August 15, 1878] 



NATURE 



405 



branches, which is scarcely possible among separate and inde- 

 pendent societies. 



The general business of our meetings consists first, in receiv- 

 ing and discussing communications upon scientific subjects at the 

 various sections into which our body is divided, with discussions 

 thereon ; secondly, in distributing, under the advice of our 

 Committee of Recommendations, the funds arising from the 

 subscriptions of members and associates ; and thirdly, in electing 

 a council upon whom devolves the conduct of our affairs until 

 the next meeting. 



The communications to the sections are of two kinds, viz., 

 papers from individuals, and reports from committees. 



Papers for the Sections, &=€. 



As to the subject matter of the papers, nothing which falls 

 within the range of natural knowledge as partitioned among our 

 sections, can be considered foreign to the purposes of the Asso- 

 ciation ; and even many applications of science, when viewed in 

 reference to their scientific basis, may properly find a place in 

 our proceedings. So numerous, however, are the topics herein 

 comprised, so easy the transition beyond these limits, that it has 

 been thought necessary to confine ourselves within this range, 

 lest the introduction of other matters, however interesting to 

 individual members, should lead to the sacrifice of more im- 

 portant subjects. As to the form of the communications, while 

 it is quite true that every scientific conclusion should be based 

 upon substantial evidence, every theory complete before being 

 submitted for final adoption, it is not the less desirable that even 

 tentative conclusions and hypothetical principles, when sup- 

 ported by sufficient primd facie evidence, and enunciated in 

 such a manner as to be clearly apprehended, should find room 

 for discussion at our sectional meetings. Considering, however, 

 our limitations of time and the varied nature of our audience, it 

 would seem not inappropriate to suspend, mentally if not ma- 

 terially, over the doors of our section rooms, the Frenchman's 

 dictum, that no scientific theory "can be considered complete 

 until it is so clear that it can be explained to the first man you 

 meet in the street." 



Special Reports. 



Among the communications to the sections undoubtedly the 

 most important, as a nile, are the Reports ; that is to say, docu- 

 ments issuing from specially appointed committees, some of 

 which have been recipients of the grants mentionetl above. 

 These reports are in the main of two kinds, first, accounts of 

 observations carried on for a series of years, and intended as 

 records of information on the special subjects ; such, for in- 

 stance, have been those made by the Kew Committee, by the 

 Committees on Luminous Meteors, on British Rainfall, on the 

 Speed of Steamships, on Underground Temperature, on the 

 Exploration of Certain Geological Caverns, &c. These investi- 

 gations, frequently originating in the energy and special qualifi- 

 cations of an individual, but conducted under the control of a 

 committee, have in many cases been continued from year to 

 year, until either the object has been fully attained or the matter 

 has passed into the hands of other bodies, which have thus been 

 led to recognise an inquiry into these subjects as part and parcel 

 of their appropriate functions. The second class is one which 

 is perhaps even more peculiar to the Association ; viz., the 

 reports on the progress and present state of some main topics of 

 science. Among these may be instanced the early Reports on 

 Astronomy, on Optics, on the Progress of Analysis ; and later, 

 those on Electrical Resistance and on Tides ; that of Prof, G. 

 G. Stokes on Double Refraction ; that of Prof. H. J. Smith on 

 \ the Theory of Numbers ; that of Mr. Russell on Hyperelliptic 

 I Transcendents, and others. On this head Prof. Carey Foster, 

 I in his address to the Mathematical and Physical Section at our 

 meeting last year, made some excellent recommendations, to 

 which, however, I need not at present more particularly refer, 

 as the result of them will be duly laid before the section in the 

 form of the report from a committee to whom they were 

 referred. It will be sufficient here to add that the wide exten- 

 sion of the sciences in almost every branch, and the consequent 

 specialisation of the studies of each individual, have rendered 

 the need for such reports more than ever pressing, and if the 

 course of true science should still run smooth it is probable that 

 the need will increate rather than diminish, 

 K If time and space had permitted, I should have further par- 

 ticularised the committees, occasionally appointed, on subjects 

 connected with education. But I must leave this theme for some 

 future president, and content myself with pointing out that the 



British Association alone among scientific societies concerns itself 

 directly with these questions, and is open to appeals f or i counsel 

 and support from the great teaching body of the country. 



