Aug. 26, 1875] 



NATURE 



335 



wliich I designed for Buddonness-on-the-Tay, one of which was 

 exhibited r.t'the Paris International Exhibition, the whole sphere 

 of light was con-ipressed into ore sector of 45°, and in another 

 design !atcly made for the Colonies the light is condensed into 

 30'. Thomas Stevenson 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 



Bristol, Tuesday Evening 



BRISTOL bids fair fully to accomplish its intention of 

 giving the Association one of the best recep'ions 

 it has ever received. When the visitor has laboured 

 through the inconveniences of the railway station, and 

 got fairly at home in this region of hills and vallejs, and 

 cliffs and quays, and churches and chimney stacks, he 

 will find himself as happily situated as anyone but a 

 confirmed grumbler could wish. 



The local committee have evidently spared no expense 

 to increase the comfort of visitors. The engagement of 

 the entire Victoria Rooms for reception rooms has given 

 ample space for almost every requirement. The great 

 hall itself contains many of the necessary offices, including 

 those for the local officials, sale of tickets of all kinds, 

 distribution of printed circulars, and a telegraph and post- 

 office ; in addition, Messrs. Bin:^ham's book-stall supplies 

 all kinds of journals and scientific publications. A first- 

 rate refreshment room occupies one of the smaller halls, 

 and a reasonable tariff of prices is published. Almost 

 every want seems to have been anticipated, and the 

 honorary local secretaries, Messrs. W. Lant Carpenter 

 and J. F. Clarke, with many other zealous workers, have 

 been labouring untiringly to have everything in order. So 

 successful were ti.ey, that the reception rooms were 

 opened exactly at the moment previously announced — 

 one o'clock on Monday ; and the first rush to secure 

 tickets was most satisfactorily worked off. It will be 

 surprising if the amount expended do not exceed 

 the local subscription of 2,400/. At any rate, so far as 

 experience goes at present, that full success is likely to be 

 realised which is worth very much more than can be 

 measured by money. The Mayor (Mr. Thomas) to-day 

 took up his residence at the Mansion House, where he 

 ■«ill receive the President-elect, Lady Hawkshaw, and 

 other distinguished visitors. Most of the notable visitors 

 conie as invited guests. 



The columns ot Nature would certainly fail me if I 

 attempted to enumerate the objects of interest here which 

 are thrown open freely to members of the Association. 

 Churches, old buildirgs of all k ndi^, libraries, ships, 

 quays, warehouses, parks, and mansions are alike at the 

 disposal of the vititois. 



Notable amongst hospitalities will be the banquet of the 

 Merchant Venturers' Society, at which about a hundred 

 of ihe lead.ng members of the Association will be enter- 

 tained on Tuesday evening next. The hall of the 

 Merchant Venturers has lately been decorated with a 

 magnificence worthy of their distinguished history. The 

 sovfcieigns who granted them thaiters, the Bristol 

 worthies, Edward Colston, Alderman Whitson, Sebastian 

 Cabot, William Canyrge, and Thomas Daniel are all 

 commeuiorated by portraits or arms ; while the staircase 

 and vestibule bear significant emblems of seafaring life. 

 Saturday nt xt is the jubilee of the Bath Royal Literary 

 and Scientific Institution. This will Le celebrated by a 

 public meetirg and banquet, presided over by the Earl 

 of Cork, iord-lieuienant of the county. Sir John Hawk- 

 shaw and many other distirguished guests are expected. 



As a matter of course nearly all the eminent British 

 men of science are expected to be present, and many of 

 them have already arrived. Among foreign visitors who 

 have arrived or are expected, there are Prof. Paul Gervais, 

 of Paris ; Chevalier Negti, President of the Geographical 

 Society of Turin ; Chevalier Bergeron, C.E., Paris ; Prof. 



Geinitz, Dresden ; Prof. Hubert, Paris ; Dr. Leitner ; Prof. 

 Youman-:, United States ; Mr. H. A. Rowland, Balti- 

 more ; Prof, Janssen, Paris ;' M. L^on Vanderkinden, 

 Brussels University ; Dr. A. Oppenheim, Berhn ; Colonel 

 Carrington, Wababh College, U.S. 



