xxxii Annual Report of the Council. 



self to magnetic work at the observatory which Sir John Ross 

 had started at Hobart Town, and in the next year, with the 

 assistance of King Maximilian of Bavaria, and Alexander von 

 Humboldt, he founded the Flagstaff Magnetical and Meteorolo- 

 gical Observatory at Melbourne, of which he remained Director 

 till 1864. In 1872 he was appointed Hydrographer to the 

 Imperial Navy, a post which he occupied till 1876, when he was 

 promoted to the Directorship of the Deutsche Seewarte, at 

 Hamburg, an institution the establishment of which, in 1868, 

 he had strenuously advocated. He remained at the head of this 

 observatory till his retirement in 1903, and its development to 

 its present unique position may be considered his life's work. 

 Keenly interested always in Polar exploration from the scientific 

 side, and recognising the importance of increasing our knowledge 

 of the physical and magnetic conditions at the poles, he exercised 

 his influence in promoting investigations in all parts of the 

 world, — in the international circumpolar expeditions of 1882-3, 

 in the fitting out of the German Antarctic expedition on the 

 Gauss — to mention but two of the many expeditions to which 

 lie devoted special attention. It is a pleasure to know that his 

 work has received the recognition and just reward which it 

 undoubtedly deserved. He was made a Privy Councillor of the 

 German Empire, and on his retirement was awarded the honour 

 of the ennobling title "von." The German Meteorological 

 Society unanimously elected him as its first president on its 

 foundation in 1883, and in 1899 he was president of the German 

 Association. Abroad, no less than at home, his great services 

 to meteorology were appreciated. He was elected an honorary 

 member of the Royal Meteorological Society of London in 1874, 

 and a Foreign member of the Royal Society in 1899. His 

 death will be mourned by a world-wide circle of scientific men, 

 to a very large number of whom he was known for his sterling 

 qualities, his genial urbanity, the warmth of his friendship and 

 his kindly disposition, more especially towards young men 

 entering upon a scientific career. His services to the German 

 Empire can scarcely be overestimated. During his Directorship 



