522 



NATURE 



[September 29, 1898 



INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES AND THE 

 BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



THE circumstances under which the International 

 Conference on Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmo- 

 spheric Electricity met at Bristol, and its relations to 

 the British Association, were fully described in the 

 address of the President which we have already pub- 

 lished. The success of the Conference leads to the hope 

 that similar arrangements may be made in future with 

 regard to other international reunions which may be held 

 in this country. 



The number of such gatherings is increasing, but, 

 useful as they undoubtedly are, they make serious inroads 

 on the summer vacation ; they diminish the few short 

 weeks which, when the necessary holiday has been 

 taken, can be devoted either to research or to prepar- 

 ation for the work of the next session ; and lastly they 

 necessarily compete with, and injuriously affect, each 

 other. 



Thus it is unquestionable that the fact that physio- 

 logists foregathered in Cambridge shortly before the 

 meeting of the British Association was one of the causes 

 why at Bristol physiologists were conspicuous by their 

 absence. Last year the number of British geologists 

 who visited Canada was relatively small, as they could 

 not be in the Caucasus and on the shores of the Pacific 

 at the same time. 



It may be impossible to prevent such meetings from 

 interfering when they are held in different countries and 

 when two nations are the hosts, but everything that is 

 possible should be done to prevent it when the gather- 

 ings take place in the same summer and in the same 

 country. Steps have recently been taken in this direc- 

 tion. Conferences of zoologists and physiologists were 

 held simultaneously in Cambridge, and the Conference 

 on Terrestrial Magnetism was affiliated to the British 

 Association. This latter plan could not be adopted if 

 the number of persons attending an International Con- 

 ference was so large that, if the Conference were held 

 simultaneously with the meeting of the Association, it 

 would overtax the receptive capacity of a great town. 

 Such cases are comparatively rare, and in others the aid 

 of the Association is so valuable, that it may be hoped 

 that the precedent now set will be followed frequently. 



The conditions of a successful International Conference 

 are interesting and important questions to discuss, an 

 adequate attendance of British and foreign scientific men, 

 and well arranged opportunities for social intercourse. 

 Taking the first two for granted, and dealing therefore 

 only with the last, it is well known that an elaborate 

 scheme of entertainments and excursions is most 

 generously and even lavishly provided by the locality in 

 which the British Association meets. These were, and 

 probably always would be, thrown open to members of 

 an International Conference meeting together with and 

 recognised by the Association. If the number of those 

 attending the Conference was sufficiently large to justify 

 the wish to have some' special entertainments — it may 

 be a dinner or an excursion — reserved for them alone, 

 this could no doubt be arranged at a cost to the pro- 

 moters of the Conference much less than that involved in 

 the holding of an independent meeting. The British 

 Association thus possesses ready-made machinery for the 

 reception and entertainment of foreigners, which would 

 have to be created anew for each independent Confer- 

 ence. On the other hand, no small part of the elaborate 

 preparations for the meeting of the Association is now 

 too often devoted to the entertainment of persons whose 

 interest in science is little more than a hardy annual 

 which blossoms in August or September, and requires a 

 stimulating treatment of cheap excursions to bring it to 

 maturity. No harm would be done to the Association, 

 and good would result in many ways if these were in 

 NO. 1509, VOL. 58] 



part replaced by distinguished foreign visitors and their 

 English confreres. The authorities of the . Association 

 have shown a praiseworthy readiness to vary their 

 arrangements so as to grapple with new conditions. 

 Though nominally a department of Section A, and 

 working most harmoniously with the officers of that 

 Section, the International Magnetic Conference was 

 practically at liberty to manage its own affairs, and was 

 in no way hampered by red-tape. The Permanent 

 Committee, appointed not by the Association, but by 

 the International Meteorological Conference at Paris in 

 1896, was added en bloc to the Committee of Section A^ 

 and was allowed unfettered control of the Magnetic 

 Department of that Section. 



If the authorities of the Association are thus wisely 

 liberal in future, there is no reason why at least the 

 smaller International Conferences which take place in 

 this country should not meet in alliance with the British 

 Association. 



If a Section can for one year coexist with an ahnost 

 independent department, there is no reason why similar 

 temporary arrangements should not be adopted on a 

 more extensive scale, should occasion so require. The 

 promoters of the Conference would be saved a gi-eat 

 deal of trouble and even of expense. The cost to the 

 Association and to the locality would be no greater than 

 it is now. The persons entertained would be genuine 

 scientific workers. The meetings of the Association 

 would gain in interest and prestige, while at most of the 

 places where the Association meets there would be no 

 difficulty in providing space for several additional Sec- 

 tions if such subdivision were necessary. 



The experiment which has been tried this year on a 

 small scale was a complete success, and it is desirable 

 that those who may have the management of Inter- 

 national Congresses in future should be fully aware ot 

 the readiness which the C ouncil of the British Association 

 has displayed to make the great organisation which it 

 controls as useful as possible. They have much to 

 give, and on this occasion they gave it freely ; while, on 

 the other hand, the Association gained both in the interest 

 of its proceedings, and in the usefulness to science 

 which is the object of its existence. 



NOTES. 



The seventeenth Congress of the Sanitary Institute was opened 

 at Birmingham on Tuesday, and will continue in session during 

 the remainder of this week. On Tuesday afternoon Sir Joseph 

 Fayrer, Bart., the President of the Congress, delivered an address, 

 in which he surveyed the progress of preventive medicine 

 during recent times ; and in the evening the Lord Mayor opened 

 a great exhibition of appliances, machinery, food products, and 

 the like, which is the usual feature of the Congress, and lasts a 

 month. On Wednesday municipal representatives, medical 

 officers of health, sanitary engineers, sanitary inspectors, and 

 ladies held conferences and discussed papers. Thursday and 

 Friday are to be devoted to sectional work, and there are two 

 important lectures, one to the Congress, and one to the general 

 public. Among the topics to be discussed are the relations of 

 medical officers to vaccinal legislation, the milk supply, water 

 analysis, bacteria and infectious disease, hygiene in dress, and 

 the decrease in the birth-rate. 



The death is announced at Paris of M. Gabriel de Mortillet, 

 the eminent anthropologist. 



The annual exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society was 

 inaugurated by a soiree held on Saturday last, September 24. 



At the meeting of the Entomological Society of London, on 

 October 5, a paper by Mr, F. Merrifield, "On colouring of 

 pupae of P. machaon and P. napi caused by exposing the pupating 



