Page:A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury.pdf/195

Rh Geographical Society at the anniversary dinner of 1861, when the late Lord Ashburton was in the chair. On that occasion Maury advocated the exploration of the Antarctic Regions, with a view to selecting a proper place for the observation of the next transit of Venus. He received the most sympathetic applause from a large audience. When he returned to America, the gloomy prospect of a great calamity was already darkening the land.