September 12, 1895] 



NA TURE 



461 



medicine and surgery : Sir James Paget. Prof. Huxley 

 was a corresponding member also. 



Each academy has more or less money left to it in 

 order to distribute prizes for different subject-matters ; 

 the .A-cademie des .Sciences and Acadifmie Frani;aise are 

 the richest. The Duke d'Aumale has agreed to leave 

 the splendid residence of Chantilly, with the books and 

 collections it contains, to the Institute, and this handsome 

 gift is accompanied by a sum of money to help to keep 

 the castle in good order. It is estimated that, all paid, 

 the Institute will be 100,000 francs richer each year for 

 this gift. 



English corresponding members and associates will 

 have a good opportunity of visiting the fine chateau of 

 Chantilly, for on October 26 the Duke opens the doors 

 to all members of the Institute, and bids them welcome. 

 The celebration of the centenary, to which all members of 

 each .Academy, all corresponding members and associates 

 in e\erj country have laeen, or are being, invited, will 

 last four days. The programme has been given in 

 N.'VTURK (.August 8) in full. The only new feature I 

 can introduce, is the programme of the afternoon per- 

 formance at the Comeilie Kranqaise, where the best 

 actors of the best theatre in France will play Les Horaces 

 (Comeilie), Les Femmes Savantes (Moliere), and recite a 

 piece of poetry by .Sully-Prudhomme. The railway 

 fares will be reduced 50 per cent, for all foreigners 

 invited. 



All may be sure to receive a hearty welcome. If the 

 Institut de France does not contain all our "best men " 

 in the different departments of knowledge or art, it con- 

 tains only men of recognised authority. They are men 

 whose aims are noble, and their feelings can but be most 

 cordial towards those whose aims are the same towards 

 their fellow-workers, whatever language they speak, what- 

 ever country they come from, towards all whose work and 

 character are high enough to have secured for them the 

 Inghest recognition French science can award. 



Henrv de V.\rigny. 



THE IPSU'/CH MEETING OF THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 



C U.MING after the Oxford j-car, the meeting at Ipswich 

 is in numljers a comparatively small one : but, from 

 a scientific point of view, everything augurs well. The 

 papers promise to be of more than usual interest, and 

 are so numerous that most of the Sections will have to 

 sit early and late in order to get through all the work 

 before them. 



We have pre\iously referred at some length to the 

 work proposed for Sections A, B, C, D, G, and H. 



Section D is this year reserved entirely to zoology and 

 animal physiology, under the presidency of Prof \V. X. 

 Herdman. 



Prof .'\. C. Haddon will read a paper on the exploration 

 of the isles of the Pacific. Dr. Bashford Deane, of New 

 York, is to read two papers — one on an apparatus for 

 catching oyster spat, the other on the ganoids of North 

 America. Prof .Mcintosh will open a discussion on 

 British fisheries. A paper will be read by the Rev. T. K. R. 

 Stebbing, on zoological nomenclature and publication. 

 Special interest is likely to be taken in a jjaper by the 

 President and Prof Poycc on the subject of oysters and 

 typhoid, by those who propose to join in the excursion 

 to the Colne Oyster Fisher)- (Colchester), which has just 

 been added to the programme for W'edncsdav. It is 

 intended to make a large use of the lantern for illustrating 

 papers in the .Section. 



The provisional programme in Section E (Geography) 

 makes it evident tliat the .Section is, as usual, to be a 



NO. 1350, VOL. 52] 



popular one. After the address of the President, Mr. 

 II. J. Mackinder, an account will be given, by Mr. H. S. 

 Cowper, of a journey over Tarhuna and Gharian in 

 Tripoli ; and Mr. J. Batalka-Reis will discuss how to 

 consider and write the history of the discovery of the 

 world. On Friday, the papers will be given by Mr. C. E. 