Of course the general meetings, inaugural address, lec- 

 tures, and soirdes will be given in the Colston's Hall, which 

 can seat 3,000 persons. 1 he sections are accommodated in 

 a number of buildings extending along one line of tho- 

 roughfare, from the Wesleyan schoolroom in Victoria 

 Place to the Royal Hotel at College Green. Sections A 

 and G sit in the Fine Arts Academy ; B in the Lecture 

 Theatre, Freemasons' Hall ; C in the New Museum 

 Lecture Room ; D in three departments at Hamilton's 

 Rooms, Park Street, the Grammar Schou', and the Royal 

 Hotel ; E in the Blind Asylum Music Room ; F in the 

 schoolroom of Victoria Chapel. On the back of every 

 Association Ticket a plain map of about cne square 

 mile of Clifton is printed, showing in red colours all the 

 buildings used for meetings. This is a most valuable 

 help for visitors. 



A first-rate loan museum is exhibited in the new portion 

 of the Museum buildings, and is well worthy of attention. 

 Among the most interesting things to be seen are speci- 

 mens from many local collieries of every vein of coal they 

 work, local building-stones and clays ; and capital illus- 

 trations of local zoology and botany. The Museum proper 

 isnoticcable for its splendid collection of Triassic reptiles, 

 Lab> rinthodonts, and Pala,ozoic fishes, especially Theco- 

 dontosaurus and Cetalodus., A splendid skeleton o{ Ich- 

 thyosaurus platyodon\\3iS]\xsi'beG.nmo\xn\.\^6.. It was de- 

 tected by Mr. Tawney on the beach near Lyme Regis, close 

 to low-water mark. It was brought up in large fragments 

 of over a hundred-weight, in all over a ton, and developed 

 under Mr. Tawney's supeiintender.ce. The skeleton is 

 swung instead of being supported from beneath, according 

 to an idea of Dr. H. Fripp, and it can be examined very 

 closely, and on both sides, being placed on a stand of the 

 ordinary height of table cases. It was an enormous indi- 

 vidual. The present remains, although lacking the snout 

 and much of the tail, extend to a length of about twenty- 

 five feet. 



The excursions for Thursday week are numerous and 

 calculated to please all tastes; they are to (i) Bath, (2) 

 Bowood and Avebury, (3) Cheddar, (4) Chepstow and 

 Tintern, (5) Porlishead, Cadbury Camp, and Clevedon, 

 (6) Salisbury and Stonehenge, (7) Sources of Bristol 

 Waterworks Supply, (8) Tort»vorih and Damcry Bridge. 

 (9) Wells and Cheddar, (10) Weston-super-Mare. 



The arrangemenis for transit and entertainment are 

 most complete. The soirdes give promise ef great 

 success. The first is to be unoer the auspices of the 

 Bristol and Baih Natural History Societies, and many 

 specimens of living microscopic animals will Le ex- 

 hibited. At the second, the post office officials intend 

 to make a very elaborate display of teU graphic ii.siiu- 

 ments and processes. 



It is worthy of remaik that it was at the meeting of the 

 Association at Bristol in 1836 that Section G (Mecliaaical) 

 Was instituted ; and at that meeting Dr. Lardner ex- 

 pressed his opinion that the proposed scheme of crossii.g 

 the AJantic by steam was an impossibility. From 

 Bristol, however, the first steam-ship traversed the 

 Atlantic to Ne>v Yoik. 



It was in the Bristol district that macadamised roads 

 were first introduced ; some of the earliest docks (»8o>) 

 were made there under tne direction of Mr. W. Jessop ; 

 and on the Somersetshire Canal was tried Mr. Weldon's 

 extraordinary h>diostalic lock. 



To geologists there is the interesting fact that within 

 twelve miles on the Somersetshire Coal Canal, the 

 " father of English geology " made his discovery of the 

 sequence of strata ; and geographers vyill recollect that 

 Sebaitian Cabot sailed from Bristol, 



