BRINKLEY BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



325 



imported for inland consumption, while grain and 

 malt are exported largely. Population in 1831, 

 5065; in 1841, 6198. 



BRINKLEY, JOHN, D. D., Lord Bishop of 

 Cloyne, President of the Royal Irish Academy, 

 F. R. S., &c. &c. ; a distinguished mathematician, 

 was a native of Woodbridge, Suffolk. He re- 

 ceived the early part of his education at the gram- 

 mar-school in that town, and from thence he 

 removed to Mr Tilney's at Harleston. He gradu- 

 ated at Caius College, Cambridge, B. A. 1788, as 

 senior wrangler, and Senior Smith's prizeman, 

 and afterwards was elected a fellow of that so- 

 ciety. He proceeded M. A. 1791, B. and D.D. 

 1806. Dr Law, Bishop of Elphin, brother of the 

 late Lord Ellenborough, introduced Mr Brinkley 

 to the notice of the board of Trinity College, 

 Dublin ; and in 1792 he was appointed Andrew's 

 professor of astronomy. He devoted himself ear- 

 nestly to the duties of his office, and published for 

 the use of the students an Elementary Treatise on 

 Astronomy, which is generally considered the best 

 introduction to that science in our language. Dr 

 Brinkley 's discovery of the parallax of the fixed 

 stars, in 1814, which was for a time controverted 

 by Mr Pond, was the first circumstance that gave 

 him a European reputation ; which was afterwards 

 well supported by his valuable communication to 

 the transactions of the Royal Irish Academy. As 

 a professor, he was chiefly remarkable for his zeal 

 in searching out and encouraging rising merit ; he 

 was one of the first to appreciate the abilities of 

 his successor, Sir William Hamilton, and he la- 

 boured zealously to extend his fame. When George 

 IV. visited Ireland, he was so pleased with his re- 

 ception in Trinity College, that he resolved to be- 

 stow the next vacant bishopric on one of its mem- 

 bers. Mr Goulburn (who was at the time looking 

 to the representation of the University of Cam- 

 bridge) procured, it is said, the appointment for 

 professor Brinkley, who appeared to the Dublin 

 University, though really a graduate of Cambridge. 

 He was consecrated bishop of Cloyne in 1826; 

 and shortly after resigned his professorship. Dr 

 Brinkley, as bishop, promoted many exemplary 

 curates, whose labour* had been overlooked by his 

 predecessors, and he separated several parishes 

 from his see, to give the inhabitants the benefit of 

 a resident rector. From the time of his elevation, 

 his health gradually declined, and he was forced 

 to abandon scientific pursuits altogether. He how- 

 ever, left behind him some valuable mathematical 

 manuscripts, which there is reason to believe will 

 be published under the superintendence of Sir Wil- 

 liam Hamilton. His Lordship, though in a very 

 declining state of health, had undertaken a long 

 and fatiguing journey to be present at a con- 

 ference of the Irish bishops. He died at the house 

 of his brother in Dublin, Sept. 14, 1833, aged 

 seventy-two. 



BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE AD- 

 VANCEMENT OF SCIENCE; a society esta- 

 blished within these few years for the purpose of 

 promoting the personal intercourse of men of 

 science of all countries, the most prominent feature 

 of which is, that a meeting is held annually in 

 some quarter of the empire, where all the members 

 are supposed to congregate, and where a week is 

 taken up in lectures, experiments, discussions, /efrs, 

 and banquetings. 



The first meeting of the association was held at 

 York, in 1831, where 350 men of science attended, 



and were enrolled as members. At Oxford in 1832, 

 and at Cambridge in 1833, the attendance became 

 progressively more numerous, and, in 1834, when 

 Edinburgh was the place of meeting, the list of 

 attending members amounted to 2200, including a 

 large number of distinguished foreigners from all 

 parts of the world. The meetings held at Dublin 

 and Bristol in the two following years were distin- 

 guished by further accessions of scientific men; 

 and at the meeting at Liverpool in 1837, the num- 

 ber of members present exceeded 3000 the roll 

 comprising almost every name of any scientific 

 note in Britain, exclusive of many foreign visitors 

 of distinction. In 1838, the association met at 

 Newcastle upon Tyne. 



The association is conducted as follows : A 

 president, three vice-presidents, a general and seve- 

 ral special secretaries, and two treasurers, with the 

 assistance of a council, preside over and regulate the 

 general business of the society ; or rather it is their 

 duty to recommend such measures as may seem 

 good to them, for adoption by a general committee, 

 which is designed to be the supreme governing 

 body of the institution, and is composed of all 

 such members of the association as have contri- 

 buted papers to the transactions of some learned 

 society. For greater facility in hearing communi- 

 cations, and in directing the pursuit of scientific 

 objects, seven divisions, or sections, as they are 

 termed, have been formed for the conduct of the 

 scientific business of the association ; the first sec- 

 tion, or section A, taking cognizance of Mathema- 

 tical and physical science ; section B, Chemistry 

 and Mineralogy; section C, Geology and Geogra- 

 phy ; section D, Zoology and Botany; section E, 

 Anatomy and Medicine ; section F, Statistics ; and 

 section G, Mechanical science. 



Each of these sections, at the commencement of 

 the successive sittings of the Association (which 

 last for a week each year), is placed under the 

 presidency of some individual distinguished in the 

 particular walk of science giving name to the divi- 

 sion, and who is assisted by a sectional committee 

 and secretaries. During the meeting of the Asso- 

 ciation, every section sits separately, listens to 

 communications, and discusses questions brought 

 before it under the direction of its committee. 

 Subsequently, at a final general meeting, the vari- 

 ous sectional presidents report and comment upon 

 all that has been done in the department under 

 their charge. Each section, also, may direct in- 

 quiries to be made into any point of particular in- 

 terest within the range of its subjects, and, with 

 the consent of the general committee, grants of 

 money are frequently set apart, where necessary, 

 for the conduct of these inquiries, which are com- 

 monly entrusted to such members as have shown 

 the greatest qualifications for the task. The re- 

 sults of these investigations are, as might be ex- 

 pected, among the most valuable communications 

 laid before the sections of each succeeding year. 

 At the same time, voluntary communications form 

 by far the greater part of the matters introduced 

 to the notice of the various departments of the 

 association. 



Besides the regular sectional sittings of the as- 

 sociation at their meetings, there are various occa- 

 sional sub-sections and lesser committees appointed 

 for examination into any particular subjects, which 

 the larger divisions may think worthy of it. There 

 are also evening sittings of a more mixed and ir- 

 regular character than those which take place 



