C16 Meeiinf/ of the British Association. [Oct., 



dore. M. de Tchihatchef declared the Russian invasion of India to 

 be a bugbear ; but intimated that both England and Eussia have a 

 peculiar mission in Central Asia, which can only be successfully 

 carried out by a combination of their exertions, and by their placing 

 their moral and material interests under the mighty safeguard of 

 peace, mutual sympathy, religious toleration, and justice. 



In the discussion which followed the reading of this remarkable 

 paper. Lord Halifax said it was undeniable that the advance of 

 Russia towards the northern frontier of India caused some uneasi- 

 ness ; but when he was Secretary of State he gave his attention to 

 this important question, and came to the conclusion that the alarms 

 which existed in many minds were utterly unfounded. These alarms, 

 he believed, M. de Tchihatchef 's paper would in a great measure 

 dissipate. Lord Houghton was a little more cautious in expressing 

 unqualified satisfaction at the advances of Russia, though he con- 

 sidered the objects of Russia to be similar to what our own have 

 been, viz. — " in a certain degree to promote its own power, but in 

 a greater degree to extend civilization." 



Mr. Trelawney Saunders considered the question was not a mili- 

 tary one, but one of commercial and administrative competition. 



A paper "On the Encroachment of the Sea on Exmouth 

 Warren " was next read by Mr. Gr. Peacock, and was followed by 

 one, entitled " On the Kitai and Kara Kitai," by Dr. Gr. Oppert. 

 The Kitai Dr. Oppert described as a people who once ruled over 

 Central Asia and China, and who gave their name to x\sia. He 

 also said that the fcxmous Prester John was Emperor of this people, 

 who now live in a humble condition in the Russian Government of 

 Derberd, and in the Siberian district of Hi. 



The Section did not meet on Saturday in consequence of the 

 excursion to Plymouth ; and on Monday the proceedings com- 

 menced with a paper by Captain R. C. Mayne, R.N., on " Recent 

 Surveys in the Straits of Magellan." Captain ]\Iayne alluded to 

 the history of the discovery of the Straits, and described their 

 geographical position. He pointed out their use in avoiding the 

 troul)lesome passage arouud Cape Horn ; aud gave some particulars 

 respecting the size and appearance of the Patagonians and Fuegiaus. 

 The former are not such giants as have been represented, their 

 average height being from 5 feet 10 inches to 5 feet 11 inches, 

 though he measured one man who was 6 feet 10^ inches high. 



Admiral Sir Edward Belcher read a paper " On the Distribu- 

 tion of Heat on the Sea Surface throughout the Globe," and was 

 followed by Mr. A. G. Findlay " On the supposed Influence of the 

 Gulf-stream on the Climate of North- Western Europe." The 

 author demurred to many of the theories that have been advanced 

 on this suliject, and accounted for th(^ phenomena of our warm winter 



