THE COLLAPSE OF A COLOSSAL FALSEHOOD

It was by the University of Copenhagen that Dr. Cook himself elected to be judged; the verdict of that court of decision, thus selected by himself, must be accepted by the world as final and conclusive. The wonderful tales now put forth as to the cause of the disappearance of the original documents in the case will have no effect on the mind of the public, because that public had already become wearied with a long series of inconclusive and improbable statements heretofore made. Dr. Cook had several months in which to prepare his case and submit it in proper form to that tribunal to which he thought fit to have it referred. The result has been a total collapse of his claim, always based chiefly on his bare assertion that he had been the first to reach the North Pole. The committee of scientists to whom the University of Copenhagen submitted the claim report that what they received was, first, a narrative of the expedition, essentially the same as that printed two months ago in the New York "Herald" and prepared for the present purpose by Dr. Cook's secretary, and, secondly, what purported to be a typewritten copy of part of Dr. Cook's original note-book. This alleged copy, they say, "does not contain any original astronomical observations whatever, but only results," and the committee declare further that "the documents presented are inexcusably lacking in information which would prove that the astronomical observations therein referred to were really made; and also contain no details regarding the practical work of the expedition and the sledge journey which would enable the committee to determine their reliability." The committee's final

verdict and the verdict of the University Consistory is expressed formally in the finding of the latter: "The documents handed the University for examination do not contain observations and information which can be regarded as proof that Dr. Cook reached the North Pole on his recent expedition." Officers of the University in their individual expressions of feeling go even further.

Thus, Dr. Stromgren, Director of the Astronomical Observatory at Copenhagen and chairman of the committed on the Cook claims, is quoted as calling Cook's actions shameless, as admitting with sorrow and indignation that the Unversity had been hoaxed, and as saying that "it was an offense to submit such papers to scientific men." Rasmussen, a noted Arctic explorer who has favored Dr. Cook's claim, was called in as an expert by the University's committee; he is reported as saying: "When I saw the observations, I realized that it was a scandal. The documents which Dr. Cook sent to the University are most impudent. It is the most childish sort of attempt at cheating." Many others who have believed Cook's stories heretofore now admit that they are convinced that the claims are spurious, and that the best that can possibly be said is that Cook is unbalanced in mind or that he did not have scientific knowledge enough to know where he really did go, and that for a time at least he may have believed that he had reached the Pole. Those judges of evidence who are unable to concede even this much point out that there are many indications that Cook must have known from the first that his story would in the end collapse, and they believe that it was with this in view that he forestalled investigation in America by taking advantage of the enthusiasm naturally