THE OPEN POLAR SEA. 
f. ~ 
The mostl T r"f IONAL i1itel mQencbe. 
venturers to the Pda* 1 Phen ° menoQ revealed by the ad- 
§ 2 degrees north l : 7^ is the “ °P e * -a” beyond 
eiers, gri zz ! v hp ‘ 1 ^ e - Stupendous icebergs and gla- 
ter and Zler 7 ^ charac- 
°pen sea transcends°th “ 7°™ regi ° ns ; but an 
entirely onZ T 1 m the ^Uous, and seems 
discovered b v f! m C0m high ktitudee - it was 
been confirmed by Dr KaT 0 ?^ ^ 6xi9tence has 
controversy. 7 * d hia com P ani ons beyond 
how arTwft, ° P ™ “ ‘° ™ 8t - as Ascribed, 
encountered ^ T°T, ** ,tl A1 > “• explorers h.™ 
“from Tree 1 ,?"' J “ ra0St lm P a esable barriers of ice, 
hundred “T " 'ey mountains” to within some four 
\ “‘‘l 8 ° f the PoI ° ! a "J from that point, looking 
““ ° PCD Sea “ ** - ‘he eye 
cover' • .1 T llS 19 tbe most surprising of all the dis- 
70 and^O 11 r, V °- JageS - Why 6h0U,d the «ue between 
70 and 80 north lat.tnde be packed with ice, and the area 
beyond 80 and up to the Pole present an open sea free of 
•ce . lh.3 is the question ; and it seems to be one of the 
most curious problems presented to mankind. 
The question of a northwest passage to China having 
been settled by McClure and others, and Sir John Frank¬ 
lin being dead, and Dr. Kane and his companions having 
returned, there seems to be no pretext left for another 
such voyage, unless young ambition should kindle with 
the rash idea of exploring this open sea. Once on its 
billow, it would seem to be all plain sailing. The difficulty 
is to transport vessels over the intervening glaciers. But 
even if Dr. Kane, while looking over this sea, could have 
conjured up a sea-worthy ship by magic, and sailed 
straight up to the Pole and safe back, he might have re¬ 
turned without being able to account for its existence. 
In the absence of satisfactory facts to account for the 
phenomenon, let us imagine a theory. The earth is flat¬ 
ted at the poles. If this is caused by the-centrifugal 
tendencies of its matter, this centrifugal action tends 
constantly to elevate the waters on the equator, and pos¬ 
sibly to such an extent as to require a corresponding out¬ 
let through some channel hitherto unknown. May it not 
be possible for the unfathomable depths of the ocean 
thus accumulated on the equatorial regions, to force a 
submarine communication with the Polar regions and 
the passage outward of a volume of tepid water suffiuient 
to maintain forever “an open sea,” from the Pole for 
enough down southward to repel the icebergs to a respect¬ 
ful distance towards the south ? With this suggestion I 
turn the matter over to Mr. Maury, who is infinitely bet¬ 
ter qualified to treat it. j rp ^ 
