PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 17 



use of petrol for motors, various other substances have been 

 partly substituted for it with success. Experiments have 

 been made to test the value of dry powder fire-extinguishers 

 in putting out such fires as are likely to be caused by bombs. 

 The powders used generally contained a large proportion 

 of sodium bicarbonate, and the result arrived at was that 

 water was a much more reliable extinguisher, the powders 

 being very limited in their action. Water also wetted the 

 surrounding material and tended to prevent it from catching 

 fire. 



GEOGRAPHY. 



The President's Address in the Geographical Section of the 

 British Association was on the subject of surveying. He 

 estimated that at the present time one-seventh of the land 

 surface of the globe had been accurately surveyed, as com- 

 pared with one-thirtieth in 1860, and that only one-seventh 

 now remained entirely unsurveyed and unmapped, whereas 

 in 1860 one -half of the land world was in this state. The 

 rest is mapped, but not with accuracy. The Royal 

 Geographical Society has contributed much to this result by 

 the loan of instruments to 331 expeditions, and instruction 

 in their use, as well as by grants of money and general 

 assistance and encouragement. On April 15th, 1916, 27 

 members of Sir Ernest Shackleton's party arrived at Elephant 

 Island in Lat. 61 10' S., their ship the Endurance having 

 been crushed in the ice and sunk. As provisions were short, 

 he left in the ship's boat with 4 others to obtain help, and the 

 party were fortunately rescued on August 30th. About 

 200 miles of new coast were discovered, but the full results of 

 the expedition are not yet published. The Aurora, the other 

 ship connected with this expedition, has returned safely, 

 but with the loss of some of the members. I should like here 

 to mention that I have had the pleasure of making the 

 acquaintance of an Antarctic explorer, Lieutenant Kennedy, 

 who was attached as magnetic observer to the Australian 



