18 PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



it is desired to coat, weld themselves together upon it. There 

 seems to me to be little doubt that we shall before long make 

 use of the tides and other natural forces for engineering pur- 

 poses, and already a plant of 3,000 horse-power is in course 

 of erection, the motive force of which is to be solar radiation. 

 The installation is to cost 20 per horse power, with an annual 

 expense of 30s. 



GEOGRAPHY. 



Since my last address, when I recorded the successful 

 attempt by Commander Peary to reach the North Pole, 

 fuller accounts of his expedition have been published. The 

 Pole is situated in deep sea, no sounding having been found 

 at 1,500 fathoms. A depth of over 1,260 fathoms was found 

 at 8957' and the depth thence gradually decreased, to 310 

 fathoms at 8523', after which it again increased. These are 

 the chief scientific observations made at the Pole itself, 

 though others arise from other parts of the expedition. 

 Geography proper comprises only a small portion of the 

 subjects which are included in this term in a wider sense and 

 dealt with under this heading by the British Association 

 section. I have thought it more convenient to refer to several 

 under other headings, as Geology, Anthropology, &c. The 

 unsatisfactory result of taking as a boundary line a meridian 

 which is not reliably determined, has been illustrated in the 

 case of Lake Edward and the Ruwenzori district in central 

 Africa. When this arrangement was made between England 

 and Germany it was supposed that the 30th meridian passed 

 through the centre of the Lake and gave us a fair share of it 

 and the Ruwenzori district, but more accurate observations 

 have considerably altered its position, so that had the letter 

 of the agreement been adhered to we should have lost both 

 lake and district entirely. As it is, it is only after negotiations 

 and sacrifices elsewhere that England has succeeded in obtain- 

 ing a portion of the country in question. In such cases, 

 natural boundaries are preferable. 



