440 



NA TURE 



\_Sept. 8, 1887 



part, with the result that the time of the whole meeting 

 has been more intensely scientific than in the case of any 

 previous meeting. This has been especially shown in the 

 case of the important discussions which had been arranged 

 for, and which most of them bore the character of real 

 debate ; the only exception, we believe, being the case of 

 electrolysis, in Sections A and B, the "discussion" con- 

 sisting mostly of the reading of a series of papers. 

 Quite otherwise, however, was it with the discussions 

 on heredity, introduced by Prof. Lankester, and on the 

 cell theory, introduced by Prof. Schafer, in Section A 

 — discussions in which the subjects were threshed out very 

 thoroughly. To some extent it is generally conceded that 

 the great mixture of foreigners has to some extent solved 

 the problem of an International Scientific Congress, 

 which in any formal way is generally considered im- 

 practicable. Their presence here has certainly added a 

 stimulating variety to the meeting, and the honour has 

 been duly appreciated by the Corporation and citizens of 

 Manchester. The foreigners have all been hospitably 

 entertained as guests, and there have been not a few special 

 entertainments got up for their special behoof. At the 

 great dinner to be given to-morrow by the Mayor 

 and Corporation nearly half of the guests will be 

 foreigners. One of the pleasantest gatherings of the 

 meeting was at a little dinner given on Sunday night by 

 a few of the biologists to a select few of their foreign 

 co-workers, especially botanists, at which De Bary 

 delighted everybody present. 



The number of papers read at this meeting has been 

 quite comparable with its other excepticnal features. 

 Sections that have never split before have been compelled 

 to split now. Biology, though it has thrown off Section 

 H, has this year split into two sub-sections, — Botany and 

 Physiology, — and there is even some fear, perhaps hope, 

 that these divisions may become permanent. On Saturday 

 every Section met except E, and to-morrow the majority 

 will have to sit close up to the General Committee-meet- 

 ing. Out of all this rush of papers no doubt some good 

 comes, but most of those interested in the welfare of the 

 Association admit that it would be well to moderate it, or 

 perhaps still more completely to organize it. For one 

 thing the custom of reading one paper in several Sections 

 is greatly to be deprecated, and this year it has been 

 carried still further than ever, greatly to the indignation 

 of those Sections which had to submit to hearing the 

 story retold. This came to a crisis in Section E, where 

 an eminent geologist, who condescended to read a paper 

 to some extent already given to his own Section, was 

 told in almost so many words that Section E had no 

 time to listen to geological lectures. Here indeed the battle 

 between the geologists and geographers was fought out, 

 greatly it was thought to the discomfiture of the former, 

 who are loth to think that there is anything worthy of 

 the name of geography outside of their own lines. 



In spite of the persistently unfavourable weather, the 

 public lectures have been quite successful. The lecture 

 on the rate of explosions by Prof. H. B. Dixon kept a 

 large audience intensely interested from beginning to end ; 

 and nothing could be more striking and instructive than 

 his experiments, some of which were on a gigantic scale. 

 Equally attractive was the lecture to working men on Satur- 

 day evening on electricity by Prof. George Forbes. The 

 biggest audience of any, however, assembled in the Free 

 Trade Hall on Monday evening to hsten to Sir Francis De 

 Winton's lecture on exploration in Central Africa. The 

 audience was evidently a popular one, and the lecturer had 

 the warmest reception. Unfortunately, the lantern used to 

 show maps and pictures on the screen was rather a failure. 

 Distinctly popular as it was, probably even the specialists 

 were glad to get a convenient summary of recent work in 

 Central Africa, pleasantly conveyed. 



The address of the President of the Association, Sir 

 Henry Roscoe, was very numerously attended. Sir 



Henry was evidently audible all over the place, and his 

 reception, as might have been expected, was enthusiastic. 



Manchester is rather badly off for excursion places, and 

 on Saturday, we believe, quite as many people spent the 

 day in Manchester as elsewhere. Indeed, most of the 

 Sections were so busy with work that they had no time to 

 think of play. The little dredging excursion was joined 

 in by about fifty men, who all seemed highly satis- 

 fied with the results, in spite of the weather. One of 

 the most popular of the coming excursions will be that 

 to the Isle of Man from Friday to Tuesday, under the 

 guidance of Prof. Boyd Dawkins. There is also some 

 talk of an excursion to the Lakes, but the weather does not 

 encourage holiday enterprise in so notoriously rainy a 

 region. 



One popular and distinctly useful feature in connexion 

 with the present meeting has been the Anthropometric 

 Laboratory which has been established in connexion with 

 Section H, under the care of Dr. Garson and Mr. Bloxam. 

 It has_been very largely frequented by the members of the 

 Association, who have had themselves weighed, measured, 

 and tested in a variety of ways. The object, we believe, 

 is to obtain data from the most cultured classes to com- 

 pare with those collected by Mr. Francis Galton, at South 

 Kensington, from all and sundry. The result, it is ex- 

 pected, will be highly interesting. 



We have already referred to the very varied exhibition 

 which has been arranged in the galleries around the 

 attractive reading-room. This has received various 

 additions during the week. Prof. Boyd Dawkins shows 

 some very instructive exhibits in various rooms belonging 

 to the Geological Department of Owens College, including 

 William Smith's first geological map and an autograph 

 letter. Another exhibit deserving mention is the collection 

 of wax models, illustrating vertebrate morphology and 

 embryology, shown by Prof His, of Leipzig, on behalf of 

 Dr. A. Ziegler, of Freiburg. Naturally the model of the 

 Manchester Ship Canal has attracted much attention, but 

 not more than the great variety of interesting anthropo- 

 logical exhibits, which include the collection of casts 

 and photographs from Egyptian monuments contributed 

 by Mr. Flinders Petrie. 



Great complaints have been made of the way in which 

 the Press has reported the proceedings of the meeting. 

 This may partly be due, no doubt, to the fact that Parlia- 

 ment is still sitting and takes up much of the space of 

 the papers ; but is also to be ascribed to a larger extent to 

 the fact that ordinary reporters are hardly equal to the 

 work of the British Association. When there are printed 

 abstracts the matter is simple enough, but when discus- 

 sions have to be reported the failure is almost absolute. 

 This is certainly to be regretted, as it could not but be of 

 the greatest service to have such discussions widely cir- 

 culated. Surely it is quite worth while for the Sections to 

 organize adequate reporting arrangements for their own 

 sake. 



The next meeting, at Bath, will be presided over by 

 Sir Frederick Bramwell. In 1889 the Association will meet 

 in Newcastle, and it is expected that an invitation will 

 come from Leeds for 1890, 



The following is the list of grants which have been 

 made this year by the Association : — 



A. — MatJiematics and Physics, 



Ben Nevis Observatory 



Electrical Standards ... 



Magnetic Observations 



Standards of Light 



Electrolysis 



Solar Radiation 



Differential Gravity Meter 



Uniform Nomenclature in Mechanics 



80 



IS 



100 



50 

 10 

 10 

 10 



