432 SIR RODERICK I. MURCHISON'S ADDRESS— EUROPE. [Mat 25, 1857. 



graphical Society, and of its President tlie Grand Duke Constan- 

 tino. 



The second volume of the work descriptive of this long and labo- 

 rious enterprise has recently been published; the first part, by 

 Krusenstern, having already been made known to geographers. 

 This second volume specially relates to the * Pae-Khoe,' or Eocky 

 Mountains, and has completely satisfied the expectation of natura- 

 lists, physicists, and geologists. The historical and geological por- 

 tion by Hoffmann ; the classification and description of the fossil 

 organic remains by Count A. von Keyserling, my distinguished 

 coadjutor in earlier days; and the descriptions of the minerals 

 by Gustaf Eose ; of the animals by my colleague of the Imperial 

 Academy, Brandt, and of the flora by Euprecht, together with 

 meteorological, physical, and hypsometrical observations, are all 

 of a high order of merit. The exploring parties examined the prin- 

 cipal chain of the Ural, north of Petropaulovsk, from the sources of 

 the river Petchora up to the highest northern peak (6Si^ n. lat. and 

 66^° E. long.), which, hitherto nameless, had been termed by this ex- 

 pedition Konstantinov Kamen, in honour of their geographical presi- 

 dent, his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Constantino. West- 

 ward from this point runs another mountainous ridge, the Pae-Khoe, 

 continuing in a w.n.w. direction, and running parallel to the northern 

 coast as far as Yaigats Strait. The highest point of it is the Pue- 

 daia, and the geological structure proves that the Pae-Khoe is not, as 

 hitherto supposed, a continuation of the Ural. 



The average height of the northern Ural is about 3000 (the Toll 

 Poss " and Sablja are above 5000) feet. Patches only of snow "are 

 visible on some mountains, but no lasting covering of it is seen at 

 68° N. lat. ; although, as Leopold von Buch remarks, snow is found 

 in Norway at 67°, and at a height of 3800 feet only. The 

 volumes in which these important explorations are described, are 

 characterized by a minuteness of detail, on all branches of science 

 within the scope of the undertaking, which entitles the work to 

 rank as one of the most valuable scientific publications that Eussia 

 has ever produced. The accompanying map is of great use to 

 practical geographers, and a marked addition to the pre-existing 

 geography of Europe. 



The efforts of the Imperial Geographical Society to diffuse an 

 adequate acquaintance with our science throughout the interior of 

 Eussia have been most commendable. Thus, this body not only 

 publishes volumes and bulletins like our own, but also translates 



