AND THE STATE 219 



1853-54. About four years earlier than this date 

 proposals had been discussed for the formation into 

 a committee of * members of the Association who 

 are also members of the legislature/ The first idea 

 seems to have been that any person combining these 

 two qualifications should ipso facto belong to the 

 committee ; but the obvious possibilities of compli- 

 cations arising from such a practice led the General 

 Committee to limit the new body (which became 

 known as the Parliamentary Committee) to selected 

 members of both Houses of Parliament who belonged 

 to the Association. The conception no doubt was 

 meritorious, though (as will appear later) it did not 

 prove a practical permanent scheme ; but on the 

 invitation of the committee it got quickly to work, 

 and at first took off the shoulders of the Council some 

 of the burden of periodical communication with 

 Government authorities. In the year under notice 

 the Council transmits to the General Committee the 

 report of the Parliamentary Committee as part of 

 its own report. Representations by members of the 

 committee helped to lead the Board of Trade to 

 improve conditions and facilities for navigation, and 

 for accumulating marine meteorological data on a 

 large scale. The scheme, with which a famous 

 American name is associated that of Lieut. Maury 

 affords another illustration of effective co-operation 

 between the Association and the Royal Society. The 

 Committee also reported some interesting corre- 

 spondence which had passed between it and the 

 Earl of Aberdeen on the principles governing the 

 award of Civil List Pensions, in relation to scientific 

 workers. 



The Parliamentary Committee also reports in 



