TEANSACTIONS 



OF THE 



HERTFORDSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



^ A^ Zoolooy \\ 



I. r JUL 20 1942 



ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. X^ I b K a 

 MUTUAL AID AMOJs^GST ANIMALS. 



By Pkince KropotkijST. 

 Delivered at the Annual Meeting, 2bth February, 1895, at Watford. 



Ladies and Gentlemen, — 



I feel very much the honour of having been asked by your 

 President to deliver to you — the members of the Hertfordshire 

 Natural History Society — the Anniversary Address on his behalf. 

 Perhaps, an Address on one of those subjects which are engaging 

 most the attention of the scientific -world at the present moment 

 would have been more interesting to you than one on the subject 

 I have chosen. However, the important recent discovery of the 

 new photography, which was placed before us by Professor 

 Pontgen, has been so extensively dealt with in the daily Press 

 during the six months which have elapsed since it was first 

 announced, that really very little can be added of interest to that 

 which is already known about the now famous "X rays." 



"With regard to the news that Nansen has reached the North 

 Pole and is now returning to Europe, a few words will be 

 sufficient. A report has been circulated, as you know, that on 

 the 13th of February a telegram was received at Irkutsk, 

 anticipating the Yakutsk mail, and bearing the news that Dr. 

 Nansen had been to the Pole, that he had discovered a new land, 

 and was already on his journey back. I have learned from the 

 Russian Press that the Governor-General of Siberia, having been 

 besieged on all sides for authentic information about Nansen, has 

 telegraphed to the little town of Kirensk — the terminus of the 

 telegraph-line to North Siberia — ordering a special messenger 

 to be sent to Yakutsk, to get information from there ; and as 

 soon as that special messenger returns, the Governor- General will 



VOL. IX. — PART I. 1 



