August 8, 1895] 



NATURE 



jo' 



iliat the Executive Committee of the Congress be charged with 

 the duty of carr)ing on its work, and be authorised to 

 co-opt for this purpose scientific men representing various 

 lountries. 



Supjjort was given to the ])roposal for fiirther international sur- 

 veys in the North Atlantic, the North Sea, and the Baltic, by the 

 ^idoption of a resolution, drawn up by a special Committee — 

 " That the Congress recognises the scientific and economic im- 

 portance of the results of recent research in the Haltic, the North 

 Sea, and the North Atlantic, especially with regard to fishing 

 interests, and records its opinion that the survey of these areas 

 -hould be continued and extended by the co-operation of the 

 different nationalities concerned on the lines of the scheme pre- 

 -ented to the Congress by Prof. Pettersson." 



The recommendation of the I'xiucalion Committee was adopted, 

 to the effect that — "'The attention otthis International Congress 

 having been drawn by the British members to the educational 

 ("fforts being made by the British (ieographical Societies, the 

 I "ongress desires to express its hearty sympathy with such efforts, 

 .md to jjlace on record its ojiinion that in every country ]iro- 

 \ ision should be made for higher education in geography, either 

 in the universities or otherwise." 



Other resolutions were also carried, expressing the approval 

 if the principle of Stale printed registration of literature, as 

 the true foundation of national and international bibliography, 

 urging the need of some agreement as to the writing of place- 

 names, and acknowledging the scientific necessity of an 

 international system of stations for the observation of 

 rarthquakes. 



Besides the above, a number of resolutions were adopted in 

 the course of the daily deliberations, of which the following 

 i~, perhaps, the most important of all the decisions of the 

 Congress. 



The resolution refers to the Exploration of the Antarctic re- 

 '„'ions, concerning which the Congress recorded its opinion that 

 ibis is the greatest piece of geographical exploration still to be un- 

 dertaken, and in view of the additions to knowledge in almost 

 '■very branch of science which would result from such a scientific 

 I- xploration, the Congress recommended that the several scientific 

 ~icieties throughout the world should urge in whatever way 

 -eemed to them most effective, that this work shall be under- 

 taken before the close of the century. 



The following is a summary of the proceedings ot the Congress 

 during the week. Previous meetings were reported in our last 

 i~sue. 



The general session on Monday {July 29) opened with a jiaper 

 "U .\nlarctic Exploration by (leheimrath Prof. Dr. (1. Neumayer, 

 md a discussion followed, in which the President, Sir Joseph 

 Hooker — the only survivor of .Sir James Clark Ross's Antarctic 

 Expedition of 1843 — Dr. John Murray, Sir ( ieorgc Baden- 

 Po\\eil, Mr. Arundell, M. tie Lapparcnt, Cleneral Greely, and 

 Prof. Ciuido Cora took part ; and a committee was ap|X)inted to 

 draft the resolution already (pioted. The Congress then turned 

 its .attention to the Arctic regions, papers being presented by 

 Admiral A. H. Markham, (leneral (Ireely, Herr S. A. Andree, 

 and M. E. Payart. Herr Andree's project for reaching the 

 North Pole by means of balloons was somewhat severely criti- 

 cise<l, but the author was confident of being able to meet all the 

 difficulties suggested, and announceil that he had already obtained 

 the funds necessary for his expedition. A paper on Russian 

 researches on a sea route to .Siberia «as afterwards reail by 

 l.ieut. -Colonel de Shokalsky. 



In the afternoon. General Anncnkofi'and Mr. J. \'. Buchanan 

 presided over Section B, which dealt with jiapers relating to 

 ]ihysical geography. M. le Comte de Bizemont presented a 

 paper by M. G. l.ennier on the modifications of the coasts of 

 Normandy, and Prince Roland Bona])arte gave an account of 

 researches on the periodic variations in Erench glaciers. After 

 these were discussed, papers on the decimal division of time and 

 angles, on the centesimal division of the right angle, on standard 

 time, and on a system of syndrolic hour zones, were read by .\I. 

 le Dr. J. de Key Pailhade, M. Louis labry (presented by .M. 

 Jacijues Leotard), M. Bciulhillier de Beaumont (presented by M. 

 le Comte de Bizemont), ;ind I'rof. d'ltalo Erassi, and a further 

 discussion followed. 



Section C, presided over by M. le Colonel Bassot ami Colonel 

 Sir lleniy Thuillier, concerned itself with geodesy, and im- 

 portant papers were read on the geodetic operations of the 

 Indian Survey, by General J. T. Walker, C B.,F.R.S., late 

 Surveyor-General of India: the desirability oi a geodetic con- 



NO. 1345, VOL. 53] 



nection between the surveys of Russia and India, by Colonel 

 T. H. Iloldich, C.B. (read by Colonel Sir John Ardagh) ; the 

 general levelling of France, by M. Charles Lallemand, Directeur 

 du Service <lu nivellement general ; the rise and i>rogress of 

 cartography in the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, by A. 

 de Smidt, late .Surveyor-! General of that colony ; and on the 

 geodetic survey ol South Africa, by Dr. David Ciill, F. K..S. , 

 .\stronomer-General for Cape of Good Hope (coinmunicated by 

 Mr. A. de Smidt). 



