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New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 666, 20 December 1851, Page 4

[From the Sydney Morning Herald.] These annual Presidential Addresses to one of our most popular, and, to a commercial nation, most important societies, have hitherto been too little known. For a succession of years the Presidents of the Royal Geographical Society have annually given a summary of the progress of geographical science during the past year, but, owing to various causes, these excellent documents have scarcely passed beyond the bounds of the Society itself. The few numbers distributed are eagerly read and appreciated, while the public to a great extent remain in complete ignorance of their contents. The present Address is literally crammed with geographical facts, giving in a space of fiftytwo pages a most condensed statement of the progress of this science of late. The gold medals of the Society have not been presented this year to any one; but the amount has been divided in money grants between the celebrated Arabian traveller, Dr. George A. Wallin, of Finland, and Mr. Thomas Brunner, of New Zealand. The former has, by his extensive travels in portions of Arabia as yet untrodden by Europeans, at any rate partially filled up one of those chasms which may fairly be called a disgrace to geography. The latter, Mr. Brunner, is well known for his arduous exploration during no less than 550 days in the most rugged and unknown parts of the great Southern Islands of New Zealand. After mentioning the munificent bequest of all his valuable instruments to the Society by the late Mr. Sheederj. th-" ""’S" of the Nancu T)awscn va.-k* * v - -J-> - •jauui, me auuicso directs attention to the fine series of maps and charts prepared by the Topographical Corps of Vienna for the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, and so liberally presented to the Royal Geographical Society by the Austrian Government. Weighing carefully the merits of the Aneroid against its failings, the somewhat startling conclusion is arrived at, “that as the machine depends altogether on the accuracy of the experimental trials of the workman, over which you have no control, no Aneroid observations can be absolutely depended on, and, therefore, cannot be used for scientific purposes, unless a particular instrument has been tested by comparison with a barometer at three different and distant parts of the scale, before and after the observations. This corresponds with the valuable observations made by Colonel Yorke, Caplam Fitnoy, Dr. Buist, of Bombay, Liemenant Kay, R.N., at the Hobart Town Ob servatory, and others, though scarcely answenng the expectations formed respecting th lB misnomered instrument by its first introAuction to public notice at the meeting of the British Association of Science at Swansea. The coast survey of the British Isles i 8 proceedi.ng with due accuracy., The south and east coasts, under Captains Bullock, Shennd h r 9 and W j,L ians; those of Ireland, under Fraser, Church, Bedford- and R. ileechy; and those of Scotland, under Robinson, Otter, and Thomas. Captain F

Beecby, R.N., haa arrived n. ' peeled results in pursuing L n J° m . e the laws which govern the tidel Seas, and Mr. Calver has completed Nor 'h mficent chart of the Tyne £i menced another of the lliLt" 148 Bayfield, R. N., is about gigantic surveys in Canada and Indies, the coasts of n BB . ra j * . . “ e W?,, length been accurately laid “down”'? haVe « der Spratt Las been directed to survey of the coast of Candia ff eta the beautifully carri.J out by , he •» wapum ~rms, „.N. Wby C. w waa not permuted to co mp | e , c £ which be was so eminently q Ua ]j fi . ? f#r course, a secret known onlv tn h »’ the Admiralty. Thepleaofeco of forward by their lord>hip, i, ridi c „|J„ b ,'“* "■« AS »t«H, jr.iavm.aiij iliureU tO Work hO ° Graves, can again be brought tn k the coasts of Candia. In Auatrali U P ca mented Captain Owen Stanley ta?' .. e feat the expense of his valuable life vey of the southern coast of New the Louisiade Archipelago. Captain St O U R.N., has completed that of the 80m u? great island of New Zealand; and Co mander Bate is exploring the forest of in!!' lated rocks of the so-called China Sea Al though all exertions have been madeto reBC u the long absent Franklin, Captain Kellett and Commander Pullen have, at the same time added some new discoveries to our maps of the Polar Sea. While the Ordnance Survey sp pears to progress but slowly, the Geological Survey of England, under the practical Sir Henry de la Beche, has advanced. Arrow, smith has published an excellent map of Ceatral America and engraved another of the so. interesting South African colonies. A valtu able map of Borneo has been issued by the Borneo Church Mission by M. Petermann, especially modifying our hitherto conceded notions of this immense island, The bold attempt by Mr, Wyld to impart geographical knowledge to the million by the construction of his great globe is worthy of the age. The advance of geographical science in Europe is pleasing. In France, the Depot de la Guerre has published several new sbeeets of the military maps of France, and in Belgium the well-known Vander Maelen is in constant activity. The Bavarian brothers, Schlagintweit, have produced their excellent work on the physical geography of the Alps. Ritter and Berghaus in Berlin, and professor Koch, have duly forwarded their works to the Society, and General Obereit, of Dresden, has completed the third portion of ihe Atlas of Saxony. The Topographical Atlas of the King, dom of Bavaria has also been presented to the Society. In Professor Schumacher, of Allona, Denmark has lost one of her first men. In Sweden, the topographical survey, of 260 sheets, is rapidly advancing to completion, under the able guidance of General Akrell, and the continuance of Struve’s Grand Arc through Norwegian and Swedish Lapland is all but finished. The Crown Prince of Sweden has greatly distinguished himself by the beautiful maps of this country, replete with physical information, which he had prepared with his own hands and laid before the Society. In Russia, an expedition has again been sent to the Ural Mountains, and Colonel Hoffmann has published his travels in the Eastern Siberia. The Agronomical and Statistical Atlas of Russia has also been pub* lished and presented to the Society by the Baron Brunnow, with a translation of the iiiuuv vxpr6BSiy lor iiic society oyw-* 1 vVieinorsky. Io Greenland rich specimen of ores have been discovered. The interesting remarks on Asia and America we must pass over without Even Africa would have shared the M® e fate, had not the truth of the decision on the often repeated controversial disputes reaped* mg the Nile struck us with such force as W warrant recapitulation. The President s»F» that “no European traveller, from B [UC * downwards, has yet seen its true source,' nevertheless geographers in another country have decreed a gold medal for the discovery of the sources of the Nile ! For the g relt commercial geographical questions io debate between the respective merits of the Fitxroy Central American and the Whitney Nort American routes we must refer to the A * dress itself, and conclude with a hope that t e Society may long continue to be favored fflt a succession of so interesting and so esaenti* ally solid annual addresses.