336 



NATURE 



[September i, 1923 



The Liverpool Meeting of the British Association. 

 Programmes of the Sections. 



'^Plli': jjrovisional programmes of the various 

 ^ Suctions of the British Association, for the 

 meeting to be held at Liverpool on September 12-ig, 

 show that the meeting will be of decided scientific 

 importance and interest. It will be noticed that a 

 number of distinguished men of science from abroad are 

 attending the meeting and taking part in discussions. 

 We are indebted to the Recorders of the Sections 

 for the subjoined outline of arrangements made for 

 sectional papers, joint discussions, lectures, excur- 

 sions, and other means of recording progress and 

 ( promoting critical consideration of methods, results, 

 and principles. 



Section A (Mathematics and Physics). 



The proceedings in Section A this year give promise 

 of being exceptionally interesting and valuable, 

 mainly because an unusually large number of dis- 

 tinguished foreign visitors are expected to take part. 

 Several countries will be thus represented ; France, 

 America, Denmark, and Holland. In addition to 

 this, Canada will have representation in the sectional 

 president. Prof. J. C. McLennan, whose address on 

 " The Origin of Spectra " will form an opening for a 

 series of papers on cognate subjects, " The Corre- 

 spondence Principle," by Prof. N. Bohr, " Remarks 

 on Quantisation," by Prof. P. Ehrenfest, and " The 

 Structure of Atoms and their Magnetic Properties," 

 by Prof. P. Langevin, whose promised visit will 

 compensate for his inability to attend last year on 

 account of illness. These papers will be taken on 

 Monday, September 17. 



On the first working day, Thursday, September 13, 

 there will be a discussion, jointly with the Sections 

 of Chemistry and Engineering, on " Cohesion and 

 Molecular Forces," to be opened by Sir William 

 Bragg. This will be followed by a paper by 

 Prof. C. G. Darwin — who has just returned from 

 Pasadena — in which he will describe the important 

 recent work of Prof. A. H. Compton on the scattering 

 of X-rays. The remaining principal item on the pro- 

 gramme will be a sectional discussion on " The 

 Spectra of the Lighter Elements " on Tuesday, 

 September 18. This will be opened by the president, 

 and contributions will be made by Prof. Bohr and 

 Prof. A. Fowler, and, probably. Prof. R. A. Millikan. 



Among the individual papers which will be read 

 may be mentioned contributions by Sir O. Lodge on 

 " Matter and Radiation," Prof. R. W. Wood on 

 " The Effect of Weak Magnetic Fields on the Polarisa- 

 tion of Resonance Radiation," and Mr. G. Stead and 

 Miss B. Trevelyan on " The Production of Triatomic 

 Hydrogen." 



There will be papers on meteorological subjects by 

 Capt. D. Brunt and Mr. F. J. W. Whipple, and one 

 by Dr. A. T. Doodson on tides in relation to meteor- 

 ology. Papers relating to the mathematical repre- 

 sentation of experimental results have been accepted 

 from Mr. T. Smith, Prof. H. Levy, and Mr. H. W. 

 Moore. 



The afternoon of September 14 will be devoted to 

 demonstrations, including Mr. W. M. Mordey~'s 

 alternating magnetism experiments and Mr. S. G. 

 Brown's " Frenophone " or friction-operated loud- 

 speaker. 



Section B (Chemistry). 



The programme of Section B covers a wide range 

 of subjects. The president. Prof. F. G. Donnan, will 

 deal with the physical chemistry of interfaces, and the 

 same subject will be followed into detail in a joint 



NO. 2809, VOL. I 12] 



discussion between Sections H and I on membranes. 

 A second joint discussion has been arranged with 

 Sections A and G, the subject being cohesion and 

 molecular forces. This will be opened by Sir William 

 Bragg, Dr. Rosenhain, and Dr. A. A. Griffith, and an 

 attempt will be made to bring together the phvsicists, 

 the metallurgists, and the engineers in a consideration 

 of the processes of rupture of metal test-pieces an I 

 similar matters. 



There will be a group of papers on the theory 

 of the atom. Prof. G. N. I^wis opening with an 

 account of the chemical applications of the quantum 

 theory, followed by Dr. Sidgwick on the Bohr 

 atom and the Periodic Law, Dr. Coster treating 

 the same subject from the spectroscopic side. Dr. 

 Hevesy will give an account of his most recent work 

 on the chemistry of hafnium. An echo of last year's 

 discussion on photochemistry will be heard in the 

 form of a note on the biochemical effects of polarised 

 light from Prof. Baly's laboratory. Dr. E. F. 

 Armstrong will open a discussion on enzymes, to be 

 contributed to by Dr. K. G. Falk, and there will be 

 notes on certain new points in the chemistry of 

 cotton and of rubber. On the last morning of the 

 meeting, Senator Ginori Conti will give an account, 

 illustrated by slides, of the progress now being made 

 in Northern Italy in the use of volcanic steam for 

 technical purposes. 



Other papers deal with the formation of precipitates, 

 the functions of active hydrogen atoms in organic 

 compounds, and the nature of the alumino-silicates. 

 Liverpool being an important chemical centre, there 

 will be a number of excursions of special interest to 

 the Section. 



Section C (Geology). 



The Section will meet under the presidency of Dr. 

 Gertrude L. Files, whose address will be entitled, 

 " Evolutional Palaeontology in relation to the Palae- 

 ozoic Rocks," and will, by her desire, be followed by 

 a discussion. Local geology will figure largely in the 

 programme : Prof. Boswell will give an address on 

 the geology of the Liverpool district, and Sir Aubrey 

 Strahan will open a discussion on the changes in the 

 geography of the district during Pleistocene and 

 recent times and their possible bearing on the develop- 

 ment of Chester by the Romans and their total 

 neglect of the now much superior \vaten\-ay of the 

 Mersey estuar)'. Other local papers are by Mr. C. B. 

 Travis, on recent geological changes on the Northern 

 Shore of the Mersey Estuary ; Mr. T. A. Jones, on the 

 Middle Bunter sandstones and their pebbles ; and 

 Miss M. Workman, on the Permian rocks of Skillaw 

 Clough. 



A discussion on metamorphism will be opened by 

 Dr. J. S. Flett. 



Other papers include Prof. Kendall on isostasy and 

 the Pleistocene levels of Britain ; Prof. Boswell on 

 the geology of the East Denbigh Moors ; F*rof . 

 Hickling on the tectonics of the Lancashire coalfield ; 

 Dr. R. L. Sherlock on British rock salt deposits ; 

 Mr. G. Slater on ice phenomena in Spitsbergen ; Mr. 

 K. W. Earle on the geolog>' of the Windward and 

 Leeward Islands ; and Mr. C. P. Chatwin on a new 

 gasteropod fauna from the Chalk. 



Numerous excursions to places of geological in- 

 terest will take place during the meeting, including 

 an examination of the Upper Ordovician and Lower 

 Silurian rocks of the Vymwy district and a whole 

 daj' excursion to Holywell and other parts of Flint- 

 shire. 



