REPORT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE. xlvii 



Report of the Parliamentary Committee of the British Association to 

 the Meeting at Glasgow in September 1855. 



The Parliamentary Committee have the honour to Report as follows : — 



The labours of the Committee during the past year have been confined 

 to two subjects : 



1st. The juxtaposition of the Scientific Societies in some central lo- 

 cality of the Metropolis ; 



And, 2ndly. The report on the question, Whether any measures could 

 be adopted by the Government or Parliament that would improve the 

 position of Science or its Cultivators in this Country. 



As to the first, — 



We have co-operated with the Committee of the Memorialists in endea- 

 vouring to obtain a reply to the Memorial on this subject presented to Lord 

 Aberdeen, the First Lord of the Treasury, in May 1853, and we have learned 

 from our Chairman that a Deputation of the Memorialists, of which he was 

 a member, had a satisfactory interview with Lord Palmerston on the 30th 

 of June last. 



As to the second, — 



Your Committee have, since their last Report, received a great many very 

 valuable suggestions, both from those eminent persons who had before done 

 them the honour to reply to their Circular, and from many others occupying 

 distinguished positions as men of science. They have also had the benefit 

 of the assistance of their new colleague, Mr. John Ball, and of others of their 

 own body who had not previously expressed any opinion on the various in- 

 teresting questions discussed in the Report, as originally framed. 



Your Committee maturely considered all these opinions and suggestions, 

 and finally agreed on the Report, which, by permission of your Council, 

 has been already printed and circulated among the Members of the Asso- 

 ciation*. 



Your Chairman has forwarded a copy of this Report to Lord Palmerston 

 and other Members of the Cabinet, and to certain distinguished Members 

 of the Legislature, accompanied by the following letter : — 



" Wrottesley, August 1855. 



" I have the honour to forward to you a Report, carefully prepared, after 

 consulting many of the most distinguished Cultivators of Science on the in- 

 teresting question therein discussed. 



" The object aimed at was to collect together and enumerate all the pre- 

 sent requirements of Science, considered in its relation to the ruling powers 

 and educational establishments of the State ; and these various desiderata 

 will be found in the last page of the enclosed Report in the form of ten pro- 

 positions. 



" It must not be inferred from the course which has been taken in pre- 

 paring this Report, that a necessity is believed to exist for the immediate 

 adoption of all its suggestions ; but with respect to the tenth and last, viz. 

 the creation of a Board of Science, it may with confidence be affirmed, that 

 this measure would of itself, and at a trifling cost, confer most important 

 benefits on the Government and Nation, and that it deserves early and serious 

 consideration. 



" I remain, yours faithfully, 



" Wrottesley. " 



* This Report, dated July 14, 1855, is given in pp. 7-22. 



