1864.] BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 75 



with a knowledge of nature ; and a master of arts, as well as a 

 doctor of medicine, is supposed to know something of the objects 

 in the material world with which he is surrounded. The estab- 

 lishment, also, of special degrees in science is a step in advance, 

 for which we are indebted to the University of London. Natu- 

 ral sciences are particularly valuable in mental training. They 

 promote accuracy of observation and of description. They teach 

 the student to look at the objects around him, not with an idle 

 gaze, but with an intelligent discrimination. They ensure correct- 

 ness of diagnosis, and encourage orderly and systematic habits. 

 The British association, in its perambulation, does much good by 

 bringing such subjects prominently under the notice of directors 

 of educational institutions in various parts of the country. Tt stirs 

 up many to see the value ofthis kind of knowledge, and gives prac- 

 tical illustrations of its bearinof on the ordinarv business of life. 

 Thus the Association has an important influence on the town in 

 which it meets, not merely by what it does during its sittings, but 

 also by its after-efforts on the population. The very preparations 

 made in the locality for the meeting have often been productive of 

 much permanent good. They have been instrumental in bringing 

 together collections which have formed the nucleus of a local 

 museum. And they have been the means occasionally of intro- 

 ducing sanitary measures of the highest benefit to the inhabitants.*' 

 In conclusion, the President remarked upon the reciprocal rela- 

 tions of science and theology. 



PHTSIOLOOr. 



Prof. Rolleston, in opening the proceedings of this section, 

 remarked that last year Dr. Sharpey delivered an address on the 

 progress which physiology had made during the previous twenty 

 years ; and before the British Association last year, moreover. 

 Professor Huxley delivered an address on the divisions and de- 

 partments of the science, with its methods and prospects. His 

 own aim would therefore be to avoid the territories which had 

 thus been occupied ; and he proposed to pass in review such 

 writers as had written works to Avhich reference was likely to be 

 made in the section, and such publications as might probably 

 become the subject of discussion. First, he would mention works in- 

 tended for the general public ; and secondly, specify works of a more 

 strictly scientific character in the three departments of experimental 

 physiology,structural and comparative anatomy,and the microscope, 



