The work is also not so nearly complete,since it will not be necessary to use the southern reservoir for storing weight for six months,or until the south pole,which is now at its maximum declination from the sun,is turned towards it and begins to move away;then,by increasing the amount of matter there,and at the same time lightening the north pole,and reversing the process every six months,we decrease the speed at which the departing pole leaves the sun and at which the approaching pole advances.
The north pole,we see,will be a somewhat more powerful lever than the south for working the globe to a straight position,but we may be sure that the latter,in connection with the former,will be able to hold up its end."[The building here fairly shook with applause,so that,had the arctic workers used the microphone,they might have heard in the enthusiastic uproar a good counterpart of their own period.]
"I only regret,"the president continued,"that when we began this work the most marvellous force yet discovered--apergy--was not sufficiently understood to be utilized,for it would have eased our labours to the point of almost eliminating them.But we have this consolation:it was in connection with our work that its applicability was discovered,so that had we and all others postponed our great undertaking on the pretext of waiting for a new force,apergy might have continued to lie dormant for centuries.With this force,obtained by simply blending negative and positive electricity with electricity of the third element or state,and charging a body sufficiently with this fluid,gravitation is nullified or partly reversed,and the earth repels the body with the same or greater power than that with which it still attracts or attracted it,so that it may be suspended or caused to move away into space.Sic itur ad astra,we may say.
With this force and everlasting spring before us,what may we not achieve?We may some day be able to visit the planets,though many may say that,since the axes of most of those we have considered are more inclined than ours,they would rather stay here.'Blessed are they that shall inherit the earth,'"he went on,turning a four-foot globe with its axis set vertically and at right angles to a yellow globe labelled "Sun";and again waxing eloquent,he added:"We are the instruments destined to bring about the accomplishment of that prophecy,for never in the history of the world has man reared so splendid a monument to his own genius as he will in straightening the axis of the planet.
"No one need henceforth be troubled by sudden change,and every man can have perpetually the climate he desires.Northern Europe will again luxuriate in a climate that favoured the elephants that roamed in northern Asia and Switzerland.To produce these animals and the food they need,it is not necessary to have great heat,but merely to prevent great cold,half the summer's sun being absorbed in melting the winter's accumulation of ice.
"When the axis has reached a point at which it inclines but about twelve degrees,it will become necessary to fill the antarctic reservoir in June and the Arctic Ocean in December,in order to check the straightening,since otherwise it might get beyond the perpendicular and swing the other way.When this motion is completely arrested,I suggest that we blow up the Aleutian Isles and enlarge Bering Strait,so as to allow what corresponds to the Atlantic Gulf Stream in the Pacific to enter the Arctic Archipelago,which I have calculated will raise the average temperature of that entire region about thirty degrees,thereby still further increasing the amount of available land.
"Ocean currents,being the result of the prevailing winds,which will be more regular than at present,can be counted upon to continue practically as they are.It may not be plain to you why the trade winds do not blow towards the equator due south and north,since the equator has much the same effect on air that a stove has in the centre of a room,causing an ascending current towards the ceiling,which moves off in straight lines in all directions on reaching it,its place being taken by cold currents moving in opposite directions along the floor.Picture to yourselves the ascending currents at the equator moving off to the poles from which they came.As they move north they are continually coming to parts of the globe having smaller circles of latitude than those they have left,and therefore not moved forward as rapidly by the earth's daily rotation as the latitudes nearer the equator.The winds consequently run ahead of the surface,and so move east of north--the earth turning towards the east--while the heavier colder surface currents,rushing towards the equator to take the place of the ascending column,coming from regions where the surface whirls comparatively slowly to those where it is rotating faster,are continually left behind,and so move southwest;while south of the equator a corresponding motion results.Though this is not the most exact explanation,it may serve to make the action clear.I will add,that if any one prefers a colder or a warmer climate than that of the place in which he lives,he need only go north or south for an hour;or,if he prefers his own latitude,he can rise a few thousand feet in the air,or descend to one of the worked-out coal-mines which are now used as sanitariums,and secure his object by a slight change of altitude.Let us speed the departure of racking changes and extremes of climate,and prepare to welcome what we believe prevails in paradise--namely,everlasting spring."Appended to the address was the report of the Government Examining Committee,which ran:"We have critically examined the Terrestrial Axis Straightening Company's figures and calculations,also its statements involving natural philosophy,physics,and astronomy,all of which we find correct,and hereby approve.
[Signed]"For the Committee:
"HENRY CHELMSFORD CORTLANDT,"Chairman."The Board of Directors having ratified the acts of its officers,and passed congratulatory resolutions,the meeting adjourned sine die.
