May 25, 1857.] CONCLUSION. 477 



appropriately rewarded by having had conferred on them their hard- 

 earned Arctic medals; and I only regret that their noble feats 

 should not, for the honour of the nation, have been terminated by 

 one exhaustive public effort. 



My admiration of these voyagers has indeed been recently en- 

 hanced, by the ardour and sincerity with which so many of them 

 have offered their services, to continue the search after the relics 

 of the Erebus and Terror. Such men are truly worthy of any 

 distinction which their country can bestow, and all geographers 

 must agree with me in regarding the Arctic medal which they wear, 

 as an honour second to none which the Sovereign can confer. 



Conclusion. 



In bringing this discourse to a close I have now only to congra- 

 tulate my associates on the steady rise which this Society has made 

 in the estimation of the public, and on the vast accession to its 

 members in the last few years. Commencing in a striking manner 

 under the guidance of Admiral Smyth, and increasing during the 

 successive Presidencies of myself, the Earl of Ellesmere, and Admiral 

 Beechey, the augmentation has so continued, that we now nearly 

 double the number of members at which we stood during many years. 



Besides the vast augmentation of our Map Office, another dis- 

 tinctive feature in our recent progress has been the periodical publi- 

 cation of our Proceedings, which, whilst they record the doings and 

 sayings at our evening meetings, sustain the spirit of the Society, 

 and serve to keep the members, who have been unable to attend 

 our meetings, well acquainted with the passing events. 



Putting forth the substance of what is spoken as well as read, these 

 periodical reports impart vitality to our Society, and will in future 

 times be consulted with interest, as expressing the current opinions 

 of British geographers and travellers " de die in diem;" a result 

 for which we are mainly indebted to our able and zealous Secretary, 

 Dr. Norton Shaw, who, in addition to the editorship of our Journal, 

 has recently taken upon himself the whole of the editorial duties 

 connected with this new publication. 



Whilst the masses of our countrymen, it must be admitted, are 

 better pleased with the news of the day, than with scientific discus- 

 sions, many of the topics of which we treat are so popular, as well as 

 important, that an enlightened portion of the press merits our best 

 thanks for endeavouring to do justice to the promotion of those 

 geographical researches in which we are embarked. It would 

 be truly surprising if this were not so amongst Englishmen, whose 



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