In this paper, which was originally published in Navigation, Paris, July 1970, the distinguished General Secretary of the French Institute of Navigation, Professor Pierre Hugon, a Gold Medallist of this Institute, examines some of the premises adopted by M. W. Richey in his paper on the Institutes of Navigation presented to the Australian Institute of Navigation in October 1969 (this Journal, 23, 99). It is interesting to note the extent to which the conclusions in these two papers differ in emphasis.

Following in the footsteps of my friend Mr. M. W. Richey who, at the twentieth anniversary meeting of the Australian Institute of Navigation in Sydney on 10 October 1969, presented a remarkable address on ‘The Institutes of Navigation in the 70's’, I am impelled to state the position of the sister Institute in France by examining once again the very principles of such an undertaking and discussing its future character. This unpremeditated essay concerns a duty and a faith which, though they must not give way to doubt, are nevertheless open to question.