Shifting of the Earth's Axis

Abstract

PERMIT me to say that it was from the diagrams in the paper by Mr. Christie which he quotes (NATURE, October 2, p. 536) that I drew the conclusions of decrease of latitude. In the fuller statement to which I referred, I had expressly said that it was from the Polaris observations that a decrease of latitude might be deduced. The question turns on whether the truest result is obtained by trusting entirely to Polaris, or by including other stars which are at greater N.P.D. and have more variation in the refraction: as the former is less dependent on the most uncertain element of reduction—refraction—I inclined to rely on it entirely. It would be remarkable if the great oceanic circulation should have a mean axis of motion so nearly coincident with that of the earth as not to produce 1/100th of a second change in the Pole during half a century; the presumption would seem against such a fixity.