1902. 



The British Associatio7i in Belfast 



255 



* Including four papers in the Geographical Section. 



INCEPTION OF THE 1902 MEETING. 



The President of the British Association stated in his address 

 at Belfast: — "A great man has observed that intelligent 

 anticipation of events before they occur is a factor of some 

 importance in human affairs. One may suppose that intel- 

 ligent anticipation had something to do with the choice of 

 Belfast as the meeting-place of the British Association this 

 year." The "intelligent anticipation" of the Belfast Meeting 

 in 1902 was first entertained by the Belfast Naturalists' Field 

 Club, who appointed a Provisional Committee on loth 

 December, 1897, consisting of the President, Secretaries, and 

 Messrs. Swanston, Vinycomb and Gray, to take the initial 

 steps towards the issuing of an invitation. The Belfast 

 Natural History and Philosophical Society took the matter 

 up later, and the movement assumed definite form at the 

 influential Town Meeting held in the City Hall on September 

 9th, 1899, from which a deputation was sent to Dover to 

 invite the British Association to Belfast, an invitation that 

 was formally accepted at Bradford in September, 1900. 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE MEETING. 



LOCAL WORK. 



As at the previous meeting; the Queen's College formed a 

 .spacious headquarters. The handsome Examination Hall 

 made an ideal reception-room, and in the class-rooms, &c., all 

 the Sections found accommodation, with the exception of 

 three, which were housed in the Methodist College, Elmwood 

 Church Hall, and Assembly's College respectively, all being 



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