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and kindred subjects, lie hoped that the Association might, in due 

 time, have the pleasure of hearing Lectures by Members much better 

 qualified to speak of them than he himself. 



He then spoke of some numerical puzzles which have come into 

 vogue during the year; more especially of the "Fifteen Puzzle," in 

 which he showed that the solution of any given position is possible 

 or impossible according as the total number of displacements is odd 

 or even ; and of the "Floral Alphabet," in which, by arranging six 

 characters or colours along two sides of a square, the combinations 

 of these, two together, may be made to denote the twenty-six letters 

 of the alphabet and the ten digits; and that thus a nosegay of 

 different colom-ed flowers, or a wi-eath of different shaped leaves, 

 might convey a very exact and definite meaning. 



He next shortly noticed some of the late attempts at " weather- 

 foretelling," in contradistinction to "weather-forecasting;" and 

 proceeded to speak, at gi-eater length, of the present state and 

 prospects of Arctic exploration, — a subject which he introduced as 

 at once nautical, geographical, and meteorological; and especially 

 meteorological; for, in the present state of meteorology, we are 

 almost at a standstill, until we know the exact conditions within the 

 unknown region, and can investigate the relation which these bear 

 to our own climate, and to the changes of wind and weather to which 

 we are subjected. 



The desire for Arctic exploration is a very old national craving, 

 and sprang suddenly into existence, when the Spaniards, after their 

 discoveiy of the "West Indies, and the Portuguese, after their 

 discovery of the passage round the Cape of Good Hope, barred the 

 way to the rest of the world. It was at once argued that the way 

 to the coast of China, across the Pole, was much shorter than that 

 round the Cape ; and that by it the Portuguese monopoly was to be 

 broken down. A series of attempts thus began, which continued 

 into the 17th century, and placed on the map those brave old names 

 such as Frobisher, Davis, Baffin, Smith, Lancaster, and others, or as 

 Barentz or Hudson on the part of the Dutch. But the civil wars of 

 the 17th century gave men something else to think of ; Arctic 

 voyaging ceased almost entirely during some 200 years ; and though 

 the traditions of it were kept alive by whalers and one or two 



