NATURE 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1893. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



THE Nottingham meeting of the British Association 

 must be recorded as a useful and pleasant one. 

 There has been no tremendous sensation, but on the 

 other hand there has not been much dulness. The 

 weather up to Tuesday was everything that could be 

 desired, and the proceedings were wound up yesterday 

 by an innovation in the shape of a special performance 

 oi Pharaoh by Mr. Wilson Barrett and his company, to 

 which the members of the Association were invited by 

 the local committee. 



The formal business of the Association was commenced 

 on the 13th by a meeting of the general committee. From 

 the council's report we cull the following announcements. 

 The following were elected corresponding members :— 

 Dr. Svante Arrhenius, Stockholm ; Prof. Marcel Bert- 

 rand, Paris ; Prof. F. Elfving, Helsingfors ; Prof. Ldo 

 Errera, Brussels ; Prof. G. Fritsch, Berlin ; Mr. D. C. 

 Gilman, Bahimore ; Dr. C. E. Guillaume, Sevres ; Prof. 

 Rosenthal, Erlangen ; Dr. Maurits Snellen, Utrecht. 



The council had drawn the attention of the Local 

 Government Board to the desirability of the publica- 

 tion of the " Report on the Examination into Devia- 

 tions from the Normal amongst 50,000 Children in 

 various Schools," which had been presented to 

 that board by the British Medical Association, and 

 of several departments to the anthropometric method 

 for the measurement of criminals, which is successfully 

 in operation in France, Austria, and other continental 

 countries. 



At the meeting in the evening, in the Albert Hall, the 

 retiring president, Sir A. Geikie, vacating the chair, spoke 

 as follows : — Ladies and gentlemen, the last duty which 

 your president for the year has to perform is to vacate the 

 chair and formally introduce the new president. Allow me 

 to thank you for the high honour of occupying the chair of 

 the British Association, and at the same time to express 

 the satisfaction with which I learn that the affairs of the 

 British Association are in as satisfactory a condition as 

 that in which I found them. The introduction of my suc- 

 cessor is only a matter of form. His name is familiar 

 to alt of you, and he is esteemed all over the world 

 as one of the great leaders of biological science — a great 

 leader as well as a great investigator. He will speak to 

 you with the authority of an acknowledged master of 

 science. I have, therefore, great pleasure in introducing 

 my successor in the chair, the Oxford professor, Dr. 

 Burdon-Sanderson. 



The President then delivered the address which we 

 printed last week. Dr. Burdon-Sanderson's reference to 

 the importance of the endowment of research has called 

 ftwth remarks in the Press which clearly indicate that 

 Ibe people of this country do not yet see that in the 

 peaceful war among nations that nation will win which 

 has all the resources of science most easily at its com- 

 mand ; that these resources are as much the first line of 

 defence as the British Navy in actual war is our first 

 line ; and that with regard to them we are getting re- 

 latively worse equipped each year in consequence of the 

 care with which science is being fostered by foreign 

 governments and neglected by our own. We are in the 

 same position to day with regard to science as we were 

 in the days of Ouecn Elizabeth with regard to the Navy. 

 The sectional meetings began next day. The addresses 



NO. 1247, VOL, 48] 



of the various presidents have shown a high level of ex 

 cellence. This week we give those delivered in Sections 

 C, D, Gand H. 



On Monday another meeting of the general committee 

 was held in the afternoon for the purpose of determining 

 upon the place of meeting in 1895. A deputation 

 attended from Toronto, and Prof. Mavor, speaking on 

 behalf of a local provisional committee, explained the 

 facilities which Toronto afforded for the holding of 

 general and sectional meetings. He also dwelt on the 

 industries of the neighbourhood, its agriculture, and 

 objects of scientific interest in the vicinity. It was 

 eventually agreed that the committee express their best 

 thanks to the provisional conmittee of Toronto for the 

 invitation, and provided that suitable arrangements could 

 be made similar to those that were made for the Mon- 

 treal visit the committee would be prepared to entertain 

 the question of meeting at Toronto before many years 

 had elapsed. 



Deputations were then introduced from Bournemouth 

 and Ipswich. It appeared from information given by 

 Mr. Griffith, the secretary, that Bournemouth offered 

 greater facilities than Ipswich in the way of rooms for 

 the meetings of the Sections. On the question being put 

 to the vote, there appeared 31 for Ipswich and 20 for 

 Bournemouth. It was, therefore, decided that the meet- 

 ing of 1895 should be held at Ipswich. 



The Marquis of Salisbury was nominated president of 

 the meeting next year at Oxford. It was pointed out 

 that among his claims he has been Chancellor of the 

 University of Oxford since 1880, that he would therefore 

 represent both hosts and guests, that he is a distin- 

 guished statesman, a courteous gentleman, a member 

 of the council of the Royal Society, and a true man of 

 science. 



A list of vice-presidents was agreed to, and the meet- 

 ing at Oxford was fixed for August 8. 



The business concluded with the reappointment of 

 Sir Douglas Galton and Mr. Vernon Harcourt as general 

 secretaries, and Mr. G. Griffith as assistant general sec- 

 retary, and Prof. Riicker as general treasurer. 



The list of awards arrived at yesterday was as follows : 



£ 



Electrical Standards ... ... 25 



Meteorological Photographs ... ... ... 10 



Mathematical Tables ... ... 15 



Solar Radiation ... ... ... ... ... 15 



National Physical Laboratory ... 5 



Wave-length Tables 10 



Iron and Steel Analysis ... 15 



Action of Light on Dyed Colours ... ... $ 



Erratic Blocks ... ... ... 15 



Fossil Phyllopoda ... ... ... 5 



Geological Photographs ... ... ... ... to 



Shell-bearing Deposits at Clava, &c. ... ... 20 



Eurypterids of the Pentland Hills ... ... $ 



Sections of Stonestield Slate ... ... .. 25 



Earth Tremors 50 



Exploration of Calf Hole Cave 5 



Naples Zoological Station ... ... ... ... 100 



Plymouth Zoological Station 15 



Zoology of Siindwich Islands ... ... ... 100 



Zoology of Irish .Sea ... ... ... ... 40 



Structure of Mammalian Heart .. ... ... 10 



Climatology of Tropical Africa ... ... ... 10 



Observations in South Georgia ... .. ... 50 



Exploration in Arabia ... ... 30 



Economic Training ... ... ... ... ... 10 



Anthropometric Statistics ... ... ... ... 5 



Ethnography of United Kingdom ... ... 10 



The Glastonbury Village ... ... ... ... 40 



Anthropometry in Schools ... ... ... ... 5 



Menial and Phy.sical Condition of Children ... 20 



Corresponding Societies ... ... ... ... 25 



70s 



