298 
Proceedings of Boyal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
work and continual calls on the imagination to surmount unfore- 
seen difficulties as they arose. 
During these expeditions, which extended over three years, I 
made experiments on the direction and velocity of the great surface 
currents of the Northern Atlantic, by means of 1700 specially loaded 
floats, which were thrown overboard in three distinct regions be- 
tween Europe and America. 
The results of these expeditions are being gradually published, 
and they show that the work done in the “ Hirondelle ” will leave a 
definite mark in the history of the science. 
Zoology gains several hundreds of new species and genera spread 
over all its branches, as well as fresh knowledge about the geo- 
graphical and bathymetrical distribution of certain animals ; and 
this is due principally to the fact that I have applied systemati- 
cally all the means of research at my disposal to one and the same 
region. 
Oceanography will very shortly be enriched by a chart of the 
surface currents which I am preparing with the data furnished by 
the 224 floats which have been picked up out of the 1700 thrown 
over during my experiments. We have here a photograph on a 
reduced scale of this work which I am just finishing. 
On this subject I shall confine myself to-day to pointing out that, 
possessing exact and authentic information on the positions of 
departure and arrival of a great number of these floats, which have 
come at first directly, and sometimes in numbers at a time, towards 
certain points of the coasts of Europe, I have been able during the 
six years which have passed to follow their successive appearances 
from the north of Sweden to the Canary Islands, then their return 
towards America, and even from some already, the repetition of this 
cycle. And thanks to these data which all afford mutual support, 
I have been able to construct my chart under conditions of exacti- 
tude which make of it an experimental document worthy of complete 
confidence as regards the general direction and the mean velocity of 
the currents of the North Atlantic. But if I remind you of these 
things to-day, it is to direct your attention to the fact that many of 
the privileged of fortune might easily contribute to the civilisation 
of humanity by elevating its intellectual power, if they would bring 
themselves into touch with the great efforts of science. The vast 
