PROFESSOR AT KONIGSBERG 113 



had contributed one of the most important advances in con- 

 tinental science. My ' Conservation of Energy ' is better known 

 here than in Germany, and more than my other works. 



' Early this morning, Thursday, I was invited to breakfast 

 by Mr. Frost, a wealthy private individual and a geologist. 

 At his house I met Professor Stokes of Cambridge, a young 

 but most distinguished man, whom I had not expected to 

 see, because he had been in Switzerland. . . . 



'The British Association at Hull was, as I have already 

 told you, remarkably well attended ; there were 850 members 

 and 236 ladies. Here in England the ladies seem to be very well 

 up in science, though of course many of them come to show 

 themselves, or from curiosity, to listen to the discussions, 

 and amuse themselves with them. Still on the whole they are 

 attentive, and don't go to sleep, even under provocation. The 

 six sections of the Society sit every day from eleven to three. 

 From ten to eleven is occupied by the committees; I was 

 taken to the committee of the Physics Section. The public 

 generally wander from one section to another to hear the most 

 distinguished speakers. The communications naturally varied 

 greatly in quality : some were important scientific contributions, 

 some the tomfoolery of crack-brained persons who imagine 

 they have got hold of startling discoveries. But the presidents 

 generally knew how to suppress these people. I was most 

 interested in the arrangements for scientific investigations by 

 committees, and the way in which the English attack these 

 questions. Now, for instance, they are engaged upon a geo- 

 logical comparison of the surface of the earth with that of 

 the moon, by means of their splendid telescopes, a number 

 of astronomers and amateurs having joined together for this 

 purpose. Further, they are preparing to send a gigantic 

 telescope to the Southern Peninsula at Government cost, to 

 explore the southern heavens. The most popular departments 

 were geology, geography, and ethnology. These, too, attracted 

 the most distinguished speakers ; it is important to engage 

 a great number of people upon common work in these de- 

 partments, and the Association is very well adapted for this. 

 On the other hand, many of the best chemists, physicists, 

 and astronomers were absent, e. g. Airy, Faraday, Wheatstone. 

 Others were there whom I much wanted to meet. Grove, 



