NOTES BY THE EDITOR 



ON THE 



PROGRESS OF SCIENCE FOR THE YEAR 1860. 



THE fourteenth meeting of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science was held August 18, 1860, at Newport, R I. 

 Isaac Lea, Esq., of Philadelphia, in the chair. The whole number 

 of papers registered for presentation was 78. 



The number of members in attendance was small, only 140 names 

 appearing on the register during the continuance of the meeting. 

 " Neither can we," says the editor of Si.llimans Journal, in commenting 

 on the meeting, " conceal the fact, that while many papers of marked, 

 ability were presented, the character of this meeting was not in all 

 respects creditable to American science. A conviction prevailed 

 among many who were present at Newport of a decadence in the 

 scientific character of the Association, of a loss of tone, which, if not 

 already a demoralization, threatened soon to become such." 



The Association adjourned, to meet in Nashville, Tennessee, in April, 

 1861. The officers of the Nashville meeting are : President, F. A. P. 

 Barnard, LL.D., President of the University of Mississippi; Vice 

 President, Dr. Robt. YV. Gibbes, of South Carolina ; General Secre- 

 tary, Prof. J. W. Mallet, of Mississippi ; Treasurer, Dr. A. L. Elwyn, 

 of Philadelphia. 



The thirtieth annual meeting of the British Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science was held at Oxford, June, 1860, Lord Wrottes- 

 ley in the chair ; and was one of the most successful meetings since 

 the foundation of the Association. 



The meeting for 1861 was appointed to be held at Manchester 

 Mr. Fairbairn, the celebrated English engineer, being the President 

 elect. 



From the address cf the President on the " Progress of Science " 

 since the previous meeting, we make the following extracts : - - " The 

 observations of our private astronomical observers have been chiefly 

 devoted to seven important objects : First, the observing and map- 

 ping of the smaller stars, under which term I include all those which 

 do not form the peculiar province of the public observer ; secondly, 



