; 
. 
at, 
93 
day eight different sections met in different rooms, and papers 
on various subjects were read and discussed. After alluding toa 
number of celebrities who were with the Association at Montreal, 
he proceeded to speak of the inaugural and subsequent meetings 
that were held. Wednesday, he said, was memorable for the 
admirable address of His Excellency the Marquis of Lansdowne, 
Governor-General of Canada. This had been followed by the 
address of the president, Lord Rayleigh, which was a review of 
many points of scientific interest. On the Thursday the sec- 
tional meetings had been commenced, and in the section 
devoted to economic science, Sir Richard Temple had dealt with 
general statistics of the British Empire. The area directly and 
indirectly under its control he estimated at ten million square 
miles, or one-fifth of the habitable globe; the population was 
about 815 millions, or 33 persons to each square mile; and in 
England, where the population was densest, there were 485 
persons to each square mile. With regard to shipping he had 
said that, so far as steamers were concerned, the British flag 
covered as many of those as all other nations put together. One- 
third of the world’s commerce belonged to the British Empire. 
The United Kingdom itself did one-third of the banking business 
of the world. The school statistics given had been very remark- 
able inasmuch as it had appeared from the same that there were five 
and a quarter millions of pupils in the United Kingdom with its 
population of thirty-six millions, and nearly nine millions in 
the British Empire with its three hundred and five millions of 
inhabitants. The United States, with a population of fifty-five 
millions, had ten millions of pupils, at a cost of seventeen 
millions sterling, By Mr. E. Atkinson, of Boston, a paper had 
been read showing that, for manufactures, as the cost of produc- 
tion was lowered, the labourers and not the owners gained the 
greatest advantage. Rates of wages varied inversely with the 
cost of production. It had been shown by the gentleman named 
that the average wage per operative, per year, rose from £35 in 
3 1840 to £55 8s. in 1883, an increase of 64 per cent., whilst the 
profit per yard fell 63 percent. In the Biological Section a most 
interesting address on deep sea life had been given by Professor 
Moseley. Deep sea life had been divided into three different 
groups by the Professor, namely, the Pelagic, the littoral, and 
the lowest hundred fathom zone. At great depth food was 
derived from the debris of the littoral and terrestrial fauna, and 
from that of the Pelagic or surface fauna. It was said to be 
possible that bacteria, which were the agents of decomposition, 
could not live under the enormous pressure there would be at 
great depths. It was also probable that the sense organs of 
animals living in such strange environments would yield many 
points of great interest when they came to be examined. The 
