118 MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



the chair. — At one o'clock Dr. Groves commenced to read a paper on 

 fever. The room was crowded principally by professional gentle- 

 men. 



Section F. — Statistics. — Mr. Babbage in the chair. — Mr. Maun- 

 sell, professor of midwifery to the Royal College of Surgeons, read a 

 paper on the statistics of the Dublin Foundling Hospital, and on 

 child desertion in the city of Dublin, and exhibited a series of tables 

 illustrative of these subjects. Among the latter was an abstract of 

 the registry of the Foundling Hospital for thirty-four years, exhi- 

 biting at a view the results with respect to 51,523 foundlings ; and 

 also tables exhibiting the average yearly desertions in the city pa- 

 rishes since the close of the Foundline Hospital in 1831. A most 

 interesting discussion followed, in which Mr. Babbage, Col. Sykes, 

 Rev. Dr. Dickenson, Professor Longfield, Dr. Maunsell, and several 

 other members, took a part, with regard to population and the laws 

 of its increase, which Mr. Babbage illustrated by returns obtained 

 from Prussia, Germany, parts of England, and some other countries. 

 Some of the results, particularly with regard to the laws of the pro- 

 portion of the sexes, were very curious and extraordinary. A report 

 on the Glasgow Bridewell, by Dr. Cleland, of Glasgow, was distri- 

 buted among the members, and the section adjourned to the follow- 

 ing day. 



About three hundred members of the Association dined at the or- 

 dinary, at Morrison's. The tickets were issued at five shillings 

 each, the difference being paid out of the local fund. The Surgeon- 

 General presided ; but, with the exception of the King and the As- 

 sociation, there were not any toasts proposed, nor, of course, were 

 there any speeches delivered. Coffee was served at half-past seven, 

 and immediately after the members adjourned to the Rotundo, 

 where the first general meeting of the Association took place- At 

 twenty minutes after eight, his excellency the Lord Lieutenant, ac- 

 companied by his staff, entered the room, and took his seat on the 

 platform. The noble Earl was attired in the uniform of the Gover- 

 nor-General of Jamaica. The chair was then taken by Sir Thomas 

 Brisbane, the out-going president. Sir Thomas addressed the meet- 

 ing, and spoke in high terms of the very excellent arrangements that 

 had been made for the reception of the Association — arrangements 

 which did honour to the metropolis of Ireland, and for which the 

 strangers who had arrived were very deeply indebted to those who 

 had done so much to provide for their comfort during their stay 

 (cheers). He then adverted to the great benefits the Association 

 conferred on the cause of science. He (Sir Thomas) was now about 

 to resign the high office to which the partiality of the members, not 

 his own merits, had raised him. Its duties would now pass into far 

 abler hands, and that they would be adequately sustained could not 

 be doubted, when he mentioned that his successor was to be the 

 highly-gifted Dr. Lloyd. He then alluded to the absence of the 

 Bishop of Cloyne, upon whom he passed a high eulogium, regretting 

 that illness had prevented that great man from being present. After 



