Dec. 13, 1888] 



NATURE 



53 



rilightly downward tendency from the maximum of 1058 

 at Bath in 1864. Whether' this has any significance as 

 reveahng change of character in the Association (de- 

 terioration or otherwise) we cannot say. Subjects of 

 discussion within the range of average feminine compre- 

 hension and interest, have not, we think, been growing in 

 scarcity of late, but rather the reverse. 



We might note the much smaller attendance of ladies 



at Manchester in 1887 (viz. 493) than in 1861 (viz. 791), 

 though the general attendance was much larger in the 

 later year. Again, more ladies attend the meetings in a 

 place like Hath than in one like Newcastle, while the 

 total attendance is greater at the latter : this is only 

 natural. In Brighton, as compared with Liverpool, 

 similarly, there is a larger proportional attendance of 

 ladies. And further discrepancies between the two 



curves will be found on examination. The minimum 

 attendance of ladies was at Montreal in 1884, viz. 74. 



In the dotted curve showing grants of money for 

 research, we find a rapid rise to a maximum in 1868, 

 when ^1940 was paid ; then a rapid fall to ^476in 1881 ; 

 after which the curve mounts again to ^1645 this year. 

 In 1872 the grant to Kew Observatory fell from £(iOQ to 

 ;^300, and the following year it disappears. 



A curve of the yearly income corresponds, in the main, 

 with th.nt of the attendance. 



The history of an institution, clearly comprehended, 

 should furnish hints as to how the welfare of the latter 

 may best be promoted in the future. Should the teaching 

 of our diagram in this relation be educed through discus- 

 sion in the columns of Nature, it may serve a good 

 purpose. 



