854 



SCIENCE. 



FN. S. Vol. "VII. No. 183. 



BijOa. This study shows the importance 

 of repeating much of the work of earlier 

 chemists. With the superior methods of 

 manipulation and increased knowledge of 

 to-day, much of the superstructure of the 

 theory of inorganic chemistry rests upon a 

 very insecure foundation of facts. In view 

 of the decreasing affinity in the elements of 

 the fifth group with increase of atomic 

 weight, the existence of the oxid BiO is 

 theoretically very probable, but that it 

 really exists has not been shown experi- 

 m.entally. The same authors show that in 

 an alkaline lead solution stannous chlorid 

 precipitates all the lead as metallic lead. 



J. L. H. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 THE EOYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 



The annual meeting of the Eoyal Geograph- 

 ical Society was held in London on May 23d, 

 Sir Clements Markham in the chair, and the 

 annual dinner of the Society took place in the 

 evening. At the annual meeting the medals of 

 the Society were presented to Lieutenant Peary, 

 Dr. Sven Hedin and others in accordance with 

 the award that we have already announced. 

 The President then delivered his annual ad- 

 dress, in the course of which he said, according 

 to the report in the London Times, that a very 

 sympathetic reply had been received from the 

 Prime Minister's private secretary lo the appeal 

 on behalf of a government Antarctic expedi- 

 tion. A meeting of very great interest was 

 held in the beginning of the year by the Koyal 

 Society, in which eminent authorities were 

 unanimous in insisting on the necessity of re- 

 newing Antarctic exploration, and on the dutj' 

 of the British government to take a substantial 

 share in it. A German expedition was being 

 organized on a liberal scale, and funds were 

 being collected throughout Germanj^ for the 

 purpose. Moreover there was reason to hope 

 that the Norwegian government might send out 

 an expedition also, perhaps under the leader- 

 ship of Dr. Nansen, to carry out exploration 

 mainly on land. Meanwhile the Belgian expe- 

 dition, under M. de Gerlache, had been actively 



engaged, and the expedition, liberally supported 

 by Sir George Newnes, under M. Borchgrevink, 

 was in an advanced state of preparation. After 

 a brief reference to Mr. Jackson's account of 

 the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition, to Lieu- 

 tenant Peary's labors and to those of Captain 

 Sverdrup, Colonel Fielden, Mr. Pearson, Mr. 

 Arnold Pike and Sir Martin Conway, the Presi- 

 dent said that German and Swedish expeditions 

 were in progress for Spitzbergen and Franz 

 Josef Land. Germany was setting an admirable 

 example in scientific exploration. Besides the 

 Antarctic expedition referred to, the German 

 government had made a grant of £15,000 for 

 oceanic research, especially in the Atlantic and 

 Indian oceans. In the North Atlantic much 

 good work was done under the joint coopera- 

 tion of the Swedish, Norwegian, German and 

 British governments. He hoped that during 

 the coming summer authentic and satisfactory 

 information concerning the hazardous balloon 

 expedition undertaken by M. Andr^e might be 

 received. After reference to the other papers 

 and the results of other expeditions during the 

 past year and to the most important publica- 

 tions of the year, the President briefly dealt 

 with the subject of education. 



He said that both at Oxford and Cambridge 

 geography continued to improve its position. 

 At Oxford the University bore the entire ex- 

 pense of the readership. After long and care- 

 ful consideration, the Council decided to con- 

 tinue the Society's contribution to the Cam- 

 bridge lectureship, on the understanding that 

 the University would take it over at the end of 

 five years, and that the lectureship would be 

 elevated to a readership. The reader, Mr. 

 Yule Oldham, sent a satisfactory report of the 

 work during the past year. With regard to 

 Oxford, Mr. Mackinder had given the Society 

 an account of his labors both at Oxford and at 

 Gresham College. The measures adopted by 

 the Council last year for increasing the efii- 

 ciency and extending the scope of the system of 

 instruction conducted by Mr. Coles had quite 

 fulfilled expectations. Last year (1896-97) 41 in- 

 tending travellers received instruction from Mr. 

 Coles, one of whom was granted the Society's 

 diploma. In the present year (1897-98) 65 in- 

 tending travellers had received instruction, aa 