 Borchgrevink, describing his voyage to the .Antarctic 

 Sea ; by .Mr. H. N. Dickson, on oceanographical research 

 in the North Sea ; by Mr. \V. B. Blaikie, on the cosmo- 

 sphere ; and bv Mr. John Dodd, on Formosa. On Mon- 

 day, Mr. E. G. Ravenstein will present a report on the 

 climate of tropical .Africa ; and there will be papers by 

 Mr. G. F. Scott Elliot, on Ruwenzori and East Africa ; by 

 Captain S. L. Hinde, on the Congo State ; by Mr. J. T. P. 

 Keatly, on the port of the L'pper Nile in relation to the 

 highways of commerce ; and by Mr. J. L. Myres, on the 

 maps of Herodotus. On Tuesday, Mr. Weston will 

 deal with the New Zealand Alps, and Mr. J. L. Myres 

 with ."Xsia .Minor, whilst Mr. A. Trevor Battye will give 

 an account of Kolguev. 



In Section F (Economic Science and Statistics), over 

 which Mr. L. L.Price presides, bimetallism appears early 

 on the scene, the arrangement being to devote Friday 

 morning to a monetary discussion, in which represen- 

 tatives of the Bimetallic League and of the Gold Standard 

 Defence Association, and others, are expected to take 

 part. Monday will be given up to a discussion on the 

 state of agriculture, on which question Captain E. G. 

 Pretyman, M.P., will read a paper from the landlord's 

 point of view, and Mr. Herman Biddell one from the 

 tenant's point of view. This discussion has unfortunately 

 been fixed for the same day as the discussion on the 

 relation of chemistry to agriculture in .Section B, but it 

 is hoped that by an arrangement of the hours the two 

 discussions mav not clash. Other contributions in Section 

 F will be by Mr. H. W. Woltf, on land banks ; Mr. H. 

 Moore, on co-operation in agriculture ; Mr. E. Cannan, 

 on population ; Mr. H. Higgs, on the climbing ratio ; 

 and Rev. Frome Wilkinson, on the State and the 

 labourer. 



In Section H (.-Anthropology), in which Prof W. M. 

 Flinders Petrie presides, ethnology is to play a prominent 

 part. The Section will, therefore, feel all the more the 

 absence of Mr. E. W. Brabrook, who is unable to come to 

 Ipswich on account of the very sad bereavement he has so 

 recently suftered. It has been arranged that the Section 

 shall sit each morning till 12.30 or i.and then reassemble 

 at 2, on each day except Saturday for a lecture 

 illustrated by the lantern. 



Botany is sitting for the first time as a distinct Section 

 K), under the presidency of Mr. W. T. Thisclton-Dyer. 

 .•\mongst the papers will be one on Sporangia by Prof 

 F. O. Bower. Dr. D. H. Scott will speak on fossil 

 botany, with special reference to the researches of the late 

 Prof Williamson. K paper on fossil botany will also be 

 read by Prof Solms-Laubach, of Strasbourg. Prof E. C. 

 Hansen, of Copenhagen, promises a paper on the varia- 

 tion of yeast cells, and ^Ir. K. C. Seward one on the 

 Wealden Flora. Amongst other foreign botanists attend- 

 ing the meeting is Dr. T. M. Treub, of Java. \ special 

 botanical excursion, not figuring as one of the regular 

 excursions, is being arranged. 



iNAtOl-RAI. AnilRESS BY SiR DouGLAS Galton, K.C.B., 

 D.C.L., F.R.S., President. 



Mv first duty is to convey to you, Mr. Mayor, and to the in- 

 habitants of Ipswich, the thanks of the British Association for 

 your hosjiitable invitation to hold our sixty-fifth meeting in your 

 ancient town, and thus to recall the agreeable memories of the 

 similar favour which your predecessors conferred on the Associa- 

 tion torty-four years ago. 



In the next place I feel it my duty to say a few words on the 

 great loss which science has recently sustained — the death of 



