CHAPTER XII. 



QUESTION OF AN OPEN SEA BOUND THE POLES UPPER AND UNDEB 



CURRENTS OF THE OCEAN CAUSE THEREOF HABITS OP THE 

 WHALE AS BEARING ON THE QUESTION DR. KANE'S DISCOVERY 

 OF AN OPEN SEA IN THE FAR NORTH NOTES ON THE EXPEDI- 

 TION A BEAR-HUNT. 



IT was long and very naturally supposed 

 that the impenetrable ice of the arctic 

 regions extended to, and, as it were, 

 sealed up the pole. But from time to time philo- 

 sophic observers of Nature's laws began to hint 

 their opinion that there is an open ocean around the 

 pole; and of late years this opinion has all but 

 been converted into a firm belief. 



Maury remarks, that like air like the body 

 the ocean must have a system of circulation for its 

 waters. And an attentive study of the currents of 

 the sea, and a close examination of the laws which 

 govern the movements of the waters in their 

 channels of circulation through the ocean, will 

 lead us irresistibly to the conclusion that always, 

 in summer and winter, there must be, somewhere 

 within the arctic circle, a large body of open water. 



