97 



Eeport of Delegates to the Congress of the South- 

 eastern Union of Scientific Societies, held at 

 Bournemouth. 



By E. Step, F.L.S. 

 Read JULY 9th. 1914. 



The nineteenth annual Congress, which was held at Bourne- 

 mouth from the 10th to the 13th of June, was attended by both 

 your delegates throughout. In a matter of this sort, where the 

 venue is changed every year, and the conditions varied, it would be 

 invidious to make nice comparisons between the congresses of 

 different years ; and only one who had attended them all would be 

 justified in making such a comparison. But it would probably be 

 safe to say that the Congress of 1914 cannot have fallen behind 

 any of its predecessors. Sufficient time had been allowed to the 

 local committees to fully organize, and in all their eftbrts they 

 appear to have been heartily supported by the Mayor and Corpora- 

 tion of the County Borough. 



The latter body placed at our disposal a fine range of apartments 

 in the new Municipal College at Lansdowne, so that our operations 

 could be carried on Avithout crowding; and the Congress Museum 

 was displayed in a number of well-lighted and spacious rooms, 

 where its contents could be studied with comfort. The lectures 

 were varied, and each afternoon there was a choice of three excur- 

 sions, so that although the archaeologists had their full share as 

 usual, it was not obtained at the expense of the naturalists, as on 

 some former occasions. The hospitality committee, too, appears to 

 have left nothing undone that could minister to the comfort of 

 the guests, and if the other delegates were as fortunate in this 

 respect as the writer of this report the arrangements must be 

 pronounced perfect. 



On Wednesday afternoon the members foregathered in the recep- 

 tion-rooms, and after the mutual salutations of old friends and new 

 acquaintances, walked through the town and the public gardens to 

 Alum Chine. In the evening the Congress was formally opened by 

 the Mayor in an address of welcome, and the new President, Dr. 

 P. Chalmers Mitchell, delivered the Presidential Address — on 

 " Science and Life," an eloquent attempt to trace the development 

 of consciousness and the various reactions consequent upon it. 



On Thursday morning we began at 9.15 with a meeting of the 

 Council, followed at 10 by the Delegates' session at which various 



