44 ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OP SCIENCE. (BRITISH.) 



of spectra ; the remarkable employment of in- 

 terference phenomena by Albert A. Michelson 

 for the determination of the size, and distribu- 

 tion of light within them, of the images of ob- 

 jects which when viewed in a telescope subtend 

 an angle less than that _ subtended by the light- 

 wave of a distance equal to the diameter of the 

 objective. Along the older lines there has not 

 been less activity ; by newer methods, by the aid 

 of larger or more accurately constructed instru-, 

 ments, by greater refinement of analysis, knowl- 

 edge has been increased, especially in precision 

 and minute exactness. Then he closed with : 

 " Since the time of Newton our knowledge of 

 the phenomena of Nature has wonderfully in- 

 creased, but man asks, perhaps more earnestly 

 now than in his days, What is the ultimate 

 reality behind the reality of the perceptions ? 

 Are they only the pebbles of the beach with 

 which we have been playing? Does not the 

 ocean of ultimate reality and truth lie beyond ? " 



A. Mathematical and Physical Science. The 

 presiding officer of this section, Prof. Oliver J. 

 Lodge, began his address with a reference to the 

 Faraday centenary, the decease of Wilhelrn 

 Weber (one of the originators of that absolute 

 system of measurement which has done so much 

 for the unification of physical science), the dis- 

 covery in America of a binary system of stars, 

 and the practical discovery of a physical method 

 for color photography. After commenting on 

 these four events, he passed to the discussion of 

 the desirability or necessity of a permanent gov- 

 ernment physical laboratory. Such a laboratory 

 would be the natural custodian of our standards, 

 in a state fit for use and for comparison with 

 copies sent to be certified. 



There are many experiments which can not pos- 

 sibly be conducted by an individual, because forty or 

 fifty years is not long enough for them. Secular ex- 

 periments on the properties of materials the elastic- 

 ity of metals, for instance ; the effect of time on molec- 

 ular arrangement ; the influence of long exposure to 

 light, or to heat, or to mechanical vibration, or to 

 other physical agents. 



Does the permeability of soft iron decay with age 

 by reason of the gradual cessation of its' Amperian 

 currents ? Do gases cool themselves when adiabati- 

 cally preserved by reason of imperfect elasticity or too 

 many degrees of freedom of their molecules? Do 

 thermo-electric properties alter with time? And a 

 multitude of other experiments which appeal specially 

 applicable to substances in the solid state a state 

 which is more complicated and has been less investi- 

 gated than either the liquid or the gaseous a state 

 in which time and past history play an important 

 part. Whichever of these long researches requires to 

 be entered on, a national laboratory, with permanent 

 traditions and a continuous life, is undoubtedly the 

 only appropriate place. 



The question whether it has not been estab- 

 lished by direct experiment that a method of 

 communication exists between mind and mind 

 irrespective of the ordinary channels of con- 

 sciousness and the known organs of sense, and, 

 if so, what is the process f 



It can hardly be through some unknown sense 

 organ, but it may be by some direct physical Jnflu- 

 ence on the ether, or it may be in some still more sub- 

 tle manner. He said : Of the process I as yet know 

 nothing. For brevity it may be styled "'thought- 

 transference," though the name may turn out to be 

 an unsuitable one after further investigation. Fur- 

 ther investigation is just what is wanted. 



Then, discussing the means of attacking this 

 problem, he said : 



A vulnerable spot on our side seems to be the 

 connection between life and energy. The relation of 

 life to energy is not understood. Life is not energy, 

 and the death of an animal affects the amount of en- 

 ergy no whit; yet a live animal exerts control over 

 energy which a dead one can not. Life is a guiding 

 or directing principle, disturbing to the physical 

 world, but not yet given a place in the scheme of 

 physics. The transfer of energy is accounted for by 

 the performance of work ; the guidance of energy 

 needs no work, but demands force only. "What is 

 force ? and how can living beings exert it in the way 

 they do ? In some way matter can be moved, guided, 

 disturbed, by the agency of living beings ; in some 

 way there is a control, a directing agency, active, and 

 events are caused at its choice and will that would 

 not otherwise happen. Now I say that the doctrine 

 of ultimate intelligibility should be pressed into other 

 departments also At present we iiang back from 

 whole regions of inquiry and say they are not for us. 

 A few we are beginning to grapple with. The nature 

 of disease is yielding to scrutiny with fruitful result : 

 the mental aberrations and abnormities of hypnotism, 

 duplex personality, and allied phenomena are now at 

 last being taken under the wing of science, after long 

 ridicule and contempt. The phenomenon of crime, 

 the scientific meaning and justification of altruism, 

 and other matters relating to life and conduct, are 

 beginning to show a vulnerable front over which the 

 forces of science may pour. Facts so strange that 

 they have been called miraculous are now no longer 

 regarded as entirely incredible. All occurrences 

 seem reasonable when contemplated from the right 

 point of view, and some are believed in which in 

 their essence are still quite marvelous. The possibil- 

 ities of the universe are as infinite as is its physical 

 extent. I seem to myself to catch glimpses of clews to 

 many of these old questions, and 1 urge that we should 

 trust consciousness, which has led us thus far ; should 

 shrink from no problem when the time seems ripe 

 for an attack upon it; and should not hesitate to press 

 investigation and ascertain the laws of even the most 

 recondite problems of life and mind. 



Among the papers read before this section 

 were the following : " On the Action of a Planet 

 upon Small Bodies passing near the Planet with 

 Special Reference to the Action of Jupiter on 

 such Small Bodies," by Hubert A. Newton, of 

 Yale College; "The Absorption of Heat by the 

 Solar Atmosphere," by W. E. Wilson ; " The 

 Ultra-violet Lines of Solar Prominences," by 

 George E. Hale, of Chicago ; ' Researches Rela- 

 tive to the Second Law of Thermo-Dynamics," 

 by G. H. Bryan and J. Larmar ; " Researches on 

 the Surface Tension of Ether at Different Tem- 

 peratures," by Prof. Ramsay ; " Probable Nature 

 of the Bright Streaks on the Moon," by R. 

 Copeland ; " The Causes of Variation of Clark 

 Standard Cells," by J. Swinburne: "A New 

 Form of Polarizer," and " Some Points Con- 

 nected with Measurement of Lenses," by S. P. 

 Thompson ; " On the Periodic Time of Tuning- 

 Forks maintained in Vibration Electrically," by 

 J. Viriamu Jones and T. Harrison ; " Magnetic 

 Experiments made in Connection with the Deter- 

 mination of the Rate of Propagation of Magneti- 

 zation in Iron," by F. T. Trouton ; and " The 

 Connection between the Crystal Form and the 

 Chemical Composition of Bodies," by W. Bar- 

 low. Besides the foregoing, reports of various 

 committees were read and discussed, including 

 one " On Electric Standards " ; also, in joint ses- 

 sion with the section on Mechanical Science, the 



