94 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



creasing tendency for these to be tech- 

 nical rather than popular in charac- 

 ter, as is also the case in our own 

 national association. There is printed 

 above the address by Professor Halli- 

 burton on physiology, ana we hope to 

 be able to publish subsequently the 

 address by Professor Armstrong before 

 the Section of Education, these being 

 perhaps the two most interesting of 

 the presidential addresses. In the 

 physical section papers were pre- 

 sented by Lord Kelvin and Lord Ray- 

 leigh, perhaps the two greatest physi- 

 cists now living. Lord Rayleigh dis- 

 cussed the question as to whether 

 motion through the ether causes double 

 refraction of light, reviewing the evi- 

 dence which has led physicists to con- 

 clude that the earth in its motion does 

 not drag the ether with it. Lord Ray- 

 leigh's experiments have confirmed 

 those of our American physicists, 

 Michelson and Morley, which showed 

 that light travels through a body trav- 

 ersed by a stream of ether with the 

 same speed along it as against or across 

 it. Another paper of considerable in- 

 terest before the Mathematical and 

 Physical Section was one by Professor 

 Schuster discussing the relative im- 

 portance of collecting observations in a 

 science such as meteorology and of de- 

 ducing laws from them. Before the 

 Chemical Section the subjects which 

 seem to have attracted special interest 

 were the action of enzymes and the aro- 

 matic compounds. Papers before the 

 Zoological Section were presented by 

 Professor Poulton and others on mimi- 

 cry, and by Professor Herdman on his 

 expedition to study the pearl oyster 

 beds in the Gulf of Manaar, and on the 

 plans for protecting the North Sea 

 fisheries. The Sections of Economics, 

 Geography and Anthropology usually 

 attract the greatest general interest, 

 but space does not permit reference 

 to the papers and discussions. A word 

 should, however, be said in regard to 

 the Section of Education, established 



last year, which bids fair to become 

 one of the most attractive departments 

 of the Association, setting a model 

 which the American Association should 

 follow. 



The attendance at the meeting was 

 1,620 as compared with 1,951 at the 

 Belfast meeting twenty-eight years ago. 

 The decrease in attendance was not, 

 however, due to fewer scientific men 

 being present, but to a smaller local 

 interest in the meeting. One of the 

 most interesting features of the general 

 meeting was the invitation presented 

 by Professor Charles S. Minot, last 

 year president of the American Asso- 

 ciation, asking as many members as 

 possible to attend the Washington 

 meeting of the American Association. 

 Professor Minot described the steps 

 that have been taken in America to se- 

 cure the reorganization of scientific 

 societies under the auspices of the 

 American Association and the secur- 

 ing of a convocation week in mid-win- 

 ter for the meetings. President Dewar, 

 in replying on behalf of the Associa- 

 tion, emphasized the importance of a 

 visit to America, and expressed the 

 hope that there would be a large at- 

 tendance of English men of science at 

 the meeting to be held at Washington 

 beginning on the Monday after Christ- 

 mas. 



The meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion next year will be at Southport 

 under the presidency of Sir Norman 

 Lockyer, one of the most prominent 

 of living astronomers and editor of 

 Nature. The meeting in 1904 will be 

 at Cambridge, where efforts will doubt- 

 less be made to rival the important 

 meeting at Oxford in 1894. Plans are 

 being made which may lead to a meet- 

 ing in South Africa in 1905, the colo- 

 nies having offered to defray a large 

 part of the expenses of delegates. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF ANTHRA- 

 CITE COAL. 

 Anthracite differs from ordinary or 

 bituminous coal in that it contains a 



