Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/15

 ■PAST 5, 1

��I

��I'Ud frequent coiiiiiiiinicaliuiis in ri'S|>ect to matters wbicli come Hoder their cognizaDce.

Second, Science aims to gather like reports lVect to work which is cbme abroad, wbcm there are so many excel- lent journals, we cannot be so fnll as we nve in respect to the investigations of our own coun- trj'men : but, as science knows no geographical restrictions^ our columns are open to intelli- gence tVom e\-er_v part of the globe.

Third, in presenting what we have to say. i-«ur purpose is to he brief, ns becomes a jour- topics which are of the most iiumcdiate inter- est ; accurate, or we should soon lose all stand- ing in the scientific worid ; and readable, by which we mean that the articles written by .specialist!! in their several domains shall be phrased in terms comprehensible, without a ■^ctionarj, to those whose studies and pursuits are in very ditteront Helds.
 * i](il published weekly ; alert in selecting those

Fourth, in the discussion of important ques- lionst, or in the expression of opinions ou dis- puted points, Science endeavors to be free from the influence of any school or clique, to •{)eak only In the interests of advancing truth, and to surest such methoiis as will promote the economical employment and enlaigement of ecaentillc funds, the diffusion of sound ideas among the people at large, and the suppression if all needless animosities.

As for the future, we are hopeful. Our ar- rangements for receiving and printing such communications as we wish to lay before our Kfltlers were never belter than now. Onr con- tributors, many of whom we have ne^er per- lally seen, and who are scatteml far and

ide over this land, have never been in better ■ooord with the editorial staff- Our subscrip-
 * tion liiSt is enhirging. and our pages now come

before the principal workers in all departments of sdence. But we are free to add. that if iSoienee is to be all that it should be. all that we desire to make it, there must be a more lib- eral financial supporl. Those who have fur- Riehed the capital rt-quii-ite to begin and to

��sustain for a period the publication of a jour- nal which they believed would be of the great- est utility cannot be expected to coutiuue their fiup|«>rt indefinitely, unless they are sustained by the cordial support of individuals and osso- cifltiouB who are interested, quite as much as the directors of Science^ in Uie perpetuation of the influences which we now represent.

We therefore ask our readers and friends, and especially our conlributora and subscribers, to continue during a third year their hearty and onf,s]X)ken good will.

��THE KONGO.

��Tkn years ago Stanley left Zanzibar for the great lakes of eastern Africa, intending, if pos- sible, to cross the continent, and ascertain if the Luluaba of Livingstone was the Kongo. We then knew little of central or western Africa. The courses of the streams and mountains dot- ted on the map were derived from imagination or the vague reports of natives. Schweinfiuth had explored Sudan and Darfur and the west- ern branches of the Nile : but nearly all of Africa south of Algeria, and west of the Nile and the great lakes, was unknown. Since then, Stanley has followed the course of the Kongo nearly two thousand miles, from the great lakes of western Africa to the ocean.

The Knglisb have explored the Niger and its tributary, the Benuc. nearly to Lake Tschad : while Capt. Cameron has crossed from Zanzi- bar, south of the watershed of the Kongo, to the Atlantic at Benguela. The Portuguese, under Messrs. C'apello and Ivens, and De Serpa Pinto, starting from Benguela, li" south lati- tude, about three hundred miles south of tlio Kongo, have traversed the continent between the 12th and liith degrees of south latitude, and explored a vast tract of country and the valley of two great rivers running north, but were prevented by the natives from following thera to their junction with the Kongo.

We have now a general knowledge of Afi'ica from 10° north of the equator to the Cape of Good Hope, including central and south Africa ; leaving only the territory south of Algeria, the western Sudan beyond Darflir, terra incognita. Into this region the French are travelling fi'ora Algeria, and the Germans from I^ypt ; and soon the whole of Africa will be explored, so far as its general features are concerned.

The western coast of Africa has long been

�� �