40 



ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OP SCIENCE. 



somewhere not far from San Francisco, and 

 probably earlier in the summer. The follow- 

 ing officers were chosen : President, Edward W. 

 Morley, Cleveland. Ohio. Vice-presidents of 

 Sections: A,E. S. Holden, Mount Hamilton, Cal.; 

 B W. LeConte Stevens, Troy, N. V.: C, Wil- 

 liam McMurtrie, Brooklyn, N. V.; 1>. William 

 Kent, Passair. N. '.: K Jedediah Hotchkiss, 

 Staunton. Va. : F, David S. Jordan, Palo Alto, 

 Cal G John C. Arthur, Lafayette, Ind. ; H, 

 Frank 11. dishing Washington, D. C.; I, B. E. 

 Fernow, Washington, D. C. Permanent Secre- 

 tary, Frederick W. Putnam. Cambridge, Mass. 

 General Secretary. James Lewis Howe, Louisville, 

 Ky. Secretary of the Council, Charles K. Barnes, 

 Madison, Wis." Secretaries of the Sections: A, 

 Eliakim II. Moore, Chicago, 111. ; B, Ernest Mer- 

 riu. Ithaca, N. Y.; C. William P. Mason, Troy, 

 N. Y.; D. Henry S. Jacoby, Ithaca, N. Y. : E, 

 James Perrin Smith, Palo Alto, Cal. ; F, S. A. 

 Forl.es. Champaign. III.; G, Benjamin T. Gallo- 

 way. Washington, D. C. ; II, Anita Newcombe 

 . Washington, D. C. ; I, Edward A. Ross, 

 Palo Alto. Cal. Treasurer, R. S. Woodward, 

 New York. 



British. The sixty-fourth annual meeting 

 of the British Association for the Advancement 

 of Science was held in Oxford during Aug. 8- 

 15. The officers of the association were : Presi- 

 dent, the Marquis of Salisbury. Section Presi- 

 dents: A, Mathematics and Physics, Arthur W. 

 Rucker; B, Chemistry, Harold B. Dixon ; C, 

 Qeoloiry, La/arus Fletcher; D, Biology, Isaac 

 B. Baliour; K, Geography, W. J. L. Wharton ; 

 F, Economic Science and Statistics, C. F. Bas- 

 table; G, Mechanical Science, A. B. W. Ken- 

 nedy; H, Anthropology, William H. Flower; 

 I, Physiology, Edward D. Schaefer. General 

 Secretaries. Sir Douglas Galton and Vernon liar- 

 court. Assistant Secretary, G. Griffith. General 

 Treasurer, Arthur W. Rucker. For a portrait 

 of the Marquis of Salisbury, see the "Annual 

 Cyclopaedia" for IMS.-), page 448. 



General Meeting. The association began its 

 proceedings with a meeting of the general com- 

 mittee on Aug. 8, when the report of the coun- 

 cil was received and other business transacted. 

 It was presided over by the retiring president, 

 Dr. J. S. Bunion Sanderson. The report of the 

 council showed that they had received and 

 adopted the following report from their commit- 

 tees: 1. That it is not desira I ile that the invested 

 funds of the association be increased, and that 

 the floating balance in the hands of the treasurer 

 might be diminished if the bill for printing was 

 paid out of the capital. The committee recom- 

 mend that this be done. 2. That the treasurer 

 continue the practice, which he began at Not- 

 tingham, of presenting an estimate of the re- 

 ceipts and expenses of tin; association for the 

 current year. '.}. That it is not advisable to lay 

 down any rules as to the amount to be expended 

 in grants, but that as far as circumstances per- 

 mit, the following regulations should be adhered 

 to: (a) That J l.oiH! oe at pre^nl regarded as 1 lie 

 normal annual grant in aid of research: (b) that 

 this sum be annually granted, unless the esti- 

 mated floating balance in the hands of the treas- 

 urer at the end of the current financial year is 

 less than 500 or greater than 1,000; (c) if the 

 estimated balance falls short of 500, it is de- 



sirable that the grant should be reduced. If it 

 exceeds 1,000, the excess may be regarded as 

 available for increasing the grant above 1,000 ; 

 (J) in the case of a sudden increase of the float- 

 ing balance above 1,000, due to an exceptionally 

 large meeting, it is not desirable that the whole 

 of the surplus should be spent at one meeting. 

 4. That, in view of the large annual expenditure 

 on printing, the committee recommend that the 

 attention of committees to whom grants of 

 money are made be drawn to the importance of 

 economy. The following foreign scientists were 

 elected corresponding members : Prof. Christian 

 Bohr, Copenhagen, Denmark ; Prof. W. C. Brog- 

 ger, Christiania, Sweden ; Prof. W. Einthoven, 

 Leyden, Holland ; Prof. Paul Heger, Brussels, 

 Belgium ; Dr. R. Hertwig, Munich, Germany ; 

 Dr. Hans Hildebrand, Stockholm, Sweden : and 

 M. Henri Moissan, Paris, France. It was also 

 recommended that, instead of Section D and Sec- 

 tion I as at present constituted, there be three 

 sections namely. Section D, zoology; Section I, 

 physiology ; and Section K, botany. The coun- 

 cil propose that the word " mineralogy " be omit- 

 ted from the title of Section B, as papers on 

 mineralogy are read not only in this section, but 

 also in the physical section and in the geological 

 section. The treasurer's report showed re- 

 ceipts amounting to 4,600, including the sale 

 of 970 worth of consols and the transfer of 

 500 in Exchequer bills from investments ac- 

 count. The expenditure included 133 for the 

 Nottingham meeting, 2,182 for the printing of 

 two years and the printing of the index 1861-'90, 

 633 for grants made at Nottingham, and the 

 balance in hand (including the 500 of Exchequer 

 bills) was 1.094. 



The usual vote of thanks to the retiring presi- 

 dent was offered by Sir Frederick Bramhall and 

 seconded by Sir Archibald Geikie. The first 

 general gathering of the association was held in 

 the evening in the Sheldonian Theater, when 

 the retiring president performed his last official 

 duty by introducing his successor, who then ad- 

 dressed the association on "Scientific Enigmas." 



The President's Address. The Marquis of 

 Salisbury said, in opening his address : " My 

 functions are of a more complicated character 

 than usually is assigned to the occupants of this 

 chair. As chancellor of the university it is my 

 duty to tender to the British Association a 

 hearty welcome, which it is my duty as president 

 of the association to accept. As president of 

 the association I convey, most unworthily, the 

 voice of English science; but in representing 

 the university I represent far more fittingly the 

 learners who are longing to hear the lessons 

 which the first teachers of English science have 

 come as visitors to teach." Briefly reviewing 

 the relations of the association and the uni- 

 versity, he mentioned the previous visits of the 

 association to Oxford in 1832, 1847, and 1860, 

 and showed the differences between the old 

 learning and the new. u Few men are now in- 

 fluenced by the strange idea that questions, of 

 religious belief depend on the issues of physical 

 research. Few men, whatever their creed, would 

 now seek their geology in the books of their re- 

 ligion, or, on the other hand, would fancy that 

 t he laboratory or the microscope could help 

 them to penetrate the mysteries which hang over 



