From The Press, 19 Nov. THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. THERE was a large attendance at the Geographical Society on Monday evening, and the discussion took place mainly on the recent discoveries in the Arctic regions.

quires such long training that no European has ever yet succeeded in acquiring it. My two Greenland Esquimaux tried various methods at Bellot Strait, yet did not succeed; and without dogs trained to scent out the small breathing holes of the seals through the ice, Sir Roderick I. Murchison took the chair. and through the snow which overlays the ice, Captain M'Clintock, R.N. (who was very I do not think even the Boothian Esquimaux heartily greeted), then read a paper upon the could live. It requires not only that a man discoveries made by the late expedition in should possess a trained dog, but that he search of Sir John Franklin. This paper himself should be well trained in the only described the voyage of the Fox, and the successful mode of seal hunting, in order to various incidents of the search, which have subsist in this locality. It is, therefore, evialready been published in the Admiralty de- dently an error to suppose that where an Es spatches, in the newspapers, and in other quimaux can live a civilized man can live also. forms. The paper was illustrated and ex- Esquimaux habits are so entirely different plained by diagrams and drawings prepared from those of all other people, that I believe by Capt. R. Collinson, R.N., and Mr. P. Snow, there is no instance on record of either a showing the route taken by the expedition, white man or an Indian becoming domestithe more interesting points in which were cated amongst them, or acquiring tolerable pointed out by Capt. Collinson, R.N., as they expertness in the management of a kayak. were referred to by Capt. M'Clintock. A With regard to the probability of procuring model of the Fox was exhibited on the table, the means of subsistence independently of the as was also the original record of the unfor- Esquimaux, I will just state what was shot by tunate Franklin expedition found in the cairn my own sledge party-and we never lost a at King William's Land, and numerous plans chance of shooting any thing-during the and maps. At the conclusion of his paper journey along the lands in question, that ocCaptain M'Clintock said:"There are two cupied us for seventy-nine days, and covered important questions which have been so fre- nearly one thousand geographical miles of quently put to me that I gladly take this op- distance. The sum total amounted to two portunity to offer some explanation upon so reindeer, one hare, seventeen willow grouse, deeply interesting a subject. The first ques- and three gulls. The second question istion is-whether some of the one hundred Why have the remains of so few of our lost and five survivors may not be living among countrymen been found? It is, indeed, true the Esquimaux? The various families, or that only three of the one hundred and five communities, of Esquimaux met with by Rae, were discovered, but we must bear in mind Anderson, and myself, at different times and that from the time they left the ship they places, all agree in saying 'No; they all died.' were dragging sledges and boats, and thereBut let us examine for ourselves. The west-fore they must have travelled almost conern shore of King William Island, along which stantly upon the ice-not upon the land; they were compelled to travel for two-thirds of their route, is uninhabited, and all that is known to us of the mouth of the Back River is derived from the journeys of Back, Simpson, Anderson, and myself. None of us have met natives there, consequently it is fair to conclude that the Esquimaux but seldom resort to so inhospitable a locality. Even much more favored shores in this vicinity are but very thinly sprinkled with inhabitants, and their whole time is occupied in providing a scanty subsistence for themselves. In fact, their life is spent in a struggle for existence, and depends mainly upon their skill in taking seals during the winter-a matter which re

consequently all traces or remains there vanished with the summer thaw of 1848. There is no doubt that many relics still remain strewed along the uninhabited shore of King William Island, beneath the snow; but as it was most carefully examined three times over, I cannot think that any conspicuous object, such as would be put up to indicate where records were deposited, could possibly have escaped us. The summer at Port Kennedy proved a warm one, yet the ice did not permit us to move until the 9th of August, and the object of the expedition having been attained, we commenced our homeward voyage. On the 21st September I arrived in London,

having landed at Portsmouth, and on the 23d | the dock gates at Blackwall closed behind the Fox."

The chairman expressed his warm congratulations on the results of the expedition both in a geographical point of view and with reference to the discovery of the fate of Franklin. Capt. M'Clintock had not given half credit enough to the real merits of an expedition the results of which were glorious in a geographical point of view, for they had proved the navigability of the Bellot Straits, and, for the first time had pointed out the north-west point of the American continent. With regard to the difficulties-had they not heard that the little vessel, of only one hundred and seventy tons, in which Capt. M'Clintock went out-the Fox-after having in the first year almost made the passage across Baffin's Bay, was set fast in the winter ice, and drifted back again one thousand two hundred miles into the Atlantic? Would not that have discouraged any other man from proceeding? But, to use a military phrase, he returned to the charge, and see what he had effected-how he had made these important discoveries, and revealed for the first time the fate of Franklin and his associates. One thing he would add before sitting down, that was that there could be no doubt now that Franklin went further north in a ship than any other European had ever reached.

Sir E. Belcher believed that Sir John Franklin went up Wellington Channel as far as Crescent Island.

