Scientific Gleanings. 79 



marks on the cause of the laminous structure of glaciers, during 

 which he remarked that there was no doubt Dr. Tyndall was 

 right in supposing the laminae of blue and white ice to be perpen- 

 dicular to the directions of maximum pressure, he said that it 

 remained to be decided whether the explanations which had been 

 offered were correct ; but the actual perpendicularity of the laminae 

 of ice to the directions of maximum pressure within a glacier, and 

 the probable perpendicularity to those directions of the laminae in 

 rock masses of laminated structure, would seem to establish some 

 relation between these structures in rocks and glacial ice, giving 

 an interest to this peculiar structure in the latter case, which it 

 might not. otherwise appear to possess for one who should regard 

 it merely as a geologist. 



SECTION OF ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS. 



President — E. Baixes, Esq. 

 The President said — If the British Asiociation were a theatre 

 for intellectual display, I should shrink from occupying a chair in 

 which T have had such distinguished predecessors. But if I un- 

 derstand the spirit of this Association, it is the simple, honest, 

 earnest pursuit of truth — first, of truth in facts, and secondly, of 

 truth in principles ; and it would be quite foreign to that spirit 

 either to attempt anything of display or to apologize for its ab- 

 sence. I shall be permitted, however, to welcome the d ; sciples of 

 economical and statistical science on their visit to this important 

 centre of industry where practical illustrations may be found of 

 many branches of their subject, and where, I hope, there are 

 many who can value their inquiries. After the remarks made 

 last night by the President of he Association, it may seem super- 

 fluous to say anything further on the claims of that science which 

 he pronounced to "bear more immediately than any others on 

 the prosperity of nations and the well-being of mankind." We 

 must all have felt how unanswerably the President proved the 

 value of economical and statistical science, when he referred to 

 the department of vital statistics, and showed what terrific losses 

 had been sustained by our army and navy and the army of France 

 from the neglect of sanitary rules. But I may just remark that 

 what gave to the recent report of Mr. Sidney Herbert's Commis- 

 sion on the health of our troops in barracks its resistless force was, 

 the certainty and precision with which statistical researches ena- 

 bled it to measure the amount of loss sustained, by comparison 

 with the mortality in other classes of the population at the same 



