vr u 



2 PEiNCE KEOPOTKrN" — aint^'ive:rsaiiy addeess: 



commimicate all information to the Geographical Society at 

 St. Petersburg, whence the information will then be sent to 

 London. In the meantime, only conjectures can be made as to the 

 probability of the news. Perhaps I am a little prejudiced in favour 

 of the route which has been taken by Nansen. It is now known 

 that Nansen did not go so far east as he at first expected, and 

 it is believed that, having entered the Kara Sea, he very probably 

 pushed north-eastwards. This route is the one which we advocated 

 in Russia for an Arctic expedition, when it was going to be sent 

 out in 1871, and which I intended to join, but failed to do so 

 because the low state of the Russian finances prevented the 

 expedition from being sent out at all. Our idea was that if we 

 pushed northwards, but west of Nova Zembla, we should soon 

 find land, and that that would stop our advance ; and as a matter 

 of fact, this land was discovered the following year by the Austrian 

 expedition. But we thought that if we went north-east of Nova 

 Zembla we should have all the advantage of the warm current, 

 and might penetrate further north than in any other direction. 

 It is believed by most geographers, including the President of the 

 Geographical Society of London, that Nansen really took that 

 route; and in such case he probably went to the 82nd or the 

 83rd degree of latitude, and found an archipelago of land there. 

 Whether he has or has not reached the North Pole, he is the man 

 of all others in the world who is best entitled to the honour of 

 reaching it. All that we can now do is to wait in the expectation 

 that the special messenger of the Governor-General of Siberia will 

 return with the information that the Yakutsk mail has brought 

 satisfactory news from Nansen. 



I will now proceed with the subject of my address — "Mutual 

 Aid amongst Animals." 



If we look at Nature, not as it appears in books, but as it is in 

 reality, we shall at once perceive that there are two sets of facts 

 characteristic of the life of animals. One is that some species live 

 upon others, in many instances continually fighting with the species 

 which they make their food ; and the other is, that amongst most 

 species there is a great deal of mutual support — of life in societies, 

 in which they aid each other in the struggle against the difficulties 

 of natural conditions. 



Now the qiiestion arises : " Which of these two sets of relations 

 between animals is the more important for the continuance of their 

 existence, evolution, and progressive development? " For the last 

 thirty-five years a great deal of importance has been attached 



