August 28, 1885.] 



SCIENCE, 



17 



for the demoralization of the brain of tlie man of 

 science, especially if it he, as it commonly is, ac- 

 companied by business anxiety. And his only way 

 of escape from a predestined break-down is through 

 the monotonous, but interesting occupation of his 

 perceptive faculties in the field, and at his office 

 table. In both he will enjoy that solitude which re- 

 sembles sleep, in being a medicine for the weary brain. 

 But it is a solitude peopled with unexceptionable 

 friends; in which care sleeps, and pleasure wakes; 

 a solitude in which the soul multiplies itself by alli- 

 ance with all the possibilities of number, and all the 

 actualities of form; a solitude from which a man 

 returns to the society of his fellow-men, sainted 

 by the blessing of nature, and equal to the duty of 

 existence. 



In conclusion, I must express the wish that this 

 meeting of our association may be as delightful and as 

 useful as any that it has ever held. Those who re- 

 member how hard we used to work at them, what a 

 harvest of mutual confidences we used to gather at 

 them, and what a glow of fresh enthusiasm we car- 

 ried away with us from them, will know what such 

 a wish implies. Those who come fresh to this meet- 

 ing will find themselves made at home in half a dozen 

 worlds of science at once. That is X\iq particular 

 character and special charm of this association, 

 wherein it differs from all local societies, and from all 

 conventions of workers in special branches of science 

 and art. And, as each meeting furnishes a panoramic 

 view of the present state of human knowledge as a 

 whole, so, at each meeting, the old and the young in 

 science are mingled in such friendly and confidential 

 intercourse, that the prospect extends both backwards 

 to the beginnings of inquiry, and forwards to its pos- 

 sible achievements. All good tradition is precious; 

 and so is well-trained current inquiry, and so is 

 sound prophetic calculation. At such a meeting as 

 this, we enjoy the rare privilege of assisting at all 

 three; and, when we scatter to our homes, we can 

 hardly fail to take with us something effectual for 

 lightening and sweetening another year of work. 



STANLEY'S KONGO. 



FouK hundred years ago, a Portuguese navi- 

 gator, sailing along the western shores of Afri- 

 ca, discovered the mouth of a mighty river, 

 which, for many years, was known as the Rio 

 Padrao, or Pillar River, flowing through the 

 kingdom of Kongo. In 1578, however, Lopez 

 described it as the Zaire — a corruption of the 

 native word for river. The Portuguese still 

 call it the Zaire ; but English map-makers, 

 since the early part of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury, have used the word Kongo as a designa- 

 tion of either the whole or a part of its lower 

 course. There is no good reason for this : 

 but, of all things, geographical names are the 



The <^Jonrjo, and the foundling of its free state. By Henry 

 M. Stanley, with illustrations and maps. 2 vols. New York, 

 f/arper, 1885. Pp. 28+528, and 10^48.3. llki.s., maps. 8°. 



least susceptible to reason ; and Kongo seems 

 destined to drive out all other appellations, 

 and to spread over the whole course of the 

 river and surrounding country. 



The early voyagers confined their explorations 

 to the mouth of the river ; and the first attempt, 

 of which we have reliable information, to pene- 

 trate inland along its banks, was made b}' an 

 Englishman, Capt. Tucke}', in 1816. Thirty- 

 white men started on this ill-fated expedition : 

 eighteen died almost immediately ; and the 

 remainder returned to England, after having 

 been on the river three months, and having 

 explored it for the comparativeh' short dis- 

 tance of one hundred and sevent^'-two miles, 

 the greater part of which was by water. This 

 terrible loss of life deterred others from pen- 

 etrating the unknown regions bv the Kongo 

 route. In 1867, however, David Livingstone, 

 travelling westwards from Lake Nyassa, found" 

 the Chambezi River, which he afterwards 

 traced to Lake Bangweolo, or Bemba. Thence, 

 under the name of Luapula, it flowed into Lake 

 Mweru, and was met with ao-ain at Nvano^we 

 as the Lualaba. Thus much Livingstone had 

 discovered before he died on the shores of 

 Lake Bangweolo. His remains were lovingl}- 

 escorted to the ocean b}- his negro servants, 

 and were interred in Westminster Al»bev with 

 befitting ceremou}'. Stanle}' — then known as 

 the correspondent of the Herald, who had 

 penetrated to Lake Tanganika in a successful 

 attempt to find Livingstone — was one of the 

 pall-bearers. Not long afterwards, he strolled 

 into the office of the London Daily telegraph. 

 While talking with some of the staflT, the edit- 

 or, Edwin Arnold, entered. The conversation 

 turned upon Livingstone and his work. Sud- 

 denly Mr. Arnold, who had been fascinated by 

 the explorer's eye, asked him if he could and 

 would complete the task. As a result of this 

 interview, Stanley reached Nyangwe in Octo- 

 ber, 1876. He followed the Lualaba to the sea, 

 and proved that the Zaire of the Portuguese, 

 the Kongo of Tucke}^ and the English map- 

 makers, and the Lualaba, Luapula, and Cham- 

 bezi of Livingstone, were one and the same river. 

 He then returned to Europe, and soon found 

 himself at the head of an expedition to open 

 the heart of the Dark Continent to the trade 

 of the civilized world via the Kongo. These 

 two volumes contain the histor}' of that work. 



The estimated leno-th of the Kongo ^ — from 

 its mouth in the Atlantic, to its source in the 

 Chibale Hills, a little to the east of the south- 

 ern end of Lake Tanganika — is 3,034 miles, 



1 The total estimated length of the Amazon is 4.000 miles: 

 of the Miississippi, 3,160; and of the Missouri-Mississippi. 4,265. 

 — cf. Impt'iial Gaxetteer, 1876. 