In the course of discussion the need of surveys of the Nile 

 \'alley in connection with the South African triangulation was 

 emphasised. 



On Tuesday, July 30, the general meeting was chiefly occupied 

 with reports, and the discussion of resolutions already referre<l 

 to. Section B was devoted to oceanography, under the jire- 

 sidency of Dr. John Murray. Mr. J. \ . Buchanan gave a 

 retrospect of oceanography during the last twenty years, and read 

 a iiaper, by the Prince of Monaco, on the work of the yacht 

 Pfiitit'ss Aiice. A i)aper on ocean currents and the methods of 

 their observation, by Captain \. S. Thomson, was laid on the 

 table ; and Prof. W. Libbey, of Princeton, gave an account of 

 some valuable researches on the relations of the Gulf Stream and 

 the Labrador current. Prof. Libbcy's investigations have 

 afforded some remarkaljlc results bearing on the migrations of 

 fish on the eastern seaboard of the United Slates, and they form 

 an interesting contribution to the study of certain problems in 

 marine zoology. A paper by Prof. J. Thoulet, suggesting thai 

 geographical societies in towns situated near the coast should 

 interest themselves in the oceanography of neighbouring seas, was 

 laid on the talile. 



Section C, presided over by Prof. H. Cordier and Prof. J. J. 

 Rein, discussed geographical orthography and definitions. 

 Papers were read on the orthography of place-names by Mr. 

 G. G. Chisholm ; on geographical place-names in Europe and 

 the East, by Dr. James Burgess; and on the transliteration and 

 pronunciation of place-names, by Dr. Cduseppe Ricchieri. 



Popular interest in the Congress probably reached its highest 

 point at the general meeting on Wednesday (July 31 ), when the 

 proceedings related exclusively to Africa and its development. 

 Sir John Kirk read a paper on the suitability of tropical Africa 

 for devekjpment by white races or under their superintendence, 

 dealing with the possibilities of colonisation proper, the estab- 

 lishment of European settlements in places permitting of tem- 

 porary residence, and the means whereby the native races maj- 

 themselves be taught to aid in the development of the country. 

 Count von Pfcil laid down the conditions of success in colonising 

 tropical .Africa, which he said were chiefly a thorough knowledge 

 of the character of the country it was proposed to colonise, of tro- 

 pical hygiene, and of the art of making the native take an active 

 share in the work. Mr. Silva While's paper dealt with the problem 

 from various points of view, the author concluding that tropical 

 .Vfrica is on the whole unsuitable for Euri>pean colonisation, and 

 that it is capalile of only a limited degree of development as 

 com])ared with other and still undeveloped regions of the world. 

 Mr. H. M. Stanley, Mr. E. G. Ravenstein, M. Lionel Decle, 

 and Slatin Pasha also presented communications to the meeting, 

 and a discussion followed. ( '.encral Chapman read a paper on 

 the mapping of Africa, and a proposal w-as referred to a com- 

 mittee whose rejiort includes the resolution given above. A 

 pajier on a crestographic map of Africa was read by Mr. Silva 

 White, and another by M. Victor deTernant. on Erench Africa, 

 was laid on the table. 



Only one of the sections met (Sectiim C). The Presidents 

 were Dr. A. Grcgoriev and Prof. Libbey. Oceanographical 

 papers were communicated by Prof. Otto Pettersson and Mr. II. 

 N. Dickson, dealing with recent research in the North Sea. 

 Prof. Pettersson submitted a scheme for an extension of the same 

 work, and a committee was appointed to draw up the resolution 

 afterwards adopted by the Congress. A jxiper on limnology 

 as a branch of geography was then read Ijy Prof. I-orel, ami 

 after remarks by I'rof. .\nuchin. Prof. Halbfass, Prof. Penck, 

 Prof. Libbey, and M. de Krapotkine, Dr. II. R. .Mill asked that 

 his paper on "Limnology in the British Islands"' be held as 

 read. Scnor F. .\. Pezet gave an account of the counter-current 

 " i;i Nino'' on the coast of Northern Peru. 



The general meeting of Thursday (August I) opened with a 

 return to the subject of Antarctic exploration. Mr. C. E. 

 Borchgre\ink, who had been unable to reach London in 

 time for the meeting on Monday, read a |)aper on his 

 voyage in the Aiilarclii to N'icloria I..and. Prof. C. M. 



