REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. XIX 
regarded by the General Committee, by the Council, and by the Members 
of the Association generally, is in any danger of being exhausted ; but from 
the opinion which I entertain that, as a general principle, the disadvantages 
of such offices being held by the same individual for several years outweigh 
the advantages,—and that in my own particular case it is safer to act on the 
general principle than to fancy myself an exception to it. 
“IT am aware that in Societies in which, as in the British Association, the 
Presidency is held but for a single year, it may be desirable that the next 
principal executive officer should be more permanent than when the Presi- 
dency is held for a longer period. But the office of General Secretary of 
the British Association for the Advancement of Science is one which confers 
honour and distinction on the individual who holds it, not only in Britain, 
but in all countries where science is enjoyed or its advancement desired ; 
and as such it may justly be regarded as an object of reasonable ambition. 
When the Meeting at Birmingham shall have concluded, I shall have com- 
pleted a cycle of ten years, and I consider that the time will then be fully 
arrived when, with propriety as regards myself, and with a due consideration 
of the interests of others, and pre-eminently those of the Association itself, 
I may resign the trust with which I have been honoured, into the hands 
from which I received it. 
*T have thought it my duty to give you this early intimation of my inten- 
tion, as it will probably be considered right that the recommendation of my 
successor should proceed from the Council. 
“T have, &c., 
“ RDWARD SABINE.” 
RECOMMENDATIONS ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL CoMMITTEE AT THE 
BirmincHamM Merrrtine in SrpremBer 1849, 
Involving Application to Government. 
_ That an application be made to Her Majesty’s Government, to establish 
_a Reflector not less than 3 feet in diameter, at the Observatory at the Cape 
of Good Hope, and to make such additions to the staff of the Observatory 
as may be necessary for its effectual working; and that the President be 
requested to communicate with Lord Rosse, Sir J. Herschel, the Astronomer 
Royal, Sir T. Brisbane, and Dr. Lloyd, on the subject, and to obtain the 
concurrence in the application, of the Royal and Astronomical Societies of 
London, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the Royal Irish Academy. 
_ That an application be made to the Master-General of the Ordnance, to 
_ haye the Levels of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland connected to the Mean 
4 SeaLevel, as deduced by Mr. Airy (Astronomer Royal) from the ‘Tide Obser- 
_ vations round that Island; and that the President, Trustees and Officers of 
f the British Association, and the President of the Royal and Geological So- 
_ cieties of London, and the Royal Irish Academy, be requested to make this 
_ application. 
___ That application be made to the Master-General of the Ordnance, to have 
the British Arc of the Meridian published in its full extent, and that the 
President, Trustees and Officers of the British Association, the Royal So- 
_cieties of London and Edinburgh, the Royal Irish Academy, and the Royal 
_ Astronomical Society, be requested to make such application. 
That the Members of the British Association who are also Members of 
_ the Legislature, be requested to act as a permanent Committee, to watch over 
_ the interests of Science, and to inspect the various measures from time to time 
‘introduced into Parliament likely to affect such interests; and that the Mar- 
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