May 12, 1856.J HUMBOLDT. 69 



J'aurai I'honneur de faire hommage h la Societe de Geographic de ma publi- 

 cation : elle fera suite a celle qui a paru a Londres I'ann^e derniere, et que la 

 Socie'te' a bien voulu accueillir favorablemeiit» 



The Meeting adjourned to the 12tli of May, 



Tenth Meeting, May 12, 1856. 



Rear- Admiral F. W. BEECHEY, President, in the Chair. 



Lieut. M. F. Maury, of the United States' Navy, and Commodore 

 C. Irminger, of the Royal Danish Navy, were elected Corresponding 

 Members ; and Charles Churchill, Esq. ; Robert Ferguson, Fsq., 

 M.D. ; James Hewitt, Fsq. ; and Rear-Admiral G. F. Rich, were 

 elected Fellows. 



The discussion on Mr. Kelley's paper on the Atrato Inter-Oceanic 

 Canal, which had been adjourned at the preceding Meeting, was re- 

 opened by the reading of the following letter by the Secretary ; — 



Letter o/" Baron von Humboldt to Mr. Frederick M. Kelley. 



{Translation.) 



Berlin, 27th January, 1856, 

 It is with the most lively satisfaction that I have taken notice, during 

 your too short visit to Berlin, of the great and solid operations which 

 you have caused lo be executed since the beginning of January, 1855, 

 by Mr. William Kennish, a skilful engineer, in surveying and levelling 

 the course of the great river Atrato and its affluents from the W. 

 My learned friend Mr. Alexander Bache, superintendent of the coast 

 survey of the United States, had already drawn my attention to the 

 previous investigations which you had caused to be made ; and these 

 researches are the more deserving of regar(i in consequence of your 

 proposal to extend the investigation, with equal precision, to the 

 passage between Port Cupica and the river Napipi, as well as to 

 other points situated above the confluence of the Truando — positions 

 of great importance in the solution of the vast problem of an oceanic 

 canal. 



The great number of maps and sections on large scales, which you 

 possess, furnish all the necessary elements for judging of the possibility 

 of communication through the mouths of the Atrato, the Truando, and 

 a canal leading from the latter to the South Sea. It is owing to such 

 a complete examination not having been efl^ected of the mountainous 

 country between the Gulf of San Miguel and Caledonia Bay, that 

 Mr. Lionel Gisborne's project in 1852 has not been executed, Igno- 



