Scientific American Supplement, No. 433, April 19, 1884

In 1875 Lieutenant Weyprecht of the Austrian navy called the attention of scientific men to the desirability of having an organized and continual system of hourly meteorological and magnetic observations around the poles. In 1879 the first conference of what was termed the International Polar Congress was held at Hamburg. Delegates from eight nations were present--Germany, Austria, Denmark, France, Holland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden.
The congress then settled upon a programme whose features were: 1. To establish general principles and fixed laws in regard to the pressure of the atmosphere, the distribution and variation of temperature, atmospheric currents, climatic characteristics. 2. To assist the prediction of the course and occurrence of storms. 3. To assist the study of the disturbances of the magnetic elements and their relations to the auroral light and sun spots. 4. To study the distribution of the magnetic force and its secular and other changes. 5. To study the distribution of heat and submarine currents in the polar regions. 6. To obtain certain dimensions in accord with recent methods. Finally, to collect observations and specimens in the domain of zoology, botany, geology, etc.
The representatives of the various nations had several conferences later, and by the 1st of May, 1881, there were sufficient subscribers to justify the establishment of eight Arctic stations.
France entered actively in this work later, and its first expedition was to Orange Bay and Cape Horn, under the surveillance and direction of the Academy of Sciences, Paris, and responsible to the Secretary of the Navy. On the 6th of September, 1882, this scientific corps established itself in Orange Bay, near Cape Horn, and energetically began its serious labors, and by October 22 the greater part of their preliminary preparations was completed, comprising the erection of a magnetic observatory, an astronomic observatory, a room for the determination of the carbonic anhydride of the air, another for the sea register, and a bridge 92 feet long, photographic laboratory, barometer room, and buildings for the men, food, and appurtenances, together with a laboratory of natural history.