404 



NATURE 



August 15, 1878 



geological map of the county ; and the third in a pocket 

 is a six-inch map of Dublin and the neighbourhood. A 

 concise and valuable topographical sketch of Dublin, by 

 Dr. MacAlister, opens the series of papers, Dr. J. W. 

 Moore having added to this paper an important set of 

 Meteorological Tables, some hitherto unpublished. The 

 Rev. Maxwell Close co'Stributes an important paper 

 on the Physical Geology' of Dublin, Mr. W. H. Bailey 

 a paper on the Palaeontology of the Neighbourhood, Dr. 

 Haughton on the Mineralogy of the County, J. T. 

 Pirn on the Textile Industries, Dr. Emerson Reynolds 

 on the Places of Manufacturing and Industrial Inte- 

 rest in and around Dublin ; then follows Historical 

 Notes and Antiquities of Dublin, by Dr. MacAlister, 

 after which an extended and valuable list of the Flora of 

 the Counties of Dublin and Wicklow is contributed by 

 Mr. W. Archer, F.R.S., Dr. Perceval Wright, the Rev. 

 Eugene O'Meara, Dr. D. Moore, Mr. G. Pim, and Mr. 

 A. G. More. The fauna of the county is next dealt with, 

 "being compiled by Mr. H. W. Mackintosh, Mr. W. F. 

 Xirby, Prof. W. R. McNab, the Rev. B. W. Adams, Prof. 

 MacAlister, Mr. A. G. More, and Mr. R. M. Barrington. 

 This unique and invaluable guide-book ends with a 

 notice of the more interesting of the corporation records 

 compiled by the Rev. W. G. Carroll. 



We have already noticed the extensive preparations 

 made for the soirh to be given to the Association by the 

 Hoyal Dublin Society on Thursday. At this soiree, 

 among many other things, Mr, Johnstone Stoney, the 

 honorary secretary of the Society, will show the remark- 

 able absorption spectrum of chloro-chromic anhydride, 

 Mr. Gordon his recent and beautiful experiments on 

 electric induction, and Prof. Barrett the effect of inaudible 

 vibrations on sensitive flames. 



One of the special objects of interest to be seen in 

 Dublin is the great telescope Mr. Howard Grubb is con- 

 structing for the Austrian Government. We may state 

 that the mechanical part is almost complete ; the object- 

 glass, which is to be twenty-seven inches in clear aperture, 

 -is of course not ready, as the glass was only received from 

 Paris in the spring of this year. Visitors, however, need 

 not be disappointed, as there is plenty to see in the 

 mechanical details of the instrument and the great forty- 

 five-foot dome for the covering of the telescope, the 

 largest dome ever constructed. We may add, in conclu- 

 sion, that among other places of interest, a visit to the 

 Royal College of Science on Stephen's Green, with its 

 museum of Irish industries and its excellent equipment 

 of physical and mechanical apparatus, should not be 

 omitted. 



Inaugural Adbress of William Spottiswoode, M.A., 

 F.R.S., LL.D., D.C.L,, President. 



Introductory. 



On looking back at the long array of distinguished men who 

 "both in this and in the sister countries have filled the chair of the 

 British Association; on considering also the increased pains 

 ■ which have been bestowed upon, and the increased importance 

 attaching to, the Presidential Address, it may well happen when, 

 as 0:1 this occasion, your choice has fallen upon one outside the 

 sphere of professional science, that your nominee should feel 

 unusual diffidence in accepting the post. Two considerations 

 have, however, in my own case outweighed all reasons for 

 hesitation : first, the uniform kindness which I received at the 

 hands of the Association throughout the eight years during 

 which I had the honour of holding another office ; and secondly, 

 the conviction that the same goodwill which was accorded to 

 your treasurer would be extended to your president. 



