34 



ASSOCIATIONS FOR ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. (AUSTRALASIAN.) 



was read by Horatio Hale, who is an American 

 by birth and ancestry, although a resident of 



Poniilar Features. Two general lectures 

 were delivered before the association one on 

 " Mimicry," by E. B. Poulton, and the other on 

 "Uimrtx 'Fibers and their Applications, by C. 

 V.rnon Boys. Also Prof. John Perry gave a 

 lerture on "Spinning Tops." Visits were paid 

 i lu riii" the week to places of interest, including 

 Yord'ontefnict, Sheffield, Wakefield, Walton, 

 P.ndlin-rton, Conisimrgh Castle, Farnley Hall, 

 ll:iivw.i.d. and the Ruskin Museum and Meers- 

 brook Park. After the meeting ten excursions 

 were provided for the pleasure of the members. 

 Of these, that to Ripon and Fountains Abbey, 

 and that to Castle Howard and Kirkham Abbey 

 were the most popular. A geological party visit- 

 ed Ingleborough. where they were shown the Great 

 < 'raven Fault, Malham Cave, and Goodale Scar. 

 The remaining excursions were to Beverley and 

 Selby Abbey; Skipton, Bolton, and Ilkley; 

 Kim'resborough, Harrowgate, and Plumpton ; 

 In-U'horouLrh: Coxwold Byland, Rievaulx Ab- 

 bevs, and Helmsley;.and York. 



Next Meeting. At a gathering of the Gen- 

 eral Committee it was decided to hold the meet- 

 ing in 1891 at Cardiff, beginning on Aug. 19, and 

 the meeting in 1892 will be held in Edinburgh. 

 Dr. William Huggins, whose scientific reputation 

 has been attained by his studies of the applica- 

 t inn of the spectroscope to astronomy, was chosen 

 president, and Lord Windsor (Lord-Lieutenant 

 of Glamorganshire), the Marquis of Bute, Lord 

 Ravleigh, Lord Tredegar, Lord Aberdare, Sir J. 

 T. I). Llewellyn, Prof. Michael Forster, and Dr. 

 A. Geikie were elected vice-presidents. The other 

 officers chosen were Prof. A. W. Williamson, 

 general treasurer ; Sir Douglas Galton and Ver- 

 non Harcourt, general secretaries ; and George 

 Griffith, assistant general secretary. The attend- 

 ance at the meeting was good, though not equal 

 to that of last year. Some 1,775 tickets were 

 sold, and the receipts were 1,776, out of which 

 1,&!5 was distributed in 34 grants to scientific 

 men for the purpose of aiding them in various 

 bmotigations. 



Australasian. This association came into 

 existence in 1888, and held its first meeting at 

 Sydney in August of that year. According to 

 its rules, it must meet in turn in the capital 

 of the various colonies, and the second 

 inert in*,' was held in Melbourne, beginning on 

 Jan. 7, and w.-is continued during the following 

 wrek. It is the rule to choose the vice-presidents 

 and secretaries from the colony in which the as- 

 sociation meets, while the president is selected 

 from elsewhere. The officers of the meeting 

 W.TI-: I 'n-sident, Baron Sir Ferdinand von Muel- 

 ler. General Secretary, Archibald Liversidge; 

 i-nt of Section A, Astronomy, Mathema- 

 tics. I'hy-i-s, and Mechanics, Prof. Threlfall ; 

 President of Section B, Chemistry and Mineral- 

 o-ry. l'r,,r. I-;. H. Rennie; President of Section 

 ology and Paleontology, Prof. Hutton ; 

 President ,.f Section I), Biology, Prof. A. P. 

 Thomas; President of Section E, Geography, 

 \V. II. Miskin; President of Section F, Eco- 

 nomic and S.i.-ial Selene,- and Statistics, R. M. 

 Johnston ; President of Section G, Anthropology, 

 J. Forrest; President of Section H, Sanitary 



Science and Hygiene, Dr. J. Ashburton Thomas ; 

 President of Section I, Literature and Fine 

 Arts, J. W. Agnew; President of Section J, 

 Architecture and Engineering, Prof. Warren. 

 The buildings and grounds of the University of 

 Melbourne were placed at the disposal of the as- 

 sociation, and the section meetings were held in 

 its halls. An official journal of the proceedings 

 was published each morning, and every member 

 was supplied with a copy of a special hand-book 

 compiled for the occasion and containing the 

 following chapters: " History of Victoria," " Ge- 

 ology of Melbourne," " Aborigines of Victoria," 

 " Zoology, Vertebrata," " Zoology, Invertebrata," 

 " Entomology," " Botany," " Commerce and 

 Manufactures," and " Climate." The Govern- 

 ment of Victoria voted 1,000 toward defray- 

 ing the expenses of the meeting, and the enter- 

 tainments provided by the hospitality of citizens 

 were " numerous and on a most sumptuous 

 scale." Short afternoon excursions to places of 

 scientific interest were arranged for, and at the 

 close of the meeting longer trips under special 

 leaders were made to the Australian Alps, the 

 Black Spur and Marysville, Gippsland Lakes, 

 Ferntree Gully, Ballarat, and Sandhurst. The 

 roll of membership includes 1,060 names, and 

 600 members were in attendance. Upward of 

 150 papers were read before the sections. 

 . Presidential Addresses. Baron von Mueller, 

 who has made a reputation for himself as an ex- 

 plorer in the early history of the colonies and 

 since has achieved special distinction as an an-' 

 thority on the botany of Australia, addressed the 

 association on the past and future of Australa- 

 sian science. Of the other addresses, that before 

 Section A by Prof. Threlfall was on the present 

 state of electrical knowledge. Prof. Rennie 

 spoke before Section B of the work that had been 

 done in the investigations of the chemistry of 

 native plants and minerals, and made sugges- 

 tions as to how this work might in future be en- 

 couraged and facilitated. The address before 

 Section C by Prof. Hutton was on the oscilla- 

 tions of the earth's surface. Prof. Thomas dis- 

 cussed before Section D the problems awaiting 

 the biologist in Australia and the local deside- 

 rata in scientific education. The explorations 

 in Australia and New Guinea and the impor- 

 tance to the colonies of Antarctic exploration as 

 well as the geographical work now in progress 

 in other parts of the colony formed the subject 

 of the address before Section E by W. H. Mis- 

 kins. The current social and economic prob- 

 lems of the colonies were discussed by R. M. 

 Johnston before Section F. J. Forrest's address 

 before Section G dealt with the present condi- 

 tion of the Australian aboriginal races. Dr. 

 Thomas discussed the sanitary organizations of 

 Victoria and New South Wales and the modes of 

 obtaining and interpreting health statistics be- 

 fore Section I. A review of the literature and 

 art of Australia was the subject of Dr. Agnew's 

 address before Section I. Prof. Warren spoke 

 before Section J on the education of engineers 

 with special reference to the local conditions and 

 requirements. 



Committee Reports. The most important 

 of the committee reports was that on the census 

 of the known minerals of the Australian colo- 

 nies. The portions dealing with New South 



