4_2 The National Geographic Magazine 



By direction of the Congress the fol- 

 lowing telegram was then sent to Presi- 

 dent Roosevelt at Oyster Bay : 



' ' The President : 



"The Eighth International Geo- 

 graphic Congress, now in session in 

 Washington, returns hearty thanks for 

 your welcome, presented in the speech 

 by your representative, Dr Walcott." 



The telegram was signed by Com- 

 mander Peary as President and Mr Henry 

 Gannett as Secretary of the Congress. 



M. Henri Cordier, President of the 

 Societe de Geographie of Paris, delegate 

 of the French government, responded to 

 the addresses of welcome on behalf of 

 the government representatives. Prof. 

 Albrecht Penck, of Vienna, responded on 

 behalf of the geographical institutions, 

 and Dr Yule Oldham, of England, on 

 behalf of the geographical societies. 

 President Peary then delivered his ad- 

 dress as president, printed in the earlier 

 pages of this magazine. 



The report of the executive committee 

 of the Seventh International Congress, 

 transmitted by Baron Richthofen, presi- 

 dent of that congress, was presented by 

 Prof. Oberhummer of the University of 

 Vienna. Baron Richthofen expressed in 

 a letter his disappointment at not being 

 able to attend the Eighth Congress. 



Commander Peary next presented the 

 Swiss Minister, who in turn introduced 

 Prof, de Claparede, President of the 

 Geographical Society of Geneva and the 

 delegate of the Swiss government. On 

 behalf of his government, Prof, de 

 Claparede extended to the Congress a 

 most cordial invitation to hold its ninth 

 session in Geneva in 1908, that year 

 being the fiftieth anniversary of the 

 founding of the Geographical Society 

 of Geneva. 



Prof. Bela Erodi, of Budapest, repre- 

 sentative of the Hungarian government, 

 was introduced, and extended an invi- 

 tation in behalf of his government and 

 the Royal Geographic Society of Hun- 



gary to hold the Ninth Congress in 

 Budapest. 



It is impossible in this limited space 

 to enumerate the 250 scientific papers 

 presented at the various sessions of the 

 Congress. Several of them are pub- 

 lished in this number, and also abstracts 

 of a number of others. Additional pa- 

 pers and abstracts will be published in 

 succeeding numbers of this Magazine. 



The social sessions of the Congress in 

 Washington included an informal re- 

 ception at the home of the National 

 Geographic Society Wednesday even- 

 ing, September 7 ; a reception at the 

 U. S. Naval Observatory by the Secre- 

 tary of the Navy and Admiral and Mrs 

 Chester (see page 411) Thursday even- 

 ing ; a reception at ' ' Twin Oaks ' ' by 

 Mrs Gardiner Greene Hubbard Friday 

 afternoon, and a lecture Friday evening 

 by Charles M. Pepper on "The Boliv- 

 ian Andes " ; a reception by Commander 

 and Mrs Peary Saturday evening, and 

 on Sunday a trip down the Potomac as 

 guests of the National Geographic So- 

 ciety on special steamers to Mount Ver- 

 non, which, through the courtesy of the 

 directors of the Mount Vernon Associ- 

 ation, was specially opened on Sunday 

 for the Congress. 



Sunday evening, September 11, the 

 Congress took a special train to Phila- 

 delphia, where they were welcomed by 

 the Geographical Society of Philadel- 

 phia and handsomely entertained dur- 

 ing Monday. In the morning Inde- 

 pendence Hall and the Commercial 

 Museum were visited. A luncheon was 

 tendered the Congress at Houston Hall 

 by the University of Pennsylvania, after 

 which they were driven in tallyhos 

 through the magnificent Fairmount 

 Park and Wissahickon Drive, being 

 personally conducted by President Bry- 

 ant, Dr Angelo Heilprin, Dr Talcott 

 Williams, and members of the Phila- 

 delphia Society. In the evening the 

 Geographical Society of Philadelphia 

 gave a dinner to the Congress at the 



