their flesh, preserved by the cold, has been devoured by
the dogs of modern explorers.

"It is not to be supposed that the inclining of the axes of Jupiter,
Venus, the Earth, and the other planets, is now fixed; in some cases it
is known to be changing. As long ago as 1890, Major-Gen. A. W.
Drayson, of the British Army, showed, in a work entitled Untrodden
Ground in Astronomy and Geology, that, as a result of the second
rotation of the earth, the inclination of its axis was changing, it
having been 23@ 28' 23" on January 1, 1750, 23@ 27' 55.3" on January 1,
1800, and 23@ 27' 30.9" on January 1, 1850; and by calculation one
hundred and ten years ago showed that in 1900 (one hundred years ago)
it would be 23@ 27' 08.8". This natural straightening is, of course,
going on, and we are merely about to anticipate it. When this
improvement was mooted, all agreed that the EXTREMES of heat and cold
could well be spared. 'Balance those of summer against those of winter
by partially straightening the axis; reduce the inclination from
twenty-three degrees, thirty minutes, to about fifteen degrees, but let
us stop there,' many said. Before we had gone far, however, we found
it would be best to make the work complete. This will reclaim and make
productive the vast areas of Siberia and the northern part of this
continent, and will do much for the antarctic regions; but there will
still be change in temperature; a wind blowing towards the equator will
always be colder than one blowing from it, while the slight
eccentricity of the orbit will supply enough change to awaken
recollections of seasons in our eternal spring.

"The way to accomplish this is to increase the weight of the pole
leaving the sun, by increasing the amount of material there for the sun
to attract, and to lighten the pole approaching or turning towards the
sun, by removing some heavy substance from it, and putting it
preferably at the opposite pole. This shifting of ballast is most
easily accomplished, as you will readily perceive, by confining and
removing water, which is easily moved and has a considerable weight.
How we purpose to apply these aqueous brakes to check the wabbling of
the earth, by means of the attraction of the sun, you will now see.

"From Commander Fillmore, of the Arctic Shade and the Committee on
Bulkheads and Dams, I have just received the following by cable
telephone: 'The Arctic Ocean is now in condition to be pumped out in
summer an