AND THE STATE 213 



but actually loss of life might ensue, and indeed had 

 done so. This memorial was received with favour, 

 and De la Beche, the founder of the Geological Survey, 

 was authorised to establish a Mining Eecord Office 

 in conjunction with the Museum of Economic Geology 

 then housed in Craig's Court, Charing Cross. 



In the same year (1838) the Association put 

 forward the successful application to the Government 

 for the dispatch of a naval expedition Boss's ex- 

 pedition to the South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, 

 to which reference has been made in Chapter VI 

 (p. 180). Hooker in his presidential address to the 

 Association (1868) referred to the project of this 

 expedition, and stated that : 



' I wrote to my friends announcing my resolve 

 to accompany it, in whatever capacity I could obtain 

 a situation amongst its officers. It was thus that my 

 scientific career was first shaped ; and it is to this 

 expedition, which was one of the very earliest results 

 of the labours of the British Association, that I am 

 indebted for the honour you have conferred upon me, 

 in placing me in your President's chair.' 



It is perhaps most convenient to pursue the 

 subject of this chapter chronologically. It should 

 be explained that it has almost always been the 

 Council which has been the executive body in dealing 

 with Government departments, acting upon resolu- 

 tions drawn up by sectional or other committees, 

 and forwarded to it by the General Committee, 

 during annual meetings. In this way the Council 

 has sometimes been able, by devoting more time to 

 the consideration of a subject than is possible under 

 the high pressure of an annual meeting, to regulate 