Captain Collinson referred in terms of warm eulogy to the energy and devotion of Lady Franklin, and remarked that it was due to Franklin to acknowledge, that what Columbus began Franklin completed; viz., the discovery of the American continent.

Captain S. Osborn expressed a conviction that the search after the Franklin expedition was now closed, and that it was perfectly useless to pursue it further. After perusing the journal which had been found, he was convinced that whatever track the missing men of the crews of the Erebus and Terror took, they had perished at Beechey Island, beyond which no trace of them had been found.

Captain Hobson, who was warmly received, gave some account of the manner in which the records of the Franklin expedition as detailed in his despatches had been discovered.

Captain Snow, of the mercantile marine, said a few words, in which he differed in some respects from the gallant officers who had preceded him. On behalf of the one hundred and five men yet unaccounted for, he urged that the search should be renewed until some more positive information of their fate was obtained. There was certainly no sufficient evidence that they had perished. He believed yet that records would be found at Cape Walker, believing that the expedition had gone in pursuance of the instructions of Sir J. Franklin to proceed to the south-west. He was prepared to go through the whole of the evidence to show that it was next to impossible that these one hundred and five gallant spirits had perished in the way that had been suggested. Remember, they were not helpless savages, but gallant Englishmen, who would not succumb while a chance remained. He recommended another expedition overland, to search the whole of the locality in the direction in which he supposed the survivors of the Franklin expedition to have gone. He reminded the meeting that one great object of the expedition was to make magnetic observations, and until some record of the results were discovered he would not abandon all hope. He was but a humble individual, without fortune and without name, but if his health was spared he would go out next spring, whether alone or in company with others, and would explore the whole locality, promising not to return until this riddle was solved.

Captain Kennedy concurred with Mr. Snow. He had heard a rumor last summer that some Europeans had been seen in the direction of the M'Kenzie River. He imagined these were some of the one hundred and five, and that there was every chance that some of them were yet alive. It was perfectly clear that Europeans could adapt themselves to native habits. Nothing less than another expedition would satisfy the public. He recalled attention to the difficulties which Lady Franklin had encountered in sending out the last expedition against opposition from all quarters, and after the results which that expedition had attained, it would be discreditable in the nation to let the matter drop where it was.

Capt. M'Clintock, in reply, observed that all the information proved that all the food the expedition could have carried with them was forty days' short provisions. The won

der, therefore, was how they got so far, and there was no chance, the provisions being exhausted, that they could have made their way from the Great Fish River to Montreal Island, or any part of the Hudson's-Bay territory. He had no wish to throw cold water upon the hopes of any enthusiastic persons who might wish to go out on a further search. He would

remind the meeting that all the way from the Great Fish River to the Hudson's-Bay territory had been searched.

DR. KING.-Over the ice and snow, Capt. M'Clintock, remember.

The chairman then thanked Capt. M'Clintock and those gentlemen who had taken part in the discussion, for the information they had afforded, and the meeting separated.

Symbolisches Englisch-Deutsches Worterbuch. The
Symbolic Anglo-German Vocabulary. Adapted
from the "Vocabulaire Symbolique Anglo-
Francais" of L. C. Ragonot. Edited and
Revised by Falck Lebahn, Ph.Dr. Simpkin,
Marshall, and Co., and David Nutt.

ing far above the beast, would be imbued by a better sense of sympathy and good feeling, and would then leave all such ungenerous appliances of superior force to the brute alone. Bombay, on being created a Mussulman by his Arab master, had been taught a very different way of accounting for the degradation of his race, and By this vocabulary a knowledge of a great narrated his story as follows: "The Arabs say many of the names in most common use in that Mahomet, whilst on the road from Medina daily life is clearly, rapidly, and even pleasura- to Mecca, one day happened to see a widow bly conveyed. We have a picture of a house, woman sitting before her house, and asked her e.g., on the different parts of which, as far as is how she and her three sons were; upon which. possible, their English and German names are the troubled woman (for she had concealed one printed; where this is not possible the names of her sons on seeing Mahomet's approach, lest are oppositely placed in the margin. To those he, as is customary when there are three males who are acquainted with M. Ragonot's "Vocab- of a family present, should seize one and make ulaire Symbolique Anglo-Francais" it will be him do porterage) said, 'Very well; but I've, sufficient to say that this is the German counter-only two sons." Mahomet, hearing this, said to part of that work, and is not inferior to it. To others, it may be safely recommended as an admirable way of teaching children the names which they are most likely to want in their con

versation or to meet with in their books It is true that the nouns of a language are just the part that is most easily acquired, but that is no reason why it should not be acquired as easily as possible, and we know of no easier or pleasanter way than that of this book. In German, too, there either are, or appear to the learner to be, such a vast number of nouns substantive, that any help in their acquisition is desirable. We cordially recommend this book to both teachers and learners.-Economist.

