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

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DINNER WITH THE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.
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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.