An extended and approving study of Silas Bent’s theories of the open polar sea and thermal currents, saying that previous explorers have ignored the natural paths of warm currents & that Bent’s purpose is the humane one of saving lives in fruitless attempts on the North Pole.
p. 527, Kane had read Bent & in Vol. I of Arctic Explorations, p. 309, shows his approbation of Bent’s theory.
p. 727, uses bird observations as guide to the Pole, using Noah’s dove as well as Kane citing numerous birds at 79 degrees (Vol. I. p. 289).
p. 740. Conclusion: Captain Bent’s—we speak advisedly—is the first proposition ever seriously made to the world, for a direct practical and commercial sea-lane from the North Atlantic to the North Pacific. To try it would involve less expense than any Polar expedition known to history. [It is roughly what the Jeannette attempted a few years later, at considerable expense and lives.]