ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OP SCIENCE. 



49 



town authorities extended an invitation to the 

 association t<> MX rt in Nottingham in 



Popular Features. On the cveninirof Aug. 

 rsazione was given in Park Hall, at 

 which the .Marquis of Bute, as the chairman of 

 tin- local committee, and tho Marchioness of Unto 

 . (1 tin' mcmlici-s. As n.Mial, there were sev- 

 eral discourses delivered to tho association. On 

 .'I l.ouis ('. Miall lectured on "Some Dif- 

 ficulties in the Life of Aquatic Insects"; on 

 .'I Arthur Rilcker spoke on "Electric 

 " ; and on Aug. 25 Sylvanus P. Thompson 

 delivered ; iin address on " Electricity in Mining." 

 Twenty excursions were arranged for, twelve of 

 which were planned for Aug. 22 and eight for 

 .'?, at the close of the meeting. Several 

 reception-; were tendered to the members by resi- 

 dents of Cardiff, and in general interest the 

 meeting was fully up to the average gathering 

 of the association. 



Australian. The third meeting of this asso- 

 ciation was held in Christchurch, rfew Zealand, 

 during the week beginning with Jan. 15,1891. 

 The officers of the meeting were : President, Sir 

 .lames Hector. Vice-presidents: Sir It. G. C. 

 Hamilton, A. Lebius, W. C. Kernot, W. Saville 

 Kent, and Thomas Blackburn. General Treas- 

 urer, Henry C. Russell. Permanent Secretary, 

 Archibald Livcrsidge. Presidents of the Sec- 

 tions: A. Mathematics, Physics, and Mechanics, 

 T. K. Lyle ; B, Chemistry and Mineralogy, Orrae 

 Maxoii; C, Geology and Palaeontology, Reginald 

 A. I-'. Murray; I>, Biology, W. A. HasweTl ; E, 

 Geography, G. S. Griffiths; F, Economic and 

 Social Science and Statistics, G. W. Cotton; G, 

 Anthropology, Alfred W. Howitt; H, Sanitary 

 Science and llygiene, Allan Campbell ; I, Litera- 

 ture and Fine Arts, II. II. Roe; J. Architecture 

 and Engineering, John Sulman. 



Meetings. The different sections met in 

 rooms in Canterbury College that were placed 

 at their disposal by the college authorities. The 

 first general meeting was held in the old Pro- 

 vincial Council Chamber on* the evening of Jan. 

 15, when Baron Ferdinand von Mueller resigned 

 the chair to Sir James Hector, the director of the 

 New Zealand Geological Survey, who delivered 

 an inaugural address on assuming the presidency 

 of tho association. On the following morning 

 the different sections met, and their presiding 

 officers delivered addresses, as follow : C, " The 

 Past and Future of Mining in Victoria," by 

 Robert A. Murray; D, "Recent Biological 

 Theories." by \V. A. Haswell; E, "Antarctic 

 Exploration,' 1 * by G. S. Griffiths ; F, " A State 

 Bank of Issue-," by G. W. Cotton: G, "Cere- 

 monies of Initiation in Australian Tribes," by A. 

 W. Howitt; II, "The Advancement of Sanita- 

 tion among the People," by Allan Campbell; I, 

 "Literature in Education," l>y It. 11. Koe, and J, 

 "The Architecture of Towns," by John Sulman. 

 The sections continued to meet until Jan. 21. and 

 during the mean while 74 papers were read and 

 discussed. 



Reports. A revised code of laws was adopted 

 for confirmation at the next meeting. Ten re- 

 search committees were appointed to report on 

 different subjects to the next meeting, and a grant 

 of 25 was made toward measuring the rate of 

 motion of the New Zealand glaciers. As great 

 inconvenience is often felt from the want of a 

 VOL. xxxi. 4 A 



special name for the sea between New Zealand 



and An-: i.ili.-i. a recommendation waH adopted 

 that the Lords of the Admiralty be requested to 

 name this sen theTasman Sea. The committee 

 also recommended the appointment, by the 

 British and American associations, of a conjoint 

 committee to define the terms of general imj>or- 

 tance in biology ; and that Little Barrier Island, 

 north of New Zealand, and Resolution Island, 

 in Dusky Sound, be set apart as reserves, where 

 the native fauna and flora of New Zealand may 

 be preserved from destruction. 



Entertainments. Three evening lectures 

 were given before the association, as follow : On 

 Jan. 16, " The Glaciers of theTasman Valley," by 

 ( ;. ]'.. Mannering ; on Jan. 19, " Oysters and Oyster 

 Culture in Australasia," by W. Saville Kent, 

 Queensland Commissioner of Fisheries ; and on 

 Jan. 20, "A Short History of Vocal Music," by 

 G. F. Tendall. Garden parties were given by Sir 

 James Hector, Leonard Harper, and the Bishop 

 of Christchurch ; while, on Jan. 22, Spohr's ora- 

 torio of the " Last Judgment " was given in the 

 cathedral by its choir. 



- Excursions, during the meeting, were made, 

 on Jan. 19, to the Christchurch drainage works; 

 on Jan. 20, to the Addington workshops ; on 

 Jan. 21, to Kaiapoi woolen factory and Belfast 

 freezing works ; and on Jan. 22, to the Lincoln 

 Agricultural College. After the meeting, excur- 

 sions were made on Jan. 24, from Palmerston 

 South to the mouth of the Shag river ; on Jan. 

 26, from Napier toRuapehu and Tongariro ; and 

 on Jan. 28, from Port Chalmers to the West 

 Coast Sounds. 



The meeting was considered a successful one, 

 and the attendance was about 470. Among the 

 visitors was Prof. George L. Goodale, past pres- 

 ident of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, who went to the meeting 

 as the official representative of the sister asso- 

 ciation in the United States. 



Next Meeting. The next meeting will be 

 held at Hobart, Tasmania, with Sir Robert 

 Hamilton, Governor of the colony, as president. 



French. The twentieth annual meeting of 

 the French Association for the Advancement of 

 Science was held in Marseilles during the week 

 beginning Sept. 17. The president was P. P. De- 

 herain, a member of the scientific section of the 

 French Institute, who delivered an address " On 

 the Relations of Chemistry and Physiology to 

 Agriculture." The opening session was hem on 

 the afternoon of Sept. 17, when M. Baret, the 

 Mayor of Marseilles, welcomed the gathering in 

 a short address, in which he spoke of the honor 

 that his city felt in receiving the distinguished 

 scientists ; and, after referring to the history of 

 Marseilles a city of 400,000 inhabitants, and 

 one that had been in existence for more than 

 twenty-five centuries he told of what it had 

 done to advance the cause of science, citing the 

 various industries and technical works which 

 would be opened for inspection during the meet- 

 ing of the association. 



President's Address. After referring to the 

 different places at which tho association had 

 met in previous years, and especially to tho 

 meeting of 1890, when the unveiling of the 

 statue of Gay Lussae, in Limoges, was deferred 

 until the arrival of the association, he an- 



