Sept. 13, 1888] 



NATURE 



469 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



Bath, Tuesday Evening. 

 CO far as numbers are concerned, the Bath meeting 

 •^ has been below the average. The number of tickets 

 sold has been about 50 less than 2000. This is a marked 

 contrast to last year's meeting, which beat the record ; 

 and is even less by some hundreds than the former Bath 

 meeting. But then it should be remembered that that 

 meeting presented attractions of an unusual kind : the 

 lion-hunters who form so large a section of these annual 

 gatherings had such prey presented to them as Living- 

 stone, Burton, and Speke. As will be seen, the diminished 

 attendance has told to some extent on the grants, several 

 of which have had unfortunately to be reduced below the 

 sums originally proposed and approved of. All sorts of 

 reasons have been put forward to account for the compara- 

 tively small attendance, and probably there is a little truth 

 in each. Probably the excursions have had as much to do 

 with it as anything else ; those of Saturday presented few 

 attractions, except that to the Severn Tunnel and the 



j Barry Docks. Curiously enough, however, scarcely any- 

 one entered for that excursion, and had the enterprising 



J secretaries of Section G not taken it in hand, it would have 

 fallen through. As it was, it turned out one of the most 



■ successful of Saturday's excursions. Small as the attend- 

 ance has been, the accommodation of the town has been 



■ strained, and several of the guests of the Local Com- 

 imittee speak somewhat disrespectfully of their quarters. 



I But the Local Committee have done their best, 

 Band they have no reason to be dissatisfied with their 

 [jsuccess. The reception-room accommodation has cer- 

 tainly been limited, and members have missed the 

 smoking-room, refreshment- rooms, and other amenities 

 with which they were indulged at Manchester last year. 

 Fortunately the weather has been, on the whole, good, so 

 that people have not greatly felt the want of indoor accom- 

 modation. Notwithstanding the small attendance, the 

 crush at the two soirees was excessive, mainly arising from 

 the smallness of the Assembly Rooms. The Drill Hall 

 has proved satisfactory for all the public lectures. Sir 

 Frederick Bramwell's address was, as might have been 

 expected, received with universal appreciation ; while the 

 public lectures were all well attended. Prof. Ayrton's 

 address on the transmission of power was so highly 

 ^appreciated that he has been asked to repeat it for the 

 penefit of the working classes. Tickets for Sir John 

 Lubbock's lecture to the " working classes " were so greatly 

 in demand, that many of those for free distribution were 

 being sold throughout the town at 2s. 6c/. and 5^. 



One of the great attractions at the present meeting has 

 been the recently unearthed Roman baths. They are in 

 almost complete preservation ; the lead lining and lead 

 piping nearly perfect, the steps, the columns, the carvings, 

 in wonderful preservation, the whole probably forming a 

 more complete specimen of this class of Roman work 

 than exists anywhere else. Even greater, however, has 

 been the excitement over the phonograph and grapho- 

 phone. Crowds have been besieging Section G in order 

 to see and hear the wonderful little cylinders ; and daily 

 receptions have been given both by Colonel Gouraud and 

 Mr. Edmunds of the rival instruments. Each has its 

 strong body of partisans, but the general result seems to 

 be that law and not science will be the final arbiter of the 

 merits of the two. 



In the ordinary work of the Sections there have been 

 various exciting episodes. The discussion between 

 Sections B and D, on the chemistry of certain physio- 

 logical processes, was one of great importance, and it is 

 hoped it will be well reported. The discussion on stays 

 and waist-bands was probably more entertaining than 

 instructive ; while that on coral-reefs, though valuable, 

 suffered from the absence of some of the leading authori- 

 ties on the subject. The discussion in Section H, on 



the few remarks by Mr. Park Harrison on the 

 question ''What is a Nation?" had somewhat of a 

 political flavour about it. It was taken part in by 

 General Pitt-Rivers, Sir John Lubbock, Prof. Sayce, and 

 Dr. John Evans. Another discussion which, like the papers 

 on the phonograph and graphophone, nearly emptied 

 the other Sections, was that on lightning-conductors, on 

 Tuesday, in Section G. These various discussions, com- 

 bined with the fact that so many foreign geologists were 

 present in Section C, have contributed to keep the second 

 Bath meeting up to a good average. 



It seems to be generally admitted that the Presidential 

 Address in Section D, by Mr. Thiselton Dyer, was the 

 weightiest from a scientific point of view. It was the 

 longest, all the addresses this year being marked by 

 brevity. Some little amusement has been caused by the 

 very modified admission made by Sir William Thomson, 

 in his paper in Section A, on "A Simple Hypothesis for 

 Electro-magnetic Induction of Incomplete Circuits," that, 

 after all, Clerk Maxwell may have been to some extent 

 not altogether wrong. 



The meeting next year will be presided over by Prof. 

 Flower. Leeds will receive the Association in 1890, while 

 Edinburgh and Cardiff compete for the honour of a visit 

 in 1 89 1 ; there can be little doubt of the result if the 

 Corporation and the University of Edinburgh give 

 snbstantial evidence of their zeal. 



The following is the list of grants which have been 

 allotted by the General Council : — 



A. — Mathematics and Physics. £ 



Ben Nevis Observatory ... ... ... ... ... 50 



Electrical Standards ... ... ... ... ... ... 100 



Electrolysis ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 20 



Solar Radiation ... ... ... ... ... ... 10 



Differential Gravity Meter ... ... ... ... ... 10 



Uniform Nomenclature in Mechanics ... ... ... 10 



Calculating Tables of Certain Mathematical Functions ... 10 

 Seasonal Variations in the Temperature of Lakes, Rivers, 



and Estuaries ... ... ... ... ... ... 30 



B. — Chemistry. 



The Influence of the Silent Discharge of Electricity on 



Oxygen and other Gases ... ... ... ... 10 



Methods of Teaching Chemistry ... ... ... ... 10 



Oxidation of Hydracids in Sunlight ... ... ... 10 



C. — Geology. 



Geological Record ... ... ... ... ... ... 80 



Erratic Blocks ... ... ... ... ... ... 10 



Volcanic Phenomena of Japan ... ... ... ... 25 



Volcanic Phenomena of Vesuvius ... ... ... ... 20 



Fossil Phyllopoda of the Palaeozoic Rocks ... ... 20 



Higher Eocene Beds of the Isle of Wight ... ... ... 15 



Fossil Plants of the Tertiary and Secondary Beds of the 



United Kingdom ... ... ... ... ... 15 



D. — Biology. 



Zoology and Botany of the West India IslanJs ... ... 100 



Marine Biological Association ... ... ... ... 200 



Flora of China ... ... ... ... ... ... 25 



Naples Zoological Station ... ... ... ... ... 100 



Physiology of the Lymphatic System ... ... ... 25 



To Improve and Experiment with ft Deep-sea Tow-net for 



opening and closing under Water ... ... ... 10 



Natural History of the Friendly Islands ... ... ... 100 



E. — Geography. 

 Geography and Geology of the Atlas Ranges ... ... 100 



F. — Economic Science and Statistics. 



Precious Metals in Circulation .. ... .... ... 20 



Variations in the Value of the Monetary Standard ... 10 



G.—Afechanical Science. 



Investigation of Estuaries hy means of Models ... ... 100 



Development of Graphic Methods in Mechanical # Science 25 



