FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, 1857. 507 



advancement, and more especially to those which will be brought 

 under your consideration at the present Meeting. 



One of the modes in which this Association most effectively 

 promotes the advancement of science is, you are aware, by the 

 preparation and publication of Eeports on the history, and actual 

 state, of its several branches. With the help of these, original 

 investigators may, with little labour, ascertain all that has been 

 accomplished in each department, before they proceed to increase 

 the store ; and so not only prepare their own minds for their task, 

 but also avoid the waste of time and toil which has been too often 

 incurred in the re-discovery of the same truths. 



To further the same objects, it was proposed by Professor Henry, 

 of Washington, at the Glasgow meeting of the Association, that a 

 Catalogue of papers occurring in the Transactions of Scientific 

 Societies, and in the Scientific Journals, should be prepared by the- 

 Association, the Smithsonian Institution undertaking to execute 

 that part of the work which related to American Science. A 

 Committee, consisting of Mr. Cayley, Mr. Grant, and Professor 

 Stokes, was appointed to consider this proposal, and their report 

 was submitted to the Cheltenham meeting. The subject has since 

 been under the consideration of the Council of the Royal Society ; 

 and a preliminary Report has been drawn up by a sub-committee 

 of that body, which will probably be brought before your Com- 

 mittee at this Meeting. 



A still more important question has been, for some years, under 

 the consideration of this Association, and of the Royal Society the 

 question, namely, whether any measures could be adopted by the 

 Government, or Parliament, that would improve the position of 

 science, or its cultivators in this country. 



The Parliamentary Committee of the Association have taken 

 much pains in the attempt to arrive at a solution of this large and 

 complex question. They consulted, in the first instance, several of 

 the most eminent scientific men of this country; and in their 

 first Report, presented to the Meeting of the Association at 

 Glasgow, they have analyzed the replies obtained, and have recom- 

 mended certain general measures founded thereon. The most 

 important of these recommendations are, the provision, at the cost 

 of the nation, of a central building in London, in which the prin- 



