ASSOCIATION'S Foil A I)VAX( 'EMENT OF SCIEXCE. (BRITISH.) 



43 



On the Zoology of tin 1 Sandwich Islands," and 

 "On the Biology of the Oceanic Islands." 



K. Geography, The presiding oilicer of this sec- 

 tion was Major Leonard Darwin, honorary secretary 

 of the Royal Geographical Society, who chose as the 

 subject of his addros " The Development of Africa 

 by Means of Railways." In opening, he reviewed 

 the record of geographical work during the past 

 year, and said, " All other performances pale in com- 

 parison with the feat accomplished by Nansen." 

 Then, passing to his subject proper, he said : " As 

 far as the immediate future is concerned, the points 

 to which our attention should be mainly directed 

 are the courses of the navigable parts of the rivers 

 and the routes most suitable for the construction of 

 railways in order to connect the navigable rivers 

 and lakes with the coast. Two routes for railways 

 from the coast to the Victoria Nyanza have been 

 proposed, one running through the British and the 

 other through the German sphere of influence. The 

 German route, as originally proposed, would be the 

 shorter of the two ; but there is some reason to 

 think that the British line will open up more coun- 

 try east of the lake which will be suitable for pro- 

 longed residence by white men. On the west coast 

 of Africa, the Congo presents a grand opportunity 

 of opening up the interior of the continent." 



Among the more important papers presented be- 

 fore this section were the following: "An Account 

 of a Short Journey in Tripoli." by II. S. Cowper ; 

 " On the Land of the Hausa," by Rev. J. C. Robin- 

 son ; " On Photographic Surveying." by John Coles ; 

 "On Marine Research in the North Atlantic," by 

 II. N. Dickson ; " A Proposed Scheme for a Geo- 

 graphical Description of the British Isles," by H. R. 

 Mill ; " Canada and its Gold Discoveries," by Sir 

 James Grant; "World Maps of Mean Monthly Rain- 

 fall," by Andrew J. Ilerhertson ; "On Practical 

 Geography in Manchester," by J. Howard Reed; 

 "The Southern Alps of New Zealand.'' by A. E. 

 Fitzgerald ; " The Egyptian Sudan," by Sir Charles 

 Wilson ; " On the Teaching of Geography in Rela- 

 tion to History," by A. \V. Andrews; "On the 

 Boundary between British Columbia and Alaska." 

 by E. Odium; "On Dr. Nansen and the Results of 

 his Recent Arctic Expedition." by J. Scott Keltie ; 

 "An Apparatus to illustrate Map Projections," by 

 A. J. Herbertson ; " A New Population Map of South 

 Wales," by R. V. Darbishire ; " Description of a 

 Journey through Tibet," by W. A. L. Fletcher; " On 

 the Relativity of Geographical Advantages.'' by 

 George C. Chisholm ; " Exploration in Northern 

 Iceland," by F. W. Howell ; " Notes on the Interior 

 of Iceland," by K. Groosman ; " The Various Bound- 

 ary Lines between British Guiana and Venezuela 

 attributed to Sir Robert H. Schomberg," by Ralph 

 Richardson; "A Journey to Spitzbergen," by Sir 

 W. .Martin Comvay: "The Present Condition of the 

 Ruined Cities of Ceylon," by II. W. Cave; "Earth- 

 quakes and Sea Waves," by John Milne ; " Old Tap- 

 estry Maps of England," by Rev. W. K. R. Bedford ; 

 " The Altels Avalanche of September, 1895," by Dr. 

 Tempest Anderson ; " A Journey from Uganda 

 down the Nile into Emin Pasha's Old Province." 

 by Lieut. G. Vandelaud ; " The Coast Farms of 

 Romney Marsh," by F. P. Gulliver; "Last Year's 

 Work of the Jackson Harmsworth Expedition," by 

 A. Montefiore Brice ; and " The Influence of Climate 

 and Vegetation on African Civilization," by G. F. 

 Scott-Elliott, 



Also the following reports were presented: "On 

 African Climate." by Ernest G. Ravenstein, and 

 "On Geographical Teaching." 



