September 8, 192 1] 



NATURE 



45 



gatherings, in that it was to be a permanent 

 organisation, with a settled establishment and 

 headquarters, which should have not merely its 

 yearly reunions, but which, "by methods and by 

 influence peculiarly its own, should continue to 

 operate during the intervals of these public assem- 

 blies, and should aspire to give an impulse to 

 every part of the scientitic system ; to mature 

 scientihc enterprise; and to direct the labours 

 requisite for discovery." 



Although, for reasons of policy, it was decided 

 that its first meeting of September 27, 1831, 

 should be held at York, as the most central city 

 for the three kingdoms, and its second and third 

 meetings at the ancient Universities of Oxford 

 and Cambridge respectively, it was inevitable that 

 the Association should seize the earliest oppor- 

 tunity to visit the Metropolis of Scotland, where, 

 •as an historical fact, it may be said to have had its 

 origin. 



The meeting in this city of September 8, 1834, 

 was noteworthy for many reasons. It afforded 

 the first direct proof that the Association was ful- 

 filling its purpose. This was shown by the popular 

 appreciation which attended its activities, by the 

 range and character of its reports on the state and 

 progress of science, by the interest and value of 

 its sectional proceedings, and by the mode in 

 which its funds were employed. In felicitous 

 terms the president of the preceding year, the 

 Rev. Prof. Sedgwick, congratulated the gathering 

 "on the increased strength in which they had 

 assembled, in a place endeared to the feelings of 

 every lover of science by so many delightful and 

 elevating recollections, especially by the recollec- 

 tion of the great men whom it had fostered, or to 

 whom it had given birth." In a few brief sen- 

 tences Prof. Sedgwick indicated the great power 

 which this Association is able to apply towards 

 the advancement of science by combination and 

 united action, and he supported his argument by 

 pointing to the results which it had already 

 achieved during the three short years of its exist- 

 ence. Prof. Sedgwick's words are no less true 

 to-day. His contention that one of the most im- 

 portant functions of this philosophical union is to 

 further what he termed the "commerce of ideas " 

 by joint discussions on subjects of kindred interest, 

 has been endorsed by the recent action of the 

 Council in bringing the various sections into still 

 closer touch with each other with a view to the 

 discussion of common problems of general in- 

 terest. This slight reorganisation of the work 

 of the sections, which is in entire accord with the 

 spirit and aims of the Association, as defined by 

 its progenitors and formulated in its constitution, 

 will take effect during the present meeting. 

 Strictly speaking, such joint sectional discussions 

 are not unknown in our history, and their utility 

 and influence have been freely recognised. But 

 hitherto the occasions have been more or less in- 

 formal. They are now, it is hoped, to be part of 

 the regular official procedure of the meetings, to 



NO. 2706, VOL. I08I 



which it is anticipated they will afford additional 

 interest and value. 



Another noteworthy change in our procedure is 

 the introduction of discussions on the addresses 

 of the presidents of sections. Hitherto these adr 

 dresses have been formally read and never dis- 

 cussed. To the extent that they have been brief 

 chronicles of the progress of the special depart'- 

 ments of science with which the section is con- 

 cerned they have given but little opportunity for 

 discussion. With the greatly increased facilities 

 which now exist for every worker to keep himself 

 informed of the development of the branch of 

 knowledge in which he is more particularly in- 

 terested, such resumes have in great measure lost 

 their true purpose, and there has, consequently, 

 been a growing tendency of late years for such 

 presidential addresses to deal with contemporary 

 topics of general interest and of fundamental im- 

 portance, affording ample opportunity for a free 

 exchange of opinion. The experiment will cer- 

 tainly conduce to the interest of the proceedings 

 of the sections, and will contribute to the per;- 

 manent value of their work. We see in these 

 several changes the development of ideas coni- 

 nected with the working of the Association w-hich 

 may be said to have had their birth at its first 

 meeting in Edinburgh, eighty-seven years ago. 



Sixteen years later — that is, on July 21, 1850 — 

 Edinburgh again extended her hospitality to the 

 British Association, w'hich then honoured itself by 

 electing the learned principal of the united col^ 

 leges of St. Salvator and St. Leonard, St. 

 Andrews, to the presidentfal chair — at once a 

 tribute to Sir David Brewster's eminence as a 

 natural philosopher, and a grateful recognition of 

 his services to this body in suggesting and pro- 

 moting its formation. 



On the occasion of his inaugural address, after 

 a brief account of recent progress in science, made 

 with the lucidity of expression which characterised 

 all the literary efforts of the learned biographer of 

 Newton and versatile editor of the Edinburgh 

 Encyclopaedia, the Edinburgh Magazine, and the 

 Edinburgh Jotirnal of Science, the president dwett 

 upon the beneficent influence of the Association in 

 securing a more general attention to the objects 

 of science, and in effecting a removal of disad- 

 vantages of a pniblic kind that impeded its pro- 

 gress. It was due largely to the action of the 

 Association, assisted by the writings and personal 

 exertions of Its members, that the Government 

 was induced to extend a direct national encourage- 

 ment to science and to aid in its organisation. 



Brewster had a lofty ideal of the place of science 

 in the intellectual life of a community, and of the 

 just position of the man of science in the social 

 scale. In well-weighed words, the outcome of 

 matured experience and of an Intimate knowledge 

 of the working of European Institutions created 

 for the advancement of science and the diffusion 

 of knowledge, he pleaded for the establishment of 

 a national institution In Britain possessing a class 



