ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OP SCIENCE. 



45 



opening and closing Under Water " ; " On the Marine 

 Zoology of the Irish Sea " ; and " On Collecting Facts 

 and Observations on Telegony." 



E. Geography. This section was presided 

 over by Captain W. J. L. Wharton, of the royal 

 navy and hydrographer to the Admiralty, who 

 devoted his "address to a review of the present 

 state of our knowledge concerning the sea. At 

 the outset he mentioned that Mr. John Murray, 

 after a laborious computation, has shown that the 

 ciibical extent of the ocean is fourteen times that 

 ^of the dry land. In considering the subject of 

 ocean currents, he pointed out that it was doubt- 

 ful whether we shall ever much advance in our 

 knowledge of this subject except in small details. 

 It may now be safely held that the prime motor 

 of the surface currents is the wind not by any 

 means the wind that may blow, and' even per- 

 sistently blow, over the portion of water that is 

 moving more or less rapidly in any direction, but 

 the great winds which blow usually from the 

 same general quarter over vast areas. These 

 combined with deflection from the land settle 

 the main surface circulation. The velocity of the 

 Gulf Stream and the long and patient investiga- 

 tion by officers of the United States Coast and 

 Geodotic Survey was mentioned. Observations 

 of other currents were described and deductions 

 made from the results obtained. Concerning the 

 depth of the ocean, he said the deepest soundings 

 known were obtained 110 miles outside the Ku- 

 rile Islands, where there are 4,655 fathoms, or 

 27,930 feet, of water. The mean depth of the 

 northern Pacific Ocean is over 2,500 fathoms, 

 and that of the southern Pacific Ocean 2,400 

 fathoms. The Indian Ocean has a mean depth 

 of a little over 2,000 fathoms, while the Atlantic 

 has a mean depth of 2,200 fathoms. The tem- 

 perature of the ocean is an interesting point. 

 That of the surface is most important to us, as it 

 is largely 011 it that the climates of different 

 parts of the world depend. Great differences of 

 surface temperature prevail in localities in which 

 storms are generated. Wind driving off a shore 

 drifts the surface water before it. This explains 

 why on all western coasts of the great continents 

 off which the trade winds blow we find an almost 

 absolute dearth of coral. Of the waves that con- 

 tinually disturb the face of the sea, the greatest 

 and most regular is the tidal wave. The re- 

 searches of Lord Kelvin and Prof. Darwin on 

 this subject were referred to, and they afford an 

 explanation of the great and sudden waves that 

 have caused devastation and great loss of life on 

 the shores of western South America. Observa- 

 tions on the mean level of the sea show that it 

 constantly varies in some places more than 

 others. This is frequently accounted for by the 

 action of the wind, but in some instances can not 

 as yet be explained. The value and necessity of 

 accurate coast charts was mentioned, and the 

 statement made " that the main efforts of the 

 hydrographer were directed to the improvement 

 of charts for safe navigation, and the time that 

 can be spared to the elucidation of purely scien- 

 tific problems is limited." 



Among the papers read before this popular 

 section were : 



"Current Polar Exploration," by H. W. Feilden; 

 'Researches in Asia Minor," by D. G. Hogarth; 

 "Russian Armenia," by A. Mark oft'; "Montenegro 



and Albania," by W. II. Cozens-Hardy ; " A Bathy- 

 metrical Survey of the English Lakes," by Hugh R. 

 Mill; "Methods of surveying and constructing 

 Bathymetrical Maps of the irench Lakes," by M. E. 

 Delebecque; "The Currents of the Faroe Shetland 

 Channel and the North Sea," by H. N. Dickson; 

 " Geographical Photography," by John Thomson ; 

 " A New Light on the Discovery of America," by H. 

 Yule Oldham ; " Explorations in the Sierra Madre 

 of Mexico," by Osbert H. Howarth ; " A Visit to Brit- 

 ish New Guinea," by Miss Frances Baildon ; " Bhu- 

 tan and the Eastern Himalaya," by H. H. Godwin- 

 Austen ; " On a Climatology of Tropical Africa," by 

 E. G. Eavenstein ; " On the Expansion of the Royal 

 Geographical Society's Rules for the Spelling of For- 

 eign Names," by G. G. Chisholm ; "A Journey in the 

 Libyan Desert," by Weld Blundell; "Researches by 

 the Prince of Monaco in the North Atlantic and 

 Mediterranean during the Summer of 1894," by J. T. 

 Buchanan ; " On the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedi- 

 tion," by A. Montefiore " Geographical and Bathy- 

 metical'Distribution of Marine Organisms," by John 

 Murray ; " The G^graphy of the Hadramaut in 

 South Arabia," by Theodore Bent ; and " Geography 

 of Lower Nubia," by Seiners Clarke. A " Report of 

 the Committee on Antarctic Exploration" was pre- 

 sented by Hugh R. Mill. 



F. Economic Science and Statistics. The 

 presiding officer of this section was Prof. C. F. 

 Bastable, of Dublin, whose address consisted of 

 a review of the progress in economic science 

 since 1860, when the British Association met last 

 in Oxford. He said : What is usually known as 

 orthodox political economy had taken its final 

 'shape and reached its highest point of practical 

 influence just at the time when Nassau W. 

 Senior, one of its most typical expositors, was 

 chosen to preside over Section F at its first meet- 

 ing here. Three causes have operated in bring- 

 ing about the change in the position of the sci- 

 ence, viz. : (1) The influence of foreign, and 

 chiefly German, workers in the same field ; (2) 

 the profound though peaceful political revolu- 

 tion by which power has been transferred to the 

 working classes ; and (3) the growth of the doc- 

 trine of evolution, which has been more potent in 

 its effects on the social than even on the biological 

 sciences. Still, the amended economic doctrine, 

 as it appears to-day, seems to require f urther ex- 

 pansion and readjustment. Questions of value, 

 money, credit, and foreign trade are more af- 

 fected by social conditions than the theoretic 

 economist will formally admit. Only through 

 study of these influences can the materials 

 needed for the correct theoretical solution be ob- 

 tained and due weight given to the several ele- 

 ments involved. Attention has often been called 

 to the neglect of the problems connected with 

 transportation by English writers. We possess 

 no recent works on the great subjects of coloni- 

 zation and commercial crises that can bear com- 

 parison with the French and German studies. 

 In reference to the study of economics abroad, 

 he said : " In the United States, where economics 

 has taken so prominent a position, courses in 

 social science are being established, and one uni- 

 versity has gone so far as to create a chair of 

 genera] sociology, in addition to the special ones 

 assigned to different branches of economics and 

 politics. France has long been known as the 

 home of economic orthodoxy." Also similar in- 

 dications are to be found in the movement of 

 thought among economists in other Em-opean 

 nations. It is'highly desirable that certain pro- 



