September 2, 1915] 



NATURE 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION MEETING 



IN MANCHESTER. 



'X'HE meeting: of the British Association in Man- 



-•- Chester will provide a busy week for those 

 who choose to avail themselves of the opportuni- 

 ties provided for scientific discussion and visits to 

 places of special interest. As previously an- 

 nounced, . the long--distance excursions that old 

 members are accustomed to on the afternoon of 

 the Saturday and on the last Wednesday of the 

 meeting- will not be found on the prog-ramme, but 

 the executive committee has arrang^ed for a large 

 nurnber of visits to the principal municipal under- 

 takings, works, and warehouses, which should 

 prove to be of exceptional interest. Most of these 

 visits will be made in the afternoon, and will not 

 therefore interfere with the important work of the 

 sections. It is difficult to select from the list any 

 one that may be regarded as especially note- 

 worthy because there is so much variety offered 

 by the great industrial community of which Man- 

 chester is the centre, and an appeal to many 

 different interests will be made. But as the Man- 

 chester Ship Canal is sometimes regarded as one 

 of the wonders of the world, it is probable that the 

 visit to the Manchester docks and canal will be 

 one of the most attractive features. This visit 

 will take place on the afternoon of Friday, Sep- 

 tember 10, and the party will be limited to one 

 hundred. The Ship Canal Company has kindly 

 provided a special steamer for the visitors, and 

 arrangements will be made for the inspection of 

 all the principal engineering features of this great 

 undertaking. 



The important works of the Manchester and of 

 the Salford electricity departments will be shown 

 to small parties in the course of the three working 

 days of the meeting, and opportunities will be 

 afforded for members and associates to visit the 

 corporation gas works, water works, and sewage 

 di.sposal works. Of the visits to the works of the 

 principal Manchester industries that to the Pilk- 

 ington Tile and Pottery Co. at Clifton Junction 

 will probably be one of the most interesting; but 

 the most ambitious so far as distance is concerned 

 is the proposed visit to the soap works of Messrs. 

 Lever Bros, at Port Sunlight on Thursday, Sep- 

 tember g. 



Other visits that may be specially referred to 

 are to the works of the cotton spinners, of several 

 large electrical machinery manufacturing com- 

 panies, of the great Manchester warehouses, of 

 the hat manufacturers of Stockport, of the calico- 

 printers, of the packing warehouses, etc. 



In connection with the special work of the 

 sections several excursions on a small scale have 

 been arranged. Thus, Section C (Geology) will 

 adjourn in the afternoons for visits to places of 

 geological interest in the immediate neighbourhood 

 for field demonstrations of Dr. Hickling's paper 

 on the geology of Manchester, and there will be a 

 longer excursion arranged for the Saturday after- 

 noon. Section D (Zoology) will adjourn to the 

 zoological laboratories on Thursday afternoon for 

 < xhibits and demonstrations of original work that 

 NO. 2392, VOL. 96] 



has been conducted or is in progress in the uni- 

 versity. Section E (Geography) proposes an after- 

 noon excursion into Derbyshire. Section H (An- 

 thropology) proposes a visit to the Roman camp 

 at Ribchester, on which occasion Sir F. F. Adam 

 will preside. For Section K (Botany) a series of 

 interesting demonstrations in the botanical labora- 

 tories of the university are being arranged ; and 

 Section L (Educational Science) has arranged for 

 two visits to educational institutions, one, on 

 Thursday afternoon, to the Kindergarten Training 

 College in Whalley Range, when Sir William 

 Mather will entertain the party to tea, and the 

 other to the school for feeble-minded children at 

 Sandlebridge. 



On Wednesday evening the Lord Mayor of Man- 

 chester will hold a reception in the Manchester 

 School of Technology from 8 to 8.30, after which 

 members and associates will be able to inspect the 

 workrooms, machinery, and appliances of the 

 institution. 



Every effort is being made by the local execu- 

 tive committee to ensure the success of the meet- 

 ing, and although it cannot be expected that the 

 numbers will be as large as they would have been 

 in normal times, there is every prospect of a good 

 attendance of men of science and of important 

 work being done. 



ART AND CRAFT IN FISHING.^ 



IN recent years the contemplative man seems 

 to have changed his nature, to judge from 

 some of the books which he gives to the world. 

 Time was when he was content just to go fishing, 

 with the simple object of catching fish. But now 

 his demeanour is more that of a man who is 

 setting out on a serious piece of scientific work, 

 and, though he has not quite lost what Francis 

 Francis used to call " a kind of prejudice for a 

 brace of fish in the creel," he is mighty particular 

 as to how that brace of fish got there. Should 

 he, so to say, have been overtaken in inadvertency 

 and have decoyed one of them in a manner not 

 permitted to the elect, his conscience will know 

 many pangs, and likely his tongue will begin the 

 story with apology and end with explanation. 

 There is no longer pride in a fish just as a fish. 

 The modern achievement is a fish caught on a 

 female olive. The same fish caught on an Alex- 

 andra would be like a shot fox ; for the angler 

 has become a much improved and superior person, 

 and (may we confess it?) at times a little difficult 

 to live with. 



His literature, however, has certainly gained in 

 interest, because it can no longer be said, as it 

 used to be said, that there is nothing new to be 

 written about fishing. The mere discovery of the 

 female olive brought a whole new world swimming 

 into one's ken. And since then there have been 



1 (O " Fly-Fi«hinK : So-ne New Arts and Mysteries." By J. C. Motlram. 

 Pp. xii-f tTs. (London : Fieiti and Queen (Horace Cox), Ltd., n.d.) Price 

 5J. net. 



(a) "The Complete Science of Flyfishing und Spinnine." By Fred. G. 

 Shaw. Pp. xiii+432. (Published by the Author, Neville Court, Abbey 

 Road, N.W., 1914.) Price ai*. 



