1 84 



THE MUSEUM. 



when the usual vote of thanks were of- 

 fered and replied to. The treasurer re- 

 ported that the attendance at the meet- 

 ing comprised 120 old life members, 8 

 new life numbers, 286 old annual mem- 

 bers and members of the American as- 

 sociation, 1 2 5 new members, 682 associ- 

 ates, 100 ladies, 41 corresponding hon- 

 orary members, making a total attend- 

 ance at the meeting of 1,362 persons. 

 It will be remembered that the British 

 association requires its visitors to pay 

 for admission to its meetings, and the 

 fund thus obtained is de\oted to grants 

 for scientific investigation. The sum of 

 ^1,356 was available for that purpose 

 this year, and the following grants were 

 made: 



To establish a meteorological observ- 

 atory on Mount Royal, £'50; to further 

 investigate the fauna and flora of the 

 Pleistocene beds in Canada, ;{r20; for 

 the collection, preser\ ation and syste- 

 matic registration of Canadian photo- 

 graphs of geological interest £ — — ; 

 for the biology of Lake Ontario, £7S< 

 for the Northwestern tribes of Canada, 

 £7S'' to organize an ethnographical 

 survey of Canada, £7S, and for the es- 

 tablishment of a biological station in 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, £ . 



The final event in the history of this 

 year's meeting of the British associa- 

 tion was the banquet given by the cit- 

 izens of Toronto to Lord Lister, Lord 

 Kelvin, Sir John Evans and other em- 

 inent members of the association. 

 Lord Aberdeen presided, and with him 

 at the same table in addition to the 

 distinguished scientists previously men- 

 tioned, were Prof. Simon Newcomb, 

 Prof. F. W. Putnam and Mr. W. J. 

 McGee, the last two of whom responded 

 to toasts. With this' at an end, the 

 meeting of the British association pass- 

 ed into history. It remains simply to 

 mention that next year's meeting will 

 be held in Bristol, and for the presi- 

 dency of that meeting Sir William 

 Crookes, the eminent chemist, has been 

 nominated. 



Vanquishing a Whale. 



Some time ago a whale that had 

 apparently grown tired of 'a life on the 

 ocean wave and a home in the rolling 

 deep,' wandered into the Strait of 

 Juan de Fuca bent upon a voyage of 

 discovery, and frequently, during the 

 early summer, passengers on the in- 

 coming steamers reported having sight- 

 ed the cetacean at various points on 

 Puget Sound. About the first of last 

 August he had passed the placid wat- 

 ters of Henderson's Bay, about twelve 

 miles southwest of Tacoma. Here he 

 seemed content to rest from his jour- 

 neyings, and could be seen cavorting 

 about daily, apparently for the sole 

 delectation of the summer residents of 

 Steilacoom, Long Branch, De Lano 

 Beach and other near-by suburban 

 summer resorts. Frequent excursion 

 parties visited the bay in yachts, 

 launches and row-boats, and at a re- 

 spectful distance, followed in the wake 

 of the whale and watched its maneuv- 

 ers with the greatest interest. 



It was not long before amateur 

 whaling f>arties were organized and, 

 provided with all manner of weapons, 

 from a revolver to a six-pound cannon, 

 started out to capture the sportive lev- 

 iathan. But their fusilade did not 

 seem to trouble or worry him in the 

 least; it seemed to be only an amusing 

 diversion, and he carried on a game of 

 hide-and-seek, with the would-be 

 whalers that was exceedingly tantaliz- 

 ing. 



On the afternoon of Tuesday, Sep- 

 tember I, however, a hustling partv, 

 consisting of Harvey H. Allger, Charles 

 H. Allger, Carl Evans and John Pur- 

 ple, all of them experienced oarsmen 

 and fishermen, quietly left the city in 

 a couple of ordinary skiffs, provided 

 with a number of crude lances and 

 harpoons of their own manufacture 

 and several hundred fathoms of rope. 

 Late in the evening they sighted the 

 whale, and after a lively chase of sev- 

 eral hours they succeeded in getting 

 near enough to put a harpoon into his 

 side. This quickly brought the creat- 