F. Economic Srienci' <nnl St/ifixfirs. This section 

 was to be presided over by Leonard Courtney, M. P. 

 who was prevented by illness from being present, and 

 the reading of his address devolved upon Mr. L. L. 



Price. It was essent ially a qualified defense of wide 

 individualism as opposed to the principles of collect- 

 ivism. He said : " However much we may contem- 

 plate the reconstruction of an industrial system, it 

 must, if it is to be a living social organism, be con- 

 stantly responsive to the ever-changing conditions 

 of growth; some parts must wax while others wane, 

 extending here and contracting there, and mani- 

 festing at every moment those phenomena of vigor 

 and decline which characterize life. In the develop- 

 ment of industry new and easier ways are constantly 

 being invented of doing old things ; places are being 

 discovered better suited for old industries than those 

 to which resort had been made ; there is a continu- 

 ous supersession of the worth of known processes 

 and of the utility of old forms of work involving a 

 supersession, or at least a transfer, of the labor 

 hitherto devoted to them. All these things compel 

 a perpetual shifting of seats of industry and of the 

 settlements of man, and no organization can be en- 

 tertained as practicable which does not lend itself 

 to those necessities. They are the prerequisites of 

 a diminution of the toil of humanity. As I have 

 said before, the theory of individual liberty, how- 

 ever guarded, afforde'd a working plan ; society 

 could and did march under it. The scheme of col- 

 lective action gives no such promise of practicabil- 

 ity: it seems to lack the provision of the forces 

 which should bring about that movement upon 

 which growth depends. The economist of the past 

 generation still holds his ground, and our best hope 

 lies in the fuller acceptance of his ideas. The econ- 

 omist, however, must feel, if he is to animate multi- 

 tudes and inspire legislatures, that he, too, has a 

 religion. Beneath the calmness of his analysis must 

 be felt the throb of humanity. Slow in any case 

 must be the secular progress of any branch of the 

 human family ; but if we take our stand upon facts, 

 if our eyes are open to distinguish illusions from 

 truth, if we are animated by the single purpose of 

 subordinating our investigations and our actions to 

 the lifting up of the standard of living, we may pos- 

 sess our souls in patience, waiting upon the promise 

 of the future." 



Among the more important papers presented be- 

 fore this section were: "Some Economic Issues in 

 regard to Charitable or Philanthropic Trading," by 

 ( . S. Loch ; " Trade Combinations and Prices," by 

 II. J. Falk; "Commercial Crises," by C. Juglar; 

 " That Ability is not the Proper Basis of Local Tax- 

 ation," by Edwin Camman ; "Some Observations 

 on the Distribution and Incidence of Rates and 

 Taxes, with Special Reference to the Transfer of 

 Charges from the Former to the Latter," by G. H. 

 Blunden ; " Proposed Modification of the Rating 

 System," by W. II . Smith ; " Farm Labor Colonies and 

 Poor-Law Guardians," by Harold Prince ; " The De- 

 cay of British Agriculture : Its Cause and its Cure," 

 by Charles Rintoul ; " Metric Measure and our Old 

 System," by Frederick Toms ; " A Comparison of 

 the Age Distribution of Town and County Popula- 

 tions on Different Lands," by A. W. Flux: "Mer- 

 cantile Markets for Futures." by Elijah Helm ; 

 "Grain Futures: Their Effects and Tendencies," by 

 H. R. Rathbone: "Cotton Futures: What they are, 

 and how they operate in Practice," by Charles 

 Stewart : " The Influence of Business in Futures on 

 Trade and Agriculture," by J. Silverberg; "The 

 Fluctuation of Prices." by "II. Binns; "The Cur- 

 rency Question in the United States and its Bearing 

 on British Interests." by Arthur Lee; "The Stand- 

 ard of Value and Price." by William Fowler: "An 

 International Standard," by George Peel : and " The 

 Monetary Standard," by Leonard Darwin. 



G. Mechanical .sv/ nee. Sir Douglas Fox, Vice- 

 President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, was 

 the presiding officer of this section. In his address 



