Vol. XX, No. n 



WASHINGTON 



November, 1909 



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THE NORTH POLE 



A T a meeting of the Board of Mana- 



f\ gers of the National Geographic 

 X .^.Society, Wednesday morning, Oc- 

 tober 20, the records and observations 

 and proof of Commander Robert E. 

 Peary that he reached the pole April 6, 

 1909, were submitted to the Society. 

 The only question now to be decided by 

 the association is whether or not Com- 

 mander Peary reached the pole on this 

 •date, as claimed. 



The records and observations were 

 immediately referred to the Committee 

 •on Research, with the direction that the 

 Chairman appoint a sub-committee of 

 experts, of which he shall be a member, 

 to examine said records and report on 

 them to the Board. Mr Henry Gannett, 

 Chairman of the Committee on Re- 

 search, immediately appointed as the 

 •other members of the Committee Rear 

 Admiral Colby M. Chester, U. S. Navy, 

 and O. H. Tittmann, Superintendent of 

 the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



This Committee of the Society will 

 personally examine the note-books and 

 original observations made by Com- 

 mander Peary in his march to the pole, 

 and see all the papers as brought back 

 from the field. The Committee will re- 

 port to the Board the result of its find- 

 ings at a special meeting of the Board to 

 he called for that purpose. 



This action of the Society was taken 

 in accordance with the by-laws of the 

 Society, which provide that "The Com- 

 mittee on Research shall be charged with 

 the consideration of all matters of scien- 



tific and technical geography, including 

 exploration, which may be brought be- 

 fore the Society, or which may originate 

 in the Committee; and shall report 

 thereon to the Board of Managers, with 

 recommendations for action." 



At a meeting on October 1, the Board 

 of Managers stated that the National 

 Geographic Society could accept the per- 

 sonal statements of neither Commander 

 Peary nor Dr Cook that the pole had 

 been reached, without investigation by 

 its Committee on Research or by a scien- 

 tific body acceptable to it. 



At the same meeting Commander 

 Peary and Dr Cook were urged speedily 

 to submit their observations to a compe- 

 tent scientific commission in the United 

 States. 



At a later meeting the Board joined in 

 a request from the American Museum of 

 Natural History, New York, and the 

 American Geographical Society to Presi- 

 dent Ira Remsen that he, as the President 

 of the National Academy of Sciences, ap- 

 point a commission to pass upon the rec- 

 ords of Commander Peary and Dr Cook. 

 This plan for an early examination failed, 

 as Dr Remsen stated that he would not 

 be able to appoint said commission unless 

 authorized by his Council, which meets 

 late in November, and unless also re- 

 quested to do so by both Commander 

 Peary and Dr Cook. 



Commander Peary was willing to abide 

 by such a commission, but Dr Cook stated 

 that his observations would go first to the 

 University of Copenhagen. In view of 



