1870.] BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 341 



And as to the equivalent of Iledi's thought in life, how can we 

 over-estimate the value of that knowledge of the nature of epidemic 

 and epizootic diseases, and, consequently, of the means of checking 

 or eradicating them, the dawn of which has assuredly commenced ? 



Looking back no further than ten years, it is possible to select 

 three (1SG3, 1864 and 1869), in which the total number of deaths 

 from scarlet fever alone amounted to 90,000. That is the return 

 of killed, the maimed and disabled being left out of sight. Why, 

 it is to be hoped that the list of killed in the present bloodiest of 

 all wars will not amount to more than this ! But the facts which 

 I have placed before you must leave the least sanguine without a 

 doubt that the nature and the causes of this scourge will one day 

 be as well understood as those of the Pebrine are now; and that 

 the lonsj-suffered massacre of our innocents will come to an end. 



And thus mankind will have one more admonition that the 

 " people perish for lack of knowledge" ; and that the alleviation of 

 the miseries aod the promotion of the welfare of men must be 

 sought, by those who will not lose their pains, in that diligent, 

 patient, loving study, of all the multitudinous aspects of Nature, 

 the results of which constitute exact knowledge, or Science. 



It is the justification and the glory of this great Meeting that 

 it is gathered together for no other object than the advancement 

 of the moiety of Science which deals with those phenomena of 

 Nature which we call Physical. May its endeavours be crowned 

 with a full measure of success ! 



GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 



The Student's Elements or Geology. Ey Sir Charles 

 Lyell, Bart., F.Il.S. — The Elements and Principles of Geology, 

 by Sir Charles Lyell, have been probably the most successful 

 works on that science ever published. The former has gone 

 through six editions, and the latter is now in its tenth. A 

 new edition of the Elements being required, Sir Charles was 

 induced to curtail it to such dimensions as would make it a more 

 suitable manual fur students, without sacrificino- anv of its 

 essential features. This he has accomplished in the present 

 '' Student's Elements," which is a perfect gem in its way. Com- 



