578 



NA TURE 



\Oci. 20, 1 88 1 



barren work of Arctic research while doing his best to fill 

 his blubber tanks. He succeeded in sailing up Welling- 

 ton Channel as far as has hitherto been done ; visited the 

 scene of the Fwy and Hecla disaster, and brought home 

 some interesting relics of the Franklin Expedition, as 

 well as some additional information. He fell in with an 

 Eskimo who remembers Crozier and his men, and from 

 whom Capt. Adams seems to have obtained some addi- 

 tional information on the fate of the disastrous expedition. 

 It cannot, however, amount to much after what has been 

 done by the late Capt. Hall, and quite recently by Lieut. 

 Schwatka ; still, Capt. Adams deserves the greatest credit 

 for attempting to increase our knowledge of the .Arctic 

 area at great risk to himself ; he is evidently made of the 

 right stuff. From the United States, we learn, an expe- 

 dition is to be sent out as early as possible to endeavour 

 to find the records of the Franklin expedition, which 

 Capt. Hall always maintained would be found in the 

 clefts of-some rocks near the scene of the disaster. The 

 results will be looked for with interest, and will at least tend 

 to the promotion of knowledge. So also will the interna- 

 tional search for the Yt\\i'i\xv'gJcanneHc, which it is rumoured 

 may be undertaken next summer. The suggestion of Baron 

 Nordenskjold, deserving as it must be of every considera- 

 tion, seems improbable; the bodies and the bottle of 

 whisky found at the mouth of the Lena on September 13, 

 1879, could hardly have belonged to X\\t Jeannette, which 

 was seen steering for Wrangel Land on September 2 — 

 i.e. 1400 or 1500 miles away. Mr. B. J. Jenkins suggests 

 that x\it Jcannctti- has been fortunate enough to get into 

 open water not far from the Pole, and may turn up next 

 year. There is no harm in hoping on to the last, as we 

 are justified in doing after the experiences of the Austro- 

 Hungarian Expedition. 



What is the conception of geography entertained by 

 our Geographical Society may be learned from the very 

 interesting sketch of its history just published by Mr. 

 Markham in connection with the jubike of its founda- 

 tion, which took place upwards of a year ago. The Geo- 

 graphical Society was founded on May 24, 1830. Its 

 original objects were " to collect, digest, and publish in- 

 teresting and useful geographical facts and discoveries ; 

 to accumulate a collection of books on geography, voyages, 

 and travels, and of maps and charts ; to keep specimens 

 of such instruments as are most serviceable to a traveller, 

 to afford assistance, instruction, and advice to explorers ; 

 and to correspond with other bodies or individuals en- 

 gaged in geographical pursuits." All highly necessary 

 and useful objects in connection with the advancement of 

 knowledge. The Geographical Society absorbed the old 

 African Association and the Palestine Club, and among 

 its founders or first officers we find the names of Murchi- 

 son, Robert Brown, Sir John Barrow, Admiral Sm>th ; and 

 in its first list of Fellows some of the leading scientific 

 men of the time. Mr. Markham complains that the 

 Royal Society did so little for the promotion of geography 

 before the Geographical Society came into existence ; but 

 it would have been beyond the functions of that Society 

 to deal with the objects referred to above, and Mr. 

 Markham admits that it really did a great deal to pro- 

 mote all that was most distinctly scientific in connection 

 •with geography. It must be admitted that the (ieouraphical 

 Society has very faithfully carried out its prouiamme. It 



soon became popular, and after it recovered from the re- 

 sults of bad management and extravagant expenditure, it I 

 rapidly increased in members and income, until now it is 

 probably the most numerous, if not the most wealthy, 

 learned society in the world. Admiral Smyth established 

 its financial prosperity, and, as every one knows. Sir 

 Roderick Murchison made it fashionable. It has now 

 upwards of 3300 Fellows, and its receipts in 1880 

 amounted to 8600/., while the Society's funded capital 

 was 18,500/., not to mention the value of its fine premises, 

 library, maps, &c., in Savile Row. Notwithstanding all 

 this material prosperity and its weakness for showing off 

 travelling lions, the Geographical Society has really done 

 much for the promotion of exploration and geography. 

 Directly or indirectly it has been connected with all the 

 expeditions of importance that have gone out from Eng- 

 land since it was founded ; it has encouraged exploration 

 by grants of money amounting in the aggregate to a con- 

 siderable sum ; it has bestowed its medals and other 

 rewards on explorers and geographers of various na- 

 tionalities, all of them men who had really earned such 

 honours ; it has been of much service in instructing ex- 

 plorers in the technicalities of their business, and recently 

 has established a sort of school for topographical ob- 

 servation ; it has accumulated a valuable library and col- 

 lection of maps, which are freely at the service of all who 

 care to use them ; and its_/?«r«a/ and Proceedings contain 

 a vast amount of information, not simply relating to geo- 

 graphical exploration, but many of the papers relate to 

 the more scientific aspects of geography. The Society 

 has itself initiated or materially supported not a few 

 expeditions of importance, one of the most productive 

 being that which Mr. Joseph Thomson recently brought 

 to so successful a conclusion. One of the most important 

 functions undertaken by the Society is the yearly exa- 

 minations in geography which it holds in connection 

 with schools ; and the papers set at these examina- 

 tions are both comprehensive and scientific ; in this 

 direction the Society is doing really good work in 

 the promotion of scientific geography. It may be re- 

 membered that the Council recently instituted an annual 

 course of lectures on the more strictly scientific depart- 

 ments of geography, by men of acknowledged eminence 

 in their subjects. Unfortunately the Council did not feel 

 themselves encouraged to continue these lectures ; but 

 we venture to think 'they were too easily discouraged. 

 Let them by all means have their fortnightly popular 

 meetings during the season ; but at the same time there is 

 nothing to hinder them having also more esoteric meetings 

 at stated intervals, at which original papers might be read 

 or lectures given of a kind akin to those found so fre- 

 quently in the proceedings of Continental geographical 

 societies. In this way the Society would do much to 

 encourage scientific geography, and be justified in claim- 

 ing the rank of a really scientific society, which many of 

 its well-wishers feel that it can. hardly claim at present. 

 Why, moreover, should the Council not at least lend their 

 countenance to the great international scheme of Polar 

 observatories, and take some steps to induce our Govern- 

 ment to take an active share in the work ? They might 

 easily do this without in any way fettering their action in 

 reference to those great Arctic expeditions to which some 

 of them appear to be so partial. 



