October 22, 1914] 



NATURE 



205 



arrangements suffered disorganisation to such an 

 extent that the plans which had been formed had 

 to be modified greatly, and fresh arrangements 

 made in the four days immediately preceding the 

 meeting. 



The Brisbane party left Sydney on Wednesday, 

 August 26, in two special sleeping trains. The 

 visitors arrived at Wallangarra on the Queens- 

 land border in time for breakfast, at which and 

 also at lunch they were the guests of the Queens- 

 land Government. At \\'allangarra a change of 

 gauge occurs, the New- South Wales gauge of 

 4 ft. 8^ in. being left behind, and the narrow 

 gauge of 3 ft. 6 in., which is common to all the 

 Queensland railways, being reached. The party 

 travelled from Wallangarra in two special trains, 

 arriving at Toowoomba in time for luncheon and 

 reaching Brisbane about 6 p.m. 



The arrangements which had been made for the 

 conveyance of the visitors to the homes of their 

 guests worked very satisfactorily, and within eight 

 minutes of the arrival of the trains the last of the 

 visitors had left the station. 



The reception room and post office were situated 

 at the temporary university building, but unfor- 

 tunately it was not possible to arrange for the 

 lectures and addresses to be delivered there on 

 account of the absence of any hall or lecture- 

 room large enough to accommodate the audiences 

 which were anticipated. 



Two addresses were delivered on Friday morn- 

 ing in the Albert Hall. The first, w^hich was 

 officially described as the second part of the pre- 

 sidential address in Section M (Agriculture), was 

 given by Mr. A. D. Hall, who chose as his sub- 

 ject "Tropical Agriculture." The hall was w-ell 

 filled with a large and appreciative audience ; the 

 local members were particularly interested in the 

 subject, and it is hoped that the address will prove 

 helpful in many ways. 



It had been originally planned that the second 

 address should be the second part of the presi- 

 dential address in Section I (Physiology) on the 

 subject of "Tropical Diseases," and on account 

 of the peculiar local and climatic interest of the 

 subject chosen much disappointment was felt in 

 Brisbane at its unavoidable abandonment. In 

 place of this Prof. E. W. Brown, of Yale, deli- 

 vered an address on cosmical physics. 



Two public lectures or discourses were ar- 

 ranged for Friday evening. Prof. Armstrong 

 lectured to an interested audience in the Cen- 

 tennial Hall on the "Materials of Life." In his 

 lecture he traced the building up of the simple 

 compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and 

 nitrogen into the complicated compounds which 

 are synthesised in the plant organism ; also the 

 breaking dowm of these under enzyme and other 

 action during the process of digestion and the 

 building up again from these relatively simple 

 substances of the highly complicated products 

 which are prepared in the animal organism. A 

 vote of thanks was propose.d by Prof. Steele, of 

 Brisbane, and the subject was discussed by Prof. 

 Bateson, who occupied the chair. The second 



NO. 2347, VOL. 94] 



lecture was held in the Albert Hall on the same 

 evening. Sir Oliver Lodge occupied the chair, 

 and Prof. Howe gave an interesting discourse on 

 wireless telegraphy. 



The meeting closed on Monday evening, when 

 Sir Edward Schafer gave a discourse on the 

 subject "Australia and the British Association." 

 At the conclusion of the lecture Sir Arthur 

 Morgan, Lieutenant Governor of the State of 

 Queensland, proposed a vote of thanks to the 

 lecturer. 



A citizens' lecture on decorative art in Papua 

 was delivered by Dr. Haddon to a large audience 

 in the Exhibition building, the Mayor of Bris- 

 bane, Alderman C. Jenkinson, occupying the 



[ Ttf^nl Press Agenty. 



Pk^ftoA . . 



Fig. a. — An excursioa party of the British Association in the Austialian 

 bush. 



chair. . There were two garden parties given in 

 honour of the visitors, one on Friday afternoon 

 in Bowen Park by the Mayor of Brisbane, and 

 another on Monday afternoon in the university 

 grounds by the Government of Queensland, the 

 Lieutenant Governor receiving the giaests on 

 behalf of the Government. 



The Senate of the L'niversity entertained the 

 general officers of the Association, the presidents 

 and ex-presidents of sections, and the foreign 

 visitors at luncheon on Friday, August 2S. The 

 vice-chancellor, Mr. R. H. Roe, was in the chair, 

 and proposed the health of the guests. This was 

 replied to by the president, Prof. Bateson, in a 



