PROMOTION OF ARCTIC AND ANTARCTIC DISCOVERY. 341 



We have liacl heavy losses this year from the deaths of distinguished 

 fellows, whose obituaries have appeared in the numbers of our Journal. 

 Among them were several dear friends of my own, and I can not help 

 mentioning how deeply we have all felt the loss of our late foreign 

 secretary, Gen. Sir Beauchamp Walker. 



I have to thank Captain Wharton, the hydrographer, for the account 

 which follows of the work that has been done during the year by our 

 naval marine surveyor, to whose hard work navigation and geography 

 owe so much; and Mr. C. E. D. Black for his abstract of the work of 

 the Indian surveys during the past year. 



The magnificent work prepared by a commission, under the auspices 

 of the Italian Government, as Italy's contribution toward the celebra- 

 tion of the fourth centenary of Golumbus, has just reached me. In the 

 name of the fellows of this society, I have warmly congratulated our 

 brother geographers in Italy on its appearance. A review of the great 

 Colombian work follows this address. 



