An important exploration of ruined cities in the old Roman provinces of Syria and Arabia was conducted by an American archæological expedition organized in 1899. Mr. Howard Crosby Butler, of Princeton, was in charge of the studies made in architecture, sculpture and archæological matters generally; Professor William K. Prentice devoted attention to classical inscriptions, of which a great number were found, while Semitic inscriptions were the subjects of the study of Dr. Enno Littmann, of the University of Halle. The ruins of thirty-three cities, nearly all of them evident places of large population in their day, were visited in regions now too bare of productive soil to support even the small nomadic population of the present day. "The desert conditions have preserved the cities intact as they stood at the time when they appear to have been abandoned, in the beginning of the seventh century." Some account of the expedition and its work is given in the "New York Tribune" of February 3, 1901. ----------ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH: End-------- {26} ARCTIC EXPLORATION, Recent. See (in this volume) POLAR EXPLORATION. ----------ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: Start-------- ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1895. Census. "According to the census, the number of persons in the Argentine Republic on May 10, 1895, was 4,042,990; the estimated number of Argentines outside the boundaries of the Republic on that day is placed at 50,000, thus making the total population 4,092,990." Of this population 663,854 is in the city of Buenos Ayres. "The increase in the population between September 15, 1869 (the last census), and May 10, 1895 (the date on which the present census was taken), has been 2,218,776, equivalent to an increase of 120 per cent, or an annual increase of 4.6 per cent. The urban population of the Republic has increased 1,045,944. … It is estimated that there are 345,393 foreigners in the city of Buenos Ayres, and that the total number of foreigners in the Republic is about 1,000,000. … Among the Argentine portion of the population, the females exceed the males in number, while it is estimated that two-thirds of the foreign population are males." _United States Consular Reports, November, 1896, page 438._ ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1895. Resignation of President Peña. President Saenz Peña having refused to issue, at the request of Congress, a decree of amnesty, extended to all persons implicated in the last revolution, his Cabinet resigned (January 16), and he found it impossible to form another. Thereupon the President himself resigned his office, on the 22d of January, and his resignation was accepted by the Congress. Señor Uriburu was elected President on the following day, and promptly issued the desired decree.