't give 

 up, but finally achieved his aim and desire after many years' hard work." 



Dr. Eugene Murray Aaron, F. G. S., who has acquaintance with both 

 Commander Peary and Dr. Cook and who has a knowledge of the terrors of 

 the long night, and the hardships and difficulties of travel on the arctic ice, 

 who for some years has been a Chicagoan, engaged in geographic authorship 

 and publication, also discussed the merits of the controversy. 



"No one who knows either Cook or Peary," said the doctor, "can for a 

 rnoment doubt that each of them firmly believes that he has set his feet on that 

 spot without longitude, where all lines converge — and hence without dimen- 

 sions, that we call the north pole. The only doubt permissible to fair minded 

 men who have the privilege of acquaintance with these great men is as to 

 whether iii the final dash they were able to take along those instruments neces- 

 sary to scientific exactitude and whether, during their very brief stops on the 

 top of the earth, they had sufficient time to verify their first conclusions. 



"It must be the opinion of all that the reputations of Amtrica and of 

 American men of science have suffered from the unseemly, though perhaps 

 rather natural, outburst of Peary and his warmer supporters, when the news 

 from Cook reached them. Commander Peary has so manfully struggled 

 northward for the past quarter of a century, always meeting rebuffs and defeat 

 with a brave heart and each time returning to the battle to win a few more 

 miles from the threatening ice floes and leads, that it is very understandable 

 that he has almost come to regard the pole as his by eminent domain. It is 

 not hard to realize the poignancy of his feelings when he learned that his rival 

 had beaten him to the goal, all the more as the personal relations between the 

 two had been strained for many years, owing to causes known to few, but 

 quite sufficient to both of these positive, forceful men. 



