

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION IN EDINBURGH.* 



(By our own Correspondent.) 



" Nee semper a re urn tendit Apollo." 



T I 7HILE in Edinburgh, attending the meeting of the "British Association for 

 * » the advancement of Science," in August last, we received an invitation 

 from the Editor of the "Scottish Naturalist" to make some sort of Report for 

 that journal, on the results or proceedings of the said Parliament of Science. 

 In accepting the Editor's invitation to occupy 6 or 8 pages of the "Scottish 

 Naturalist " with such a report, it has appeared to us preferable to give a sum- 

 mary of our own general impressions, rather than to take up the limited and valu- 

 able space offered, by attempting to describe the meeting, or chronicling the 

 papers read — even those relating more or less immediately to Scottish Natural 

 History. The proceedings of the Association — all the general circumstances 

 of its Edinburgh meeting — are already, presumably, well known. Full report i 

 were given at the time in all the Edinburgh newspapers ; and copies of these re- 

 ports are still to be had, in sets of the said papers, of date between the 3rd and 

 nth August, 1871. More accurate revised reports have since appeared m u Nature," 

 the "Athencrum," and various other journals of easy access to the readers of ihe 

 "Scottish Naturalist.'' And still further, reports— in the form of abstracts of 

 the papers read, revised by their authors— will appear in due time in the annual 

 volume of the Association for 1871. The social or popular aspects of the 

 meeting have already formed the theme of comment by the newspaper press in 

 all parts of the kingdom, from the " Times'' down to the humble provincial 

 weekly. In short, all the arrangements of the meeting have been described and 

 criticised in every possible way by all classes of writers, in all kinds of serials, 

 and in all parts of the country ; and it seems, therefore, unnecessary to add to 

 narratives or criticisms of this sort. But we think there is room for a critique 

 by a Working Country Naturalist on the real — as contrasted with the apparent 

 — advantages and disadvantages of such gatherings, as a means of advancing 

 Science. Such a criticism -honestly and fearlessly made — is likely to possess 

 more real interest, if not a more substantial or permanent value, to Scottish natu- 

 ralists in general, than merely ephemeral narratives. We propose, then, to put upon 

 record in these columns certain general personal impressions— regarding the 

 working of the Association, as illustrated by the Edinburgh meeting — from the 

 point of view of a Working Provincial Naturalist, who confesses to sharing in 

 all Carlyle's hatred and horror of every sort of sham or humbug, and of mere 

 talk, as contrasted with work ! Though dealing with the subject, however, from 

 a Naturalist's point of view, it is impossible to separate its social from its scientific 

 aspects : for, as will immediately appear, its social aspects are perhaps the more 



*Our Correspondent's letter should have appeared in No. IV., but was unavoidably 

 " crushed out."— Ed. 



