66 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ing the average temperature 9 F. above that of the east coast, 

 and rendering summer navigation certain. 5. According to Re"- 

 clus, the January isothermal of Frog Lake, where I wintered in 

 1883, twists northward until it runs through upper Greenland, so 

 that, although the winter might be longer, it would not be more 

 rigorous. The same authority concludes, from various ascertained 

 facts, that within the Arctic Circle the summer mean increases as 

 you get nearer the pole, and favors the theory of an open polar 

 sea. It is certain that the pole of greatest cold lies southwest 

 from Greenland among the western islands of the polar archi- 

 pelago. Lastly, Disco possesses coal, the most important item in 

 steam navigation. 



From a consideration of the foregoing points the situation re- 

 solves itself into a simple question of money. If the funds are 

 provided, the men are here who are both willing and qualified to 

 carry the work through, and this article has been written as an 

 appeal to both governments and individuals to come forward and 

 once for all settle the scientific questions involved in the location 

 of the north pole. Canada will bear her share undoubtedly, and, 

 what is more to the purpose, will find the men. One difficulty 

 which will beset the organizers of the expedition will be the 

 necessity of dealing with the hundreds of volunteers who, for 

 sentimental reasons, will move heaven and earth to get them- 

 selves joined to it. Most of these men will possess absolutely no 

 qualification for the work, and would prove nothing but so much 

 useless lumber. They must all be met with the same unbending 

 negation. Finding the north pole will be no summer picnic. 

 The men to accomplish it must be experienced middle-aged men, 

 whose muscles have been indurated and their minds fortified by 

 a constant acquaintance with cold, hardship, and danger, and 

 nowhere except among Canadian surveyors can you find men 

 who combine these qualities with the necessary scientific attain- 

 ments. Science knows no nationality, and in a matter of this 

 kind there should be no international jealousy. Let Anglo- 

 Saxons find the money, and those Anglo-Saxons best fitted for 

 the work will undertake it and carry it through. 



There is but one more point to be noted. The next five years 

 will be particularly favorable for arctic exploration. We are 

 now approaching a minimum sun-spot period, which experience 

 proves is coincident with a period of mild winters. The last 

 minimum was in 1888, a year of extreme heat and drought fol- 

 lowed by a winter of unusual mildness. Going back eleven years, 

 the winter of 1877-78 was so mild that wild geese remained on 

 the Georgian Bay throughout the winter, and the Collingwood 

 steamers were plying the first week in April a month earlier 

 than usual. The winter of 1882-'83, which I spent with Mr. 



