254 THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



parts of their occupations, that are most in accor- 

 dance with the public taste ; Professor Airy may- 

 read to the Society the most learned and elaborate 

 treatise, and, on the evening of the same day, a 

 splendid dinner may be given to many of the mem- 

 bers of the Association ; when, by way of occupying 

 part of the time allotted, laudatory and compli- 

 mentary speeches may be made. The provider of 

 the daily occupation for news-mongers, passes by 

 all that has occurred in the morning which has been 

 devoted to the pursuit of scientific objects, and ex- 

 patiates on the splendour of the evening's entertain- 

 ment, and details not an analysis or abstract of 

 Airy's paper, but of some speech made at the dinner. 

 But whose fault is all this ? Not of the Association, 

 but the pubhc themselves; the editor of a paper 

 will of course publish that which will be read ; he 

 suits his publication to the public taste, he knows 

 that the vast mass cannot, indeed cannot understand 

 the communications of the learned ; it requires 

 previous knowledoe, and sometimes accurate and 

 extensive acquaintance, with a branch of science to 

 be aware of the importance of a communication ; 

 and is wisely withheld from such mediea of intelli- 

 izence as newspapers ; they are to be found, where 

 they ought to be, in the publications of the Society, 

 of which I shall presently speak. 



But to conclude this part of my observations ; I 

 do not complain of the public taste, nor of the editors 

 of papers. I do not expect all the world to be phi- 

 losophers; but I complain of those persons, whether 

 writers or decl aimers, who have taken no pains to 

 inform themselves of the actual proceedings of the 

 Association. For, I will venture to say, that not 

 one in a hundred of them have read the four volumes 

 which have been published, and many have not even 

 taken the pains to read the condensed statements of 

 the substance of the papers read, which have appeared 

 in the " Athenseiim,'' paper, the ** Edinburgh Jour- 

 nal," and m the '^ Philosophical Magazine. With 



