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NATURE 



[July 15, 1920 



British Association. 



Subjects for Discussion at the Cardii-f Meeting. 

 T^HE sectional programmes for the British Associa- 

 •*■ tion meeting at Cardiff, August 24-28, are now 

 taking shape, and some of the principal scientific 

 subjects which will be discussed may be indicated. 

 The Mathematical and Physical Section, under the 

 presidency of Prof. A, S. Eddington, will be con- 

 cerned with the Einstein theory, and will receive a 

 paper on the shift of the Fraunhofer lines with refer- 

 ence to that theory. The Section will also discuss 

 the examination of materials by X-rays, the origin of 

 spectra, terrestrial magnetism, aurorae, solar disturb- 

 ance, and various phenomena of the upper atmosphere. 

 The Cieological Section will, as usual, pay attention 

 to local geology, and will also, in joint session with 

 the Sections of Zoology and Botany, discuss Mendelism 

 and palaeontology with reference to the Mendelian 

 interpretation of gradual changes, especially when 

 new characters appear late in the individual life-cycle. 

 The Zoological Section will also consider the need for 

 the scientific investigation of the ocean and of 

 fisheries — a subject in which not only the president of 

 the Section (Prof. J. Stanley Gardiner), but also Dr. 

 W. A. Herdman, president of the Association and 

 professor of oceanography at Liverpool University, are 

 leading authorities. 



The president of the Geographical Section, Mr. J. 

 McFarlane, will deal in his address with geography 

 and nationality as factors in the formation of the 

 new Europe; the Section will also discuss the dis- 

 tribution of population in South Wales, the new 

 Ordnance Survey maps, the place of geography in a 

 reformed classical course, and various problems con- 

 nected with Abyssinia, Algeria, Tunisia, Asia Minor, 

 Finland, and other lands. The Engineering Section 

 is expecting papers from Sir Arthur Duckharn on the 

 use of coal and from Mr. S. F. Edge on farm tractors, 

 and will also deal with a number of metallurgical and 

 mechanical topics. The Anthropological Section will 

 consider several subjects of Welsh interest, including 

 Welsh ethnology, the Roman sites at Caerwent and 

 Abergele, "hill-top" camps, especially in North 

 Cardiganshire, and Welsh folk-music ; in this Section 

 also, among other speakers, Prof. Flinders Petrie is 

 expected to give an account of recent work in Egypt. 

 The Physiological Section, jointly with its sub-section 

 of Psychology, will deal with the subject of psycho- 

 logical medicine in the United States, while the 

 Section will also consider the place of physiology in 

 education, and will receive from Prof. A. D. Waller 

 a demonstration of the "emotive response" of the 

 human subject. The erection of psychology into the 

 subject of a separate section will be brought forward. 

 The Sections of Physiology and Botany jointly will 

 discuss biochemistry and systematic relationship. The 

 Botanical Section, in addition to other joint meetings, 

 will join that of Agriculture in dealing with soil and 

 plant survey work. In the Educational Section the 

 report of a committee will be received upon training 

 in citizenship, in connection with which Bishop 

 Welldon, Sir R. Baden-Powell, and Lady Shaw are 

 expected to speak. The Section, among other sub- 

 jects, will discuss the relation of schools to life, post- 

 graduate International education, and the relation of 

 universities, public schools, training colleges, and 

 higher technical schools to a national system. In 

 connection with the Inst discussion it is hoped to 

 receive a communication on universities from the 

 Right Hon. H. A. L. Fisher. A number of papers 

 of Dsychological and educational interest will be 

 received in joint session with the sub-section of 

 Psychology. The Agricultural Section will hav^e 



NO. 2646, VOL\ 105] 



before it a number of practical subjects concerned with 

 crops and livestock. 



In addition to general excursions, several Sections^ 

 including those of Geology, Geography, Engineerings 

 Anthropology, Botany, and Education, will visit sites^ 

 works, or institutions in Cardiff and the neighbour- 

 hood appropriate to tlieir various interests. 



The subjects of the evening discourses given at 

 general meetings will be "A Grain of Wheat from the 

 Field to the Table," by Sir Daniel Hall, of the Board 

 of Agriculture, and "Some Requirements of Modern 

 Aircraft," by Sir Richard Glazebrook, lately director 

 of the National Phvsical Laboratorv. 



Museums Association Annual Conference. 



npHE thirty-first annual conference of the Museums 

 -*■ Association was held in Winchester on July 6-8, 

 under the presidency of Sir Martin Conway, Director- 

 General of the Imperial War Museum. There were 

 present about a hundred delegates from the various 

 museums and art galleries of Great Britain and 

 Ireland, while Colonial and foreign institutions were 

 represented by Mr. Fitzroy Carrington, from the 

 Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Mr. E. C. Chubb, 

 from Durban Museum ; and Dr. G. Johansson Karlin,. 

 from the Kulturhistoriska Museet, Lund. 



The meeting marked an epoch in the history of the. 

 association, since it partook of the nature of a joint 

 conference with the Museums Association of France, 

 which was represented by Prof. Louis Roule, of the 

 Paris Museum, and Dr. Loir, secretary of the French 

 Museums Association. 



In his presidential address Sir Martin Conway gave 

 an account of the formation of the Imperial War 

 Museum temporarily housed in the Crystal Palace. 

 He explained how the difficulties of the collection and 

 transport of specimens are being met, and dealt with 

 some of the problems of their storage, especially in 

 the case of war kinematograph films the preservation 

 of which at present is both difficult and expensive. 

 Owing to the vast mass of material collected and 

 the large size of many of the exhibits, the president 

 pointed out that their permanent home must of neces- 

 sity be spacious. He suggested that no more fitting 

 war memorial could be raised than a stately museum 

 on the Surrey bank of the Thames near the proposed 

 site of the new Charing Cross bridge. Here the 

 thousands of specimens connected with and illus- 

 trating the war period could be housed, and with them 

 a complete Roll of Honour, with biographical notes, 

 of every man and woman of the Empire who had 

 fallen in the great struggle. 



Mr. E. N. Fallaize read a paper of great interest 

 and utility to museum curators on " Suggestions for 

 the Classification of the Subject-matter of Anthropo- 

 logy." In consideration of the vast field covered by 

 this subject, {le pointed out the necessity for the forma- 

 tion of a definite plan for its study, suggesting a 

 broad classification of the subject into two heads, one 

 dealing with man as an organism and the other 

 treating him as a rational being reacting to his en- 

 vironment. For the first, a study of man's structure 

 and the functions of his organs is needed, including 

 a study of the abnormal, both phvsical and mental. 

 Having thus established a type, the second heading 

 falls naturally into two groups : ethnology, a study 

 of man in space, and what may be termed palse- 

 anthropology, a study of man in time. In addition, 

 man's nature as shown in the development and em- 

 plovment of specifically human faculties should be 

 studied, not chronologically, but in a logical sequence 



