THE WANDERINGS OF THE NORTH POLE. 79 



that particular spot on this globe which is to be delined by the North 

 Pole? It was for tliis purpose that at the commencement of this paper 

 I referred to that photograph of the concentric circles wliich illustrated 

 so forcibly the position of tlie pole in the heavens. Imagine that your 

 eye was placed at the center of the earth, and that you had a long- slen- 

 der tube from that center to the surface through which you could look 

 out at the celestial sphere; if that tube be placed in such a way that, 

 when looking from the center of the earth through this tube, your vision 

 was directed exactly to that imrticular point of the heavens which is 

 the center of the circle now described by the Pole Star and the other 

 circumpolar stars, then that spot in which the end of the tube passes 

 out through the surface of the earth is the North Pole. Imagine a 

 stake to be driven into the earth at the place named, then tlie position 

 of that stake is the critical s]K)t on our globe wliich has licen the object 

 of so much scientitic investigation and of so much maritime enterprise. 

 The reader must not tliiiik that I am attempting to be hyper-accurate 

 in this definition of the Nortli Pole; no doubt, in our ordinary language 

 we often think of the pole as something synonymous with the polar 

 regions, an ill-defined and most vaguely known wilderness of ice. For 

 scientific purposes it is, however, essential to understand that the pole 

 is a very definitely marked point, and we must assign its position accu- 

 rately, not merely to within miles, but even to within feet. Indeed, it 

 is a truly extraordinary circumstance that, considering no one, with the 

 possible exception just referred to, has ever yet been within so many 

 hundred miles of the pole, we should be able to locate it so ])recisely 

 that we are absolutely certain of its position to within an area not 

 larger than that covered by a small town, or even by a good sized draw- 

 ing room. 



We have seen that the North Pole in the sky is in incessant move- 

 ment, and that the travels which it accomplishes in the course of many 

 centuries extend over a wide sweep of the heavens; this naturally sug 

 gests the question, Does the pole in the earth move about in any simi- 

 lar manner, and if so, what is the nature and extent of its variation? 

 Here is the point about which those modern researches have been made 

 which it is my special object to discu^ss in this paper. Let us first see 

 clearly the issue that is raised. At the time of the building- of the 

 Pyramids the pole in the heavens was in quite a ditterent place from 

 its present position; the Pole Star had not at that time the slightest 

 title to be called a pole star; in fact, the point around which the heav- 

 ens revolved lay in a wholly diftereut constellation. It Avas certainly 

 not far from the star Alpha I)raco)iis about 3000 b. c, and we could 

 indicate its position quite definitely if we had any exact knowledge as 

 to the date of the Pyramids' erection. It is, however, plain that the 

 difference was so patent between the celestial pole at the time of the 

 Pyramids and the celestial pole of later centuries, that it could not be 

 overlooked in attentive observation of the heavens. As the North 



