1 66 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[July, 1905. 



The British Association: 



ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 



Objects of the Association.— To give a stropser impulse 

 and a more systematic direction to scientific inquirj' — 

 to promote the intercourse of those who cultivate 

 Science in different parts of the British Empire with 

 one another and with foreign philosophers — to obtain a 

 more general attention to the objects of science, and a 

 removal of any disadvantages of a public kind which 

 impede its progress. 



The British Association for the Advancement of Science 

 is something more than an asset of English science; 

 it may now he truly ranked as an asset of the British 

 Empire. Thus it would seem to have fulfilled the aspira- 

 tions of those, its founders, "merchants of light," if 

 we m:iv u^e the term, who cherished a far-seeing vision 

 of ultimate growth and power. \Ve may, however, be 

 sure that none ever dreamed that the peripatetic habits 

 of the .Association would extend to so remote a centre 

 as South .\frica, now, moreover, an integral part of the 

 King's dominions. 



The story of how the Association sprang into exist- 

 ence, and what it has effected, is, or should be, a 

 f.nmiliar one to Englishmen, for the history of the 

 British .Association during the seventy-four years of its 

 hardy life is in no small degree the history, not only of 

 the progre.ss and range of scientific enquiry in the land 

 of their birth, but a commanding record for an equiva- 

 lent period of personal achievements. To emphasise 

 this it will suffice to recall such names as Brewster, 

 Sedgwick, Murchison, Owen. Lyell, Faraday, Joule. 

 Darwin, Hooker (happily still among u.s), Thomson 

 (Lord Kelvin'), Stokes, Tyndall, and Huxley, each ol 

 whom has given us abiding and profound conceptions 

 in science and the problems of life. .Surely every school- 

 boy in England might find a text of instruction here ! 



On two previous occasions only has the Association 

 migrated from the Mother Country in order to hold it.s 

 annual Congress. The first of these was in 1884 when 

 it crossed the Atlantic to meet at Montreal. Lord 

 Rayleigh occupied the presidential chair, and there wa.«; 

 - 1 n'tr 'id.-iiif f of 1.777 persons. To signalise the event, 

 the British Association instituted in McGill L'nivcrsity 

 a prize medal for work in applied science, the obverse 

 of which, it is of interest just now to chronicle, bears 

 the head of James Watt; the reverse has a wreath of 

 maple and rose leaves. With this precedent in mint), 

 South Africa may possibly desire to receive a similar 

 record of the present visit. 



In 1897 the Association visited Toronto, having .Sir 

 John Evans as President. Here the attendance reached 

 1,362. 



The idea of the British Association as an amalgama- 

 tion of scientific interests is clearly set forth in a letter 

 addressed by Sir David Brewster in 1831 to Mr. John 

 I'hillips, [-".fiS., the Secretary of the Philosophical 

 .Society of York, and although this has been commented 

 on in all its bearings before now, it will bear recapitula- 

 tion, more especially at a moment when the Association 

 is breaking fresh ground and is grasping the hands of 

 new friends. 



Subjoined is the letter referred to : — 



Allerby, by Melrose February 23rd, 183 1 



"Dear Sir,— I have taken the liberty of writing to you on 

 a subject of considerable importance. It is proposed to 



PROF. A. R. FORSYTH, F.R.S. 



Prof. Andrew Rvssell Forsyth, Sntlkvian Profeseor of Pure Mathematics 

 io the University of Cambridge, is President of Section A, Mathematical and 

 Physical Science. He is the author of many treatises en subjects of 

 mathematical analysip, and is a Rojal Meda'l'st of the Uoyal Soc'ety. 



MK. O. T. HKIl-UY, F.C.S. 

 Mfi. Oroiiok TiinMAH*BK.iLuv,oI OlatiKOw, Prcsidentof Section B, (.:heiiiiHtry, 

 is a past presi lent ol the Society of Chemical Industry, and an authority on 

 chcmintry aa apiilicd to the arts 'of life. Ha has siiccially studied the industrial 

 aspecta of fuel supplies, and is the compiler of a ** Review of the Coal Con- 

 sumption of the United Kingdom." Among his recent papers are : " Tho 

 Position of tho Cyanide Industry " ; " Tho IntefiHincalion of Chemical Action 

 hy the Emanations from Gold and Platinum " ; and *' PliosphorescencA caused 

 by the Beta and Qamma Rays of R idium " 



