Til!'; STAR VAULT. 5 



self on the Arctic Circle all the same, but at i8o degrees of 

 longitude distant from his previously imagined position. His 

 time would be midnight. The sun would be 23° 30' lower 

 than before he moved — in the horizon, therefore, and in the 

 northern horizon, for the visual ray from the sun would pass 

 over the pole. 



This is another way of arriving at results which have been 

 stated elsewhere — namely, that the sun just touches the 

 northern horizon at midnight of the sunmier solstice for the 

 observer on the Arctic Circle ; and that at this latitude the 

 extreme altitude of the sun is twice 23° 30', or 47 degrees 

 above the southern horizon. 



It follows also that the Arctic Circle is, theoretically, the 

 lowest latitude at which the midnight sun can be seen. Theo- 

 retically is the word. The fact is, that as the sun is raised by 

 refraction, one can see, as the poet words it, 



"The iniflnisjlil Norwa}- sun set iiUo sunrise" 



at a latitude lower b>- more than half a degree — at Tornea, 

 for instance, at the head of the Gulf of Bothnia, latitude 

 65° 50' 8" north. 



In a paper headed "x\ \'isible Ecliptic" this matter will 

 be discussed somewhat more in detail. 



Let us not forget to notice at this point an illustration of 

 the difference between absolute time and recorded time which 

 is given by our last conception. The observer, namely, 

 passes instantly from the pole, where it is all hours of the day 

 at once, to noon or, at our will in the same instant to mid- 

 night. Our earth has no influence upon time — none whatever. 

 Its motions may be made to record time with more or less 

 correctness ; but the responsil)ility is ours. 



Our observer may cross the Frigid or the Temperate Zone 

 at what season or hour he shall see fit, l)Ut he will never find 

 a vertical sun. 



At the Tropic of Cancer, which is a boundary, he will, at 

 the June solstice, ha\'e the sun directly overhead at noon. 