These considerations have led me to arrange my observations 

 under two heads, viz., I propose first to offer some remarks upon 

 the purposes and prospects of the Association with which, through 

 your suffrages, I have been so long and so agreeably connected ; 

 and secondly, to indulge in a few reflections, not indeed upon 

 the details or technical progress, but upon the external aspects 

 and tendencies of the science which on this occasion I have 

 the honour to represent. The former of these subjects is, 



perhaps trite, but as an old man is allowed to become garrulous 

 on his own hobby, so an old officer may be pardoned for linger- 

 ing about a favourite theme. And although the latter may 

 appear somewhat unpromising, I have decided to make it one of 

 the topics of my discourse, from the consideration that the 

 holder of this office will generally do better by giving utterance 

 to what has already become part of his own thought, than by 

 gathering matter outside of its habitual range for the special 

 occasion. For, as it seems to me, the interest (if any), of an 

 address consists, not so much in the multitude of things therein 

 brought forward, as in the individuality of the mode in which 

 they are treated. 



British Association, past History. 



The British Association has already entered its fifth decade. 

 It has held its meetings, this the forty-eighth, in twenty-eight 

 different towns. In six cities of note, viz., York, Bristol, 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne, Plymouth, Manchester, and Belfast, its 

 cui-ve of progress may be said to have a node, or point through 

 which it has twice passed ; in the five Universities of Oxford, 

 Cambridge, Dublin, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, and in the two 

 great commercial centres, Liverpool and Birmingham, it may 

 similarly be said to have a triple point, or one through which it 

 has three times passed. Of our forty-six presidents, more than 

 half (twenty-six, in fact), have passed away ; while the remainder 

 hold important posts in science, and in the public service, or in 

 other avocations not less honourable in themselves, nor less 

 useful to the commonwealth. And whether it be due to the 

 salubrity of the climate, or to the calm and dispassionate spirit 

 in which science is pursued by its votaries here, I do not pretend 

 to say ; but it is a fact that the earliest of our ex-presidents still 

 living, himself one of the original members of the Association, 

 is a native of and resident in this country. 



At both of our former meetings held in Dublin, in 1835 and 

 1857 respectively, while greatly indebted to the liberal hospi- 

 tality of the citizens at large, we were, as we now are, under 

 especial obligations to the authorities of Trinity College for 

 placing at our disposal buildings, not only unusually spacious 

 and convenient in themselves, but full of reminiscences calcu- 

 lated to awake the scientific sympathies of all who may be 

 gathered in them. At both of those former Dublin meetings the 

 venerable name of Lloyd figured at our head ; and if long-estab- 

 lished custom had not seemed to preclude it, I could on many 

 accounts have wished that we had met for a third time under the 

 same name. And although other distinguished men, such as 

 Dr. Robinson, Professors Stokes, Tyndall, and Andrews, are 

 similarly disqualified by having already passed the presidential 

 chair, while others again, such as Sir W. R, Hamilton, Dr. 

 M 'Cullagh, and Prof. Jukes, are permanently lost to our ranks ; 

 still we should not have had far to seek, had we looked for a 

 president in this fertile island itself. But as every one connected 

 with the place of meeting partakes of the character of host 

 towards ourselves as guests, it has been thought by our oldest 

 and most experienced members that we should better respond to 

 an invitation by bringing with us a president to speak as our 

 representative than by seeking one on the spot ; and we may 

 always hope on subsequent occasions that some of our present 

 hosts may respond to a similar call. 



But leaving our past history, which will form a theme more 

 appropriate to our jubilee meeting in 1881 at the ancient city of 

 York, I will ask your attention to a few particulars of our actual 

 operations. 



Its Relation to other Societies. 



Time was when the Royal Societies of London and Edin- 

 burgh and the Royal Irish Academy were the only representative 

 bodies of British science and the only receptacles of memoirs 

 relating thereto. But latterly, the division of labour, so general 

 in industrial life, has operated in giving rise to special societies, 

 such as the Astronomical, the Linnjean, the Chemical, the Geo- 

 logical, the Geographical, the Statistical, the Mathematical, the 

 Physical, and many others. To both the earlier or more general, 

 and the later or more special societies alike, the British Associa- 

 tion shows resemblance and affinity. We are general in our 

 comprehensiveness ; we are special in our sectional arrangement ; 

 and in this respect we offer not only a counterpart, but to sorne 

 extent a counterpoise, to the general tendency to subdivision m 

 science. Further still, while maintaining in their integrity all 

 the elements of a strictly scientific body, we also include, in our 

 character of a microcosm, and under our more social aspect, a 

 certain freedom of treatment, and interaction of our various 



