N'ov. II, 1875] 



NATURE 



Z2, 



chief contents of the opening address delivered by Prof. 

 Rollett, and of the welcome tendered by Dr. Kienzel, the 

 chief magistrate of the town. The Government was 

 represented by the lord-lieutenant of the province and by 

 an under-secretary of the Board of Agriculture, while the 

 Minister of Public Instruction welcomed the meeting in 

 a letter excusing his absence. The Emperor Francis 

 Joseph had contributed largely to the costs of the meet- 

 ing. But this did not prevent his Government from interfer- 

 ing with the hoisting of the flags of Germany, which were 

 destined to greet the visitors on their entrance into the town. 

 It would naturally be supposed that the sympathy evinced 

 by the town of Gratz would have been responded to by 

 large numbers of German visitors. In this respect, how- 

 ever, the meeting was destined to be a disappointment, 

 without any very prominent reason to account for it. 

 Most likely a good many reasons contributed to this 

 result : such as the distance of the place of meeting from 

 the centre of Germany, the bad aspect of monetary 

 matters, the day chosen for the assembly, which, lying in 

 the middle of the summer vacation, prevents visitors from 

 taking journeys into distant countries. Again, some of 

 the branches represented in the Association have com- 

 menced to hold separate meetings : the geologists, the 

 astronomers, the societies for the improvement of public 

 health, for ophthalmotology, psychiatrics, and surgery, hold 

 separate annual meetings independent of the Association 

 of Natural Philosophers and Physicians. Lastly, certain 

 events that have lately taken place in Austria seem to 

 have deterred German members of the Association from 

 visiting the Austrian Empire. It will be remembered that 

 some of the most prominent German professors of the 

 University of Praghave been all but forced to leave their 

 posts, and that the vacillating policy of the Austrian 

 Government wshes at present to reconcile the Slavian 

 population by excluding as much as possible German 

 intiuence from Austrian Universities. 



The number of visitors at the meeting of Gratz was 

 715 members, 1,567 associates, and 1,700 lady associates. 

 Of the 2,282 male visitors, 1,705 belonged to Austria 

 (1,141 being residents of Gratz), and 546 to the German 

 Empire ; 114 of the latter being residents of Silesia, the 

 nearest German province. Seventeen Russians, four 

 Swiss, three Turks, two Swedes, two Roumanians, and 

 one visitor from England, one from Italy, and one from 

 America make up the total. It will be seen that this 

 number corresponds very nearly with the average number 

 of attendants at the British Association. 



This, of course, is a merely fortuitous resemblance. 

 But many other points indicate that the British Associa- 

 tion has been modelled from the German pattern. Both 

 Associations are convened for the same number of days ; 

 both hold the same number of general and sectional 

 meetings ; they resemble each other in the nature of the 

 recreations offered to visitors : excursions, dinners, con- 

 certs, to which in Germany (and Austria) are added balls 

 and theatrical performances, while England has the 

 private hospitality of its nobles and rich manufacturers 

 and merchants to offer, which do not enter into the 

 German programme or certainly do not appear in it to the 

 same extent. A festivity of a peculiar character in addi- 

 tion to those named was offered by the municipality of 

 Gratz : an illumination by bonfires of the mountains 

 surrounding the town, a sight of most impressive beauty. 

 Generally speaking there are no evening meetings in 

 Germany, and the festivals being of a public nature (not 

 depending upon private hospitality), the connection 

 between the visitors is greater than it is at the British 

 meetings. A peculiarity of the Gennan meetings is the 

 absence of a president ; two charges d'affaires {Geschdfis- 

 fiihrer) being nominated to conduct the business of the 

 Association, one a natural philosopher, one a physician. 

 Professors Rollet and L. von Pebal occupied these posi- 

 tions in Gratz. The sections nominate new presidents 



for each of their daily meetings. A consequence of this 

 arrangement is a certain want of formality. No retro- 

 spective introductions are offered at the opening of the 

 sectional meetings, no criticisms of the work of fellow- 

 workers by more or less competent critics, no sweeping 

 remarks on the state of science in general, which happen 

 to be the more disparaging the less the critic himself is 

 actually engaged in contributing to the advancement of 

 the branch of science he is discussing. 



In two respects the British Association has an indis- 

 putable advantage over the German meetings. Those 

 splendidly illustrated evening lectures addressed to the 

 general public, which form one of the attractions of the 

 meetings in the United^ Kingdom, are not offered in 

 Germany. 



Again, the funds of the German Association are small ; 

 they are spent for the purposes of each meeting, and no 

 money can be given in grants for scientific purposes as is 

 done in Great Britain. There are therefore no general 

 and no sectional committees in Germany. On the other 

 hand, the German Association offers the advantage of a 

 speedy publication of its transactions. Instead of pub- 

 lishing an annual volume long after the close of the 

 meetings, the German Association offers a daily paper 

 ( Tageblatt) giving the proceedings in a more or less con- 

 densed form according to the notes given by members to 

 the general or the sectional secretaries. Generally some 

 supplementary numbers are issued, completing the report 

 within one month after the conclusion of the meeting. 



The papers read at the general meetings are mostly 

 given in full. At the first general meeting at Gratz, after 

 the opening ceremony already alluded to, the Arctic ex- 

 plorer, Lieut. \Ve>-precht, gave a most interesting review 

 of Arctic explorations, and at the same time a curious and 

 stirring piece of self-criticism.* Amongst the most charac- 

 teristic passages are the following : — 



" Originally it was the wish for material gain, in the shape 

 of fur and fish-oil, that prompted Arctic exploration. Later 

 on this cause was replaced by the ambition of geogra- 

 phical discoveries such as are easily understood by the 

 general public. The running after this sort of fame 

 gradually assumed such proportions that Arctic explora- 

 tion became a sort of international steeplechase towards 

 the North Pole, a system opposed to true scientific disco- 

 veries. Topographical geography must be subordinated 

 in Arctic regions to physical geography. Geographical 

 discovery derives its value only from scientific discoveries 

 connected with it. The exploration of the great and 

 unknown latitudes near the poles of our globe must be 

 continued without regard to the expenditure of money and 

 of life which it demands. But its ulterior aim must lie 

 higher than the mere sketching and christening in diffe- 

 rent languages of islands, bays, and promontories buried 

 in ice, and the mere reaching of higher latitudes than 

 those reached by our predecessors. One reason of the 

 indifferent results of previous expeditions is that they have 

 been unconnected with each other. The progress of 

 meteorology consists in comparison, and every success 

 it has obtained, such as the laws of storms, the theory of 

 winds, &c., is the result of simultaneous observations. 

 The aim of future Arctic explorers must be to make simul- 

 taneous observations, extending over the period of a 

 whole year, with identical instruments and according to 

 identical rules. In the first place, they will have to con- 

 sider natural philosophy and meteorolog>', botany, zoolog)', 

 and geology-, and only in the second place the discovery of 

 geographical details. I do not intend in what I said to 

 depreciate the merits of my Arctic predecessors, whose 

 sacrifices few can appreciate better than I do. In giving 

 utterance for the first time to these opinions, which I have 

 taken time in forming, I complain against myself, and I 

 condemn the greater part of the results of my own arduous 



* Some of the cliief points in this address we gave in Natl-re, vol. xii. 

 P- 539- 



