144 MEETING OP THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 



was exactly four-fold. Dr. Lardner then proceeded to give the re- 

 sult of his statistical investigations on the railway between New- 

 castle and Hexham, and Dublin and Kingstown. Dr. Lardner next 

 made some remarks on the value to new companies of the experi- 

 ence gained in working the Liverpool and Manchester railway. The 

 charge for transport of passengers on the Manchester railway was 

 1.84-100ths of a penny per mile, the actual cost to the proprietors 

 about one penny per mile : whereas a Birmingham manufacturer 

 had entered into a contract by which the passengers on ano- 

 ther line would be conveyed at the cost of one farthing a mile, 

 including every expense of locomotive power, the company merely 

 finding the carriages and the road. The same company had also 

 formed a contract for the conveying of goods at one penny per ton 

 per mile ; the contractor, as in the former case, defraying every 

 charge for engines, &c. Dr. Lardner then proceeded to shew the 

 possibility of attaining so high a rate of speed as fifty miles per 

 hour, and dwelt at great length on the effects likely to result to the 

 general commerce of the country. 



Mr. John Taylor, Treasurer to the Association, read a paper " On 

 the Comparative Value of Mineral Productions of Great Britain and 

 the rest of Europe." A calculation, he said, was made by Mr. C. F. 

 Smidt, in 1829, of the value of the mineral productions of Europe, at 

 continental prices ; and, from the accuracy of the statements coming 

 within Mr. Taylor's own knowledge, he was disposed to believe in 

 the others. It should be born in mind that the continental prices 

 differed greatly from those in England, and, consequently, that the 

 amounts were comparative, and not absolute value. The value of 

 the mineral products of Europe, including Asiatic Russia, were, — 

 gold and silver, 1,943,000; other metals, 28,5 15,000; salts, 7,640,000; 

 combustibles, 18,050,000; making in round numbers a total of about 

 56 millions exclusive of manganese. Now to this amount Great 

 Britain contributed considerably more than one half — viz. 29 milli- 

 ons, in the following proportions: silver, 21,500; copper, 1,369,000; 

 lead, 769,000; iron, 11,292,000; tin, 536,000; salts, 756,250; 

 vitriol, 33,000 ; alum 33,000 ; coal, 13,900,000. He then gave a 

 sketch of the history of mining in Great Britain, dwelling strongly 

 on its vast increase since the introduction of the steam-engine. 



Dr. Yellowley read a paper, containing some account of the em- 

 ployment of Spade Husbandry on an extensive scale in the county 

 of Norfolk. The paper contained a very minute account of all the 

 items of expenditure and return. 



Thursday. — Professor Forbes detailed to the meeting the results 

 of his experiments on the average height, weight, and strength of 

 about 800 individuals, natives of Belgium, England, Scotland and 

 Ireland. 



A paper, by Dr. Collins, late master of the Dublin Lying-in 

 Hospital, on the Periodicity of Births, was read by C. Fripp, Esq. 



Baron Dupin exhibited two maps of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 very ingeniously shaded, so as to show at a glance the comparative 



