CONDITION OF THE FLOOR OF THE OCEAN. 325 



Paumotii and other coral-island group.s. Professor Weber is similarly 

 emploj^ed on board a Dutch man-of-war in the East Indian seas. The 

 Deutsche Seewarte at Hamburg, under the direction of Dr. Xeuma3'er, 

 continues its praiseworthy assistance and encouragement to all inves- 

 tigators of the ocean, and this year the important German deep-sea 

 expedition, in the steamship Vald/ria, arrived home after most suc- 

 cessful oceanographical explorations in the Atlantic. Indian, and great 

 Southern oceans. 



The BeJglca has returned to Europe safely with a wealth of geolog- 

 ical and biological collections and physical observations, after spending, 

 for the first time on record, a whole winter among the ice fields and 

 icebergs of the Antarctic. Mr. Borchgrevink in December last again 

 penetrated to Cape Adare, successfully landed his party at that point, 

 and is now wintering on the Antarctic continent. The expeditions of 

 Lieutenant Peary, of Professor Xathorst, of Captain Sverdrup, and 

 of the Duke of Abruzzi, which are now in progress, may be expected 

 to yield much new information about the condition of the Arctic Ocean. 

 Mr. A^'ellman has just returned from the north of Franz- Josef Land 

 with observations of considerable interest. 



Some of the scientific results obtained by the expeditions in the 

 Danish steamer IngoJf have lately been published, and these, along 

 with the results of the joint work pursued for man}' years by the Swedes, 

 Danes, and Norwegians, may ultimately have great economic value 

 from their direct bearing on fishery problems and on weather fore- 

 casting over long periods of time. 



Largely through the influence of Prof. Otto Pettersson, an interna- 

 tional conference assembled at Stockholm a few months ago for the 

 purpose of deliberating as to a programme of conjoint scientific work in 

 the North Sea and northern parts of the Atlantic, with special refer- 

 ence to the economic aspect of sea fisheries. A programme was success- 

 fulU' drawn up and an organization suggested for carrying it into 

 efl'ect. These proposals are now under the consideration of the several 

 states. The Norwegian Government has voted a large sum of money 

 for building a special vessel to conduct marine investigations of the 

 nature recommended hy this conference. It is to be hoped the other 

 North Sea powers may soon follow this excellent example. 



The various marine stations and laboratories for scientific research 

 in all parts of the world furnish each year much new knowledge con- 

 cerning the ocean. Among our own people the excellent work carried 

 on by the ^Marine Biological Association, the Irish fisheries depart- 

 ment, the Scottish fishery board, the Lancashire fisheries committee, 

 the Cape and Canadian fisheries department, is well worthy of recog- 

 nition and continued support. ^Nlr. George Murray, Mr. H. N. Dickson, 

 Professor Cleve, Prof. Otto Pettersson, Mr. Robert Irvine, and others 

 have, with the assistance of the officers of the mercantile marine, accu- 



