34 



NATURE 



\Nov. II, 187 



labours, I will conclude by announcing that the future 

 participation of Austria in such an enterprise has been 

 secured by the generosity of a man who has already made 

 several sacrifices in the interest of Arctic voyages." 



The Mzecenas of the new expedition alluded to but not 

 named in this announcement is understood to be Count 

 Hans Wilcz6k. 



Weyprecht's manly speech was followed by great 

 applause, and has already produced the effect of inducing 

 the Commission appointed by the German Government 

 to examine the question of expediency of a new expedi- 

 tion to the North Pole, 7iot to recommend the despatch of 

 a new expedition, but the establishment of stations of 

 observation in northern latitudes. 



The second general meeting selected Hamburg for its 

 place of assembly in 1876, and appointed the chief magis- 

 trate of the town, Burgomaster Kirchenpauer, and Dr. 

 Dantzel, to manage affairs. Prof. Behn brought before 

 the meeting the plan of a society for the assistance of 

 scientific men in reduced circumstances. 



Dr. GUnther then gave a very interesting lecture, to 

 which, unfortunately, no abridgment could do justice, on 

 the aims and results of the history of mathematics ; fol- 

 lowed by Prof Benedict on the history of crime with 

 regard to ethnology and anthropology. He touched upon 

 delicate ground, asserting that every action is based less 

 on liberty than on compulsion ; that our acts are 

 governed by natural laws and not by theological opi- 

 nions, and that punishment may act as a corrective of 

 perverted human nature, but is chiefly the outflow of the 

 desire of society to avenge wrongs inflicted upon it. The 

 best prevention of crime depends upon the increase of 

 our knowledge of those circumstances that necessarily 

 engender it. In England a speech like this would no 

 doubt have raised a storm of theological indignation. 

 In Germany the clergy is distinguished by its absence 

 from scientific meetings. The separation of natural 

 science and orthodoxy is complete, and no opposition was 

 therefore offered to these remarks. 



In the third and last general meeting two popular 

 medical lectures were given, one by Dr. Ravoth, on 

 nursing the sick ; the other by Dr. Lender, on ozone (the 

 latter gentleman having made some doubtful efforts of 

 introducing infinitesimally small doses of ozone into 

 medicine). Then Prof von Pebal rose, and declaring 

 the order of the day exhausted, thanked the members 

 for their attendance at Gratz, and proposed a vote of 

 thanks to the sovereign in whose realm they had as- 

 sembled. This proposal having been cheerfully responded 

 to, Dr. Stilling proposed and carried a cordial vote of 

 thanks to the town of Gratz, and Dr. RoUet, who pre- 

 sided at the meeting, declared the assembly closed. 



Of minor incidents may be mentioned the invitation of 

 a society in Offenburg (Black Forest) to contribute for a 

 monument to be erected to Oken in this his native town ; 

 and the distribution of several works written for the occa- 

 sion, amongst others a guide to Gratz, and a commemo- 

 rative volume published by the Medical Society of that 

 town. 



Reverting at last to a short review of the proper business 

 of the Association, its sectional meetings, the reader will 

 remark the absence at the German assembly of one of 

 the most popular sections of the British Association, viz., 

 that of engineering, while several other sections appear 

 in the German programme that are omitted in the British 

 society, notably those devoted to medicine. This review will 

 form the subject of a second article. A. Oppenheim 



THE GERMAN COMMISSION ON ARCTIC 

 EXPLORA TION 



'T^HE German Commission on Arctic Exploration, 



■*■ appointed by the Reichskanzler, and to which we 



have before referred, consists of Professors Dove and 



Neumayer, Doctors v. Richthofen and Siemens from 

 Berlin, Prof. Karsten from Kiel, Prof. Grisebach from 

 Gottingen, Prof. Zittel from Munich, Prof. Bruhns from 

 Leipzig, Prof Quenstedt from Tubingen, Director Riimker 

 from Hamburg, Professors Schimper and Winnecke from 

 Strassburg. The Commissioners have held meetings at 

 Berhn from October 4 to 13; and the result of their 

 deliberations — a long memoir on the value of the different 

 branches of science — has been delivered to the Bundes- 

 rath for further consideration. The rhume of that report 

 is contained in the following unanimously adopted con- 

 clusions : — 



" I. The exploration of the Arctic regions is of great 

 importance for all branches of science. The Commission 

 recommends for such exploration the establishment of 

 fixed observing stations. From the principal station, and 

 supported by it, are to be made exploring expeditions by 

 sea and by land. 



" 2. The Commission is of opinion that the region 

 which should be explored by organised German Arctic 

 explorers, is the great inlet to the higher Arctic regions 

 situated between the eastern shore of Greenland and the 

 western shore of Spitzbergen. 



" Considering the results of the second German Arctic 

 expedition, a principal station should be established 

 on the eastern shore of Greenland, and, at least, 

 two secondary stations, fitted out for permanent in- 

 vestigation of different scientific questions, at Jan 

 Mayen and on the western shore of Spitzbergen. 

 For certain scientific researches the principal station 

 should establish temporary stations. 

 "3. It appears very desirable,' and, so far as scientific 

 preparations are concerned, possible, to commence these 

 Arctic explorations in the year 1877. 



" 4. The Commission is convinced that an exploration 

 of the Arctic regions, based on such principles, will furnish 

 valuable results, even if limited to the region between 

 Greenland and Spitzbergen ; but it is also of opinion 

 that an exhaustive solution of the problems to be solved 

 can only be expected when the exploration is extended 

 over the whole Arctic zone, and when other countries 

 take their share in the undertaking. 



" The Commission recommends, therefore, that the 

 principles adopted for the German undertaking should be 

 communicated to the Governments of the States which 

 take interest in Arctic inquiry, in order to establish, if 

 possible, a complete circle of observing stations in the 

 Arctic zones." 



NOTES 



We take the following from the Times : — 



The award of the medals in the gift of the Roy.al Society for 

 the present year, by the Council, is as follows : — The Copley 

 Medal to Prof. A. W. Ilofmann, F.R.S., lor his numerous con- 

 tributions to the science of chemistry, and especially for his 

 researches on the derivatives of ammonia ; a Royal medal to 

 Mr. William Crookes, F.R.S., for his various chemical and 

 physical researches, more especially for his discovery of thallium, 

 his investigation of its compounds, and determination of its 

 atomic weight, and for his discovery of the repulsion referable to 

 radiation ; a Royal medal to Dr. Thomas Oldham, F. R. S. , for 

 his long and important services in the science of geology, first as 

 Professor of Geology, Trinity College, Dublin, and Director of 

 the Geological SurA'ey of Ireland, and chiefly for the great work 

 which he has long conducted as Superintendent of the Geological 

 Survey of India, in which so much progress has been made that 

 in a few years it will be possible to produce a geological map of 

 India comparable to the geological map of England executed by 

 the late Mr. Greenough — also for the series of volumes of Geo- 

 logical Reports and Memoirs, including the " Palaeontologia 



