iv NOTES BY THE EDITOR 



* 



" The necessity for such a measure, to meet the growing demands of 

 science in its application to vital statistics, and the facilities which it 

 would afford in establishing legal evidence in courts of justice, are of 

 too obvious a character to need enforcing by argument. The success 

 with which systems of registration have been employed in Europe, 

 and the gratifying results that have attended their application in some 

 portions of the United States, lead to the hope that the time is not 

 distant when we may have throughout the Union a practical and thor- 

 ough system, accurate in its details and comparable in its results. " 



The Twenty-seventh annual meeting of the British Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, was held at Dublin, Ireland, in August, 

 1857, Dr. Lloyd in the chair. The meeting was one of the most suc- 

 cessful in the annals of the Association, and many papers of great 

 value were presented. 



The meeting for 1858 was appointed to be held in Leeds. Prof. 

 Owen, being the President elect. The honor was offered to Dr. 

 Whately, Archbishop of Dublin, but he declined it on the ground that 

 his state of health would not allow him to undertake any duties beyond 

 those of his archiepiscopal office. For 1859 a suggestion in favor of 

 Aberdeen was warmly entertained, and it was agreed to invite Prince 

 Albert to be the President for that year. 



The following resolutions, affecting the general interests of science, 

 were passed at this meeting of the Association : 



Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to express to the Gov- 

 ernment the wish of the British Association that self-recording Ane- 

 mometrical Instruments should be established on some of the islands 

 of the Atlantic Ocean, in aid of the Meteorological Observations now 

 being carried on on ship-board under the direction of the Meteorolog- 

 ical department of the Board of Trade. 



That application be made to Government to send a vessel to examine 

 and survey the entrance to the Zambesi River in South Africa, and 

 to ascend the river as far as may be practicable for navigation. 



That application be made to Government to send a vessel to the 

 vicinity of Mackenzie River, to make a series of magnetic observations 

 with special reference to the determination of the laws now known to 

 rule the magnetic storms. 



It having been found that the application of science to the improve- 

 ment of steam-ships has been impeded by the difficulty of obtaining 

 the necessary data from the present registration, Resolved, that a 

 Committee be appointed and authorized to communicate, if necessary, 

 with the Board of Trade on the subject. 



The Ray Society held its Fourteenth Annual Meeting during the 

 meeting of the British Association at Dublin. Mr. Babington, of 

 Cambridge, was in the chair. The Report stated that the members for 