Grants. 



One of the principal methods by which this Association mate- 

 rially promotes the advancement of science, and consequently- 

 one of its most important functions, consists in grants of money 

 from its own income in aid of special scientific researches. The 

 total amount so laid out during the forty-seven years of our 

 existence has been no less than 44,000/. ; and the average during 

 the last ten years has been 1,450/. per annum. These sums have 

 not only been in the main wisely voted and usefully expended, 

 but they have been themselves productive of much additional 

 voluntary expenditure of both time and money on the part of 

 those to whom the grants have been entmsted. The results have 

 come back to the Association in the form of papers and reports,, 

 many of which have been printed in our volumes. By this 

 appropriation of a large portion of its funds the Association has 

 to some extent anticipated, nay, even it may have partly inspired, 

 the ideas now so much discussed, of the endowment of research.. 

 And whether the aspirations of those who advocate such endow- 

 ment be ever fully realised or not, there can, I think, be no doubt 

 whatever that the Association in the mattter of these grants has 

 afforded a most powerful stimulus to original research and 

 discovery. 



Regarded from another point of view these grants, together 

 with others to be hereafter mentioned, present a strong similarity 

 to that useful institution the Professoriate Extraordinary of Ger- 

 many, to which there are no foundations exactly corresponding 

 in this country. For beside their more direct educational purpose, 

 these professorships are intended, like our own grants, to afford 

 to special individuals an opportunity of following out the 

 special work for which they have previously proved themselves 

 competent. And in this respect the British Association may be 

 regarded as supplying, to the extent of its means, an elasticity^ 

 which is wanting in our own universities. 



Other Funds. 



Besides the funds which through your support are at the dis- 

 posal of the British Association there are, as is well known to 

 many here present, other funds of more or less similar character 

 at the disposal, or subject to the recommendations, of the Royal 

 Society. There is the Donation Fund, the property of the 

 Society ; the Government Grant of 1,000/. per annum, adminis- 

 tered by the Society ; and the Government Fund of 4,000/. per 

 annum (an experiment for five years) to be distributed by the 

 Science and Art Department, both for research itself and for 

 the support of those engaged thereon, at the recommendation of 

 a committee consisting mainly of Fellows of the Royal Society. 

 To these might be added other funds in the hands of different 

 scientific societies. 



But although it must be admitted that the purposes of these 

 various funds are not to be distinguished by any very simple 

 line of demarcation, and that they may therefore occasionally 

 appear to overlap one another, it may still, I think, be fairly 

 maintained that this fact does not furnish any sufficient reason 

 against their co-existence. There are many topics of research 

 too minute in their range, too tentative in their present con- 

 dition, to come fairly within the scope of the funds adminis- 

 tered by the Royal Society. There are others, ample enough 

 in their extent, and long enough in their necessary duration, to 

 claim for their support a national grant, but which need to be 

 actually set on foot or tried before they can fairly expect the 

 recognition either of the public or of the government. To these 

 categories others might be added ; but the above-mentioned in- 

 stances will perhaps suffice to show that even if larger and more 

 permanent funds were devoted to the promotion of research 

 than is the case at present, there would still be a field of activity 

 open to the British Association as well as to other scientific 

 bodies which may have funds at their disposal. 



On the general question it is not difficult to offer strong argu- 

 ments in favour of permanent national scientific institutions ; 

 nor is it difficult to picture to the mind ^n ideal future when= 

 Science and Art shall walk hand in hand together, led by a 

 willing minister into the green pastures of the Endowment of 

 Research.^ But while allowing this to be no impossible a 



' It is worth while to compare the following passage from Plato** 

 " Republic," Book vii. Qowett's translation): — 

 After plane geometry, we took soLds in revolution instead of uking solidi 



