1884.] Treasurers Address. 439 



The subject of the International Polar Observations, which were 

 carried out during the twelve months ending with August, 1883, has 

 been touched on in recent Presidential Addresses, and in that for 1881 

 the general outline of the whole scheme was indicated. Now, however, 

 the programme then only sketched out has been more than fulfilled, 

 no less than 14 stations for observers, 12 for the Northern and 2 for 

 the Southern Hemisphere, having been organised. Of all the expedi- 

 tions, one only, that from Holland, failed to reach its destination, 

 Dickson Harbour, at the mouth of the Obi river, as it was beset by 

 ice in the Kara Sea, in the month of September, 1882. The ship 

 which carried the members of the expedition sank in the month of 

 July, 1883, but they all reached home in safety, having carried out 

 their observations as fully as lay in their power. One of the two 

 expeditions sent out by the Chief Signal Office, Washington, was not 

 so fortunate. The party under Lieutenant Greely, after spending 

 over two years at Lady Franklin Bay, Smith's Sound, was eventually 

 rescued at Cape Sabine, in July last, but not before many of its 

 members had succumbed beneath the fearful hardships of their pro- 

 tracted Arctic sojourn. 



The actual points of observation, going eastwards from Behring's 

 Straits, and the States, which sent out the expedition, are tabulated 

 below : 



Point Barrow The United States. 



Fort Bae Great Britain and Canada. 



Lady Franklin Bay The United States. 



Cumberland Sound Germany. 



Godthaab Denmark. 



Jan Mayen Austria. 



Spitzbergen-. Sweden. 



Bossekop Norway. 



Sodankyla Finland. 



NovaZembla \Russia. 



Mouth of the Lena J 



The Kara Sea Holland. 



In the Southern Hemisphere 



Cape Horn France. 



South Georgia Germany. 



At all of these stations observations were carried on for a year, and 

 at some for even a longer period. 



In the month of April last a conference was held at Vienna, to 

 decide as to the form and mode of discussion and publication of the 

 results, and it may be hoped that these will appear before the end of 

 1885. 