"AN AFRICAN LEGEND.-AS Seedi Bombay was very inquisitive to-day about the origin of Seedis, his caste, and as he wished to know by what law of nature I accounted for their cruel destiny in being the slaves of all men, I related the history of Noah, and the disposition of his sons on the face of the globe; and showed him that he was of the black or Hametic stock, and by the common order of nature, they, being the weakest, had to succumb to their superiors, the Japhetic and Semitic branches of the family; and, moreover, they were likely to remain so subject until such time as the state of man, soar

the woman reprovingly: Woman, thou liest: thou hast three sons, and for trying to conceal this matter from me, henceforth remember that this is my decree: that the two boys which thou hast not concealed shall multiply and prosper, have fair faces, become wealthy, and reign lords son shall, in consequence of your having conover all the earth; but the progeny of your third cealed him, produce Seedis as black as darkness, who will be sold in the market like cattle, and remain in perpetual servitude to the de scendants of the other two.'"-Captain Speke: in Blackwood's Magazine.

Causes of the Irregularity of the Permanent Teeth: their Mechanical Treatment Considered. By James Robinson, D.D.S. Senior Dentist to the Royal Free Hospital. Third Edition. Webster and Co.

THIS is a simple account of one of the commonest of the small ills of life. The cause and treatment of deformed teeth are explained clearly by help of many woodcuts, and as the author is a dentist of repute, there may be many who will think it worth while to read what he can tell them. The little treatise is a reprint from the Dental Review for the present year.-Examiner.

From The National Intelligencer, Sept. 22.
THE REPUBLICAN COURT.

their respective countries. All strangers of distinction embraced the opportunity of the OBSERVING in the New York Journal of levee to pay their respects to the chief magisCommerce a few days ago complimentary al-trate. The President was plainly but handlusions to the late George Washington Parke somely dressed, his hair in full powder, and Custis of Arlington, we were reminded that wearing a dress sword. He was attended by we had in our possession an unpublished con- his principal secretary, Mr. Lear, Major tribution from his pen in relation to the social Jackson, and the other gentlemen of his famhabitudes which prevailed at our " Republican ily. He addressed a few words of courtesy Court" in the days of the first President. As to the visitors as they were presented. The these reminiscences may be deemed to have company then formed in groups for conversareceived a new interest since the death of tion, and on the stroke of four o'clock retired, their writer has precluded the hope of any the levee being at an end. additional communications, such as our readers were annually favored with on the 22d of February during the life of Mr. Custis, we have concluded no longer to withhold from it them the last contribution penned by "the

child of Mount Vernon."

THE DRAWING-ROOM

When Mrs. Washington received company was on Friday, commencing about seven and ending about ten o'clock. Two rooms were thrown open. The furniture that was thought THE REPUBLICAN COURT IN THE DAYS OF handsome in those days would be considered THE FIRST PRESIDENT. - The Presidential barely decent in modern times. The principal Mansion in Philadelphia was the property of ornament was a glass chandelier in the largest Robert Morris, and had been the head-quar-room, burning wax lights. The chair of the ters of Sir William Howe during the occupation lady of the President was a plain arm-chair of Philadelphia by the British army in 177-78. lined with green morocco leather. The situation was eligible, being in an airy The ladies visiting the drawing-room were and pleasant part of the city, with a considera- always attended by gentlemen. It was not ble, area of open space adjoining it, and the habit for very young girls to be present tiguous to the public buildings. Considerable at the drawing-room, but only those of the additions and improvements were made to the age when it is proper for ladies to go into original building with a view to the accom-company. Upon the ladies being introduced modation of the President's household; still they were seated, and the President, who the rooms were small, and the whole establish- always attended the drawing-room, passed ment but indifferently fitted for the purposes required.

con

round the circle, paying his respects to each in succession, and it was a common remark The equipages of the President were well among the chit-chat of the drawing-room that provided for, the stabling for twelve horses the chief was no inconsiderable judge of febeing extensive and commodious, and the male beauty, since he was observed to tarry coach-houses large and convenient. longer than usual when paying his compli Washington's unmitigated, untiring em-ments to Miss Sophia Chew, a charming belle ployment and labor made it necessary that he of Philadelphia in that time.

should have some mode of public reception for Refreshments were handed round by serthe many visitors who were continually seek-vants in livery, and about that period first aping opportunities of paying their respects and peared the luxury, now so universal, of icepresenting their letters of introduction; hence cream. Introductions to eminent personages

the

PRESIDENT'S LEVEE

on Tuesdays, commencing at three and ending at four o'clock. At these receptions there was no shaking of hands, the chief receiving his visitors as President of the United States, and not as Gen. Washington. The foreign ministers attended the levee in full costume, and often introduced persons of distinction from

and conversation formed the entertainments of the drawing-room. Cards were altogether unknown.