June 14, 1894J 



NA TURE 



'5' 



THE OXFORD MEETING OF THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 



THERE are already signs that the meeting of the 

 British Association, to be held this year at Oxford, 

 will be a success. It is unfortunate, perhaps, that the 

 ■city of Oxford is this year destitute of municipal build- 

 ings, the old buildings having been pulled down, while the 

 new have scarcely their walls raised to the level of the 

 first floor. But this deficiency is amply compensated by 

 the numerous University and College buildings which 

 have been placed at the disposal of the Local Executive 

 Committee. The reception room will be in the entrance 

 hall of the new Examination Schools in High Street, and 

 the rooms for the meetings of Council, of the General 

 Committee, and of Sections E and F will be held in the 

 same building, the large south and east writing schools 

 lending themselves particularly well for the departments 

 of Geography and Economics and Statistics. The meet- 

 ing rooms of the remaining sections will be distributed 

 among the University Museum and among Colleges 

 which are on the direct road between the Schools and 

 the Museum. Section A (Mathematical and Physical 

 Science) will meet in the Lecture Theatre of the Claren- 

 don Laboratory, and the allied Section G (Mechanical 

 Science,' will meet in close contiguity in Keble College 

 Hall. Section B (Chemistry) will meet in the Chemical 

 Theatre, and for larger meetings will have the use of the 

 large Lecture Theatre in the Museum. Section C 

 (Geology) will meet in Hertford College Hall ; Section 

 I) (Biology) in the Anatomical Theatre. Section H 

 .Anthropology) will be accommodated in Prof. Arthur 

 Thomson's new Hall of Anatomy, and will have the 

 uivantage of being in close proximity to the Pitt-Rivers 

 Museum. The new Section I (Physiology) will perhaps 

 be better off than any, as the whole of the new 

 Physiological Laboratories will be at its disposal. 



The proceedings will begin on the evening of Wednes- 

 day, August S, when Prof Burdon Sanderson will resign 

 the presidency, and the new President, the Most Hon. 

 the Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., Chancellor of the 

 University, will deliver the opening address. On the 

 Thursday evening there will be a conversazione in the 

 l^niversity Museum. On the Friday evening Mr. W. H. 

 \\'hite,C.l>., will give an evening lecture in the Sheldonian 

 Theatre, on " Steam Navigation at High Speeds." The 

 .Saturday evening lecture to working men will be given 

 by Prof SoUas. On Monday evening Prof. J. Shields 

 N'icholson will lecture in the Sheldonian Theatre, on 

 ■' Historical Progress and Ideal Socialism," and the 

 Tuesday evening will be occupied by a conversazione, 

 which will probably be given in the new Examination 

 Schools. Invitations to foreign investigators have been 

 issued by the Local Executive Committee, and nearly 

 eighty have already signified their intention to attend 

 the meeting, amongst them being Prof Quincke, 

 I'rof Oskar Schlfimilch, Prof. Moritz Cantor, Prof. 

 Kohlrausch, Prof. Strasburger, Prince Roland Bonaparte, 

 I'rof Anoutchine, M. Cartailhac, Ur. Mojsisovics von 

 Mojsvar, Prof Maxime Kovalevskij, Prof. Victor Carus, 

 Prof. E. van Beneden, Prof Dames, Prof F. von Sand- 

 berger. Prof F. Schmidt, Prof Taussig, Prof Ostwald, 

 I'rof. IBeilstein, and many other notabilities in every 

 branch of science. Nearly every prominent English man 

 of science has already expressed his intention of being 

 present, and there can be little doubt that the Oxford 

 meeting of 1S94 will equal in interest the last Oxford 

 meeting of iS6o, which was made celebrated by Prof 

 Huxley's spirited defence of the then novel doctrine of 

 Darwinism. 



The Local Secretaries for the Oxford meeting arc 

 Messrs. G.C. Bourne, G. Claridge Druce,and D. H. Nagel, 

 and any communications respecting the meeting should 

 be addressed to them at the University Museum, Oxford. 



NO. 1285, VOL. 50 



EXHIBITIONS OF PHYSICAL APPARATUS. 



TN the days when a priori reasoning reigned supreme, 

 ■'■ when all observations which were not found in the 

 works of early writers were regarded with suspicion, and 

 all facts had to stand or fall according to their relation 

 to metaphysics, there was no demand for scientific 

 instruments and apparatus. A cause or a principle was 

 then stated like a proposition in mathematics, and the 

 effects which follow upon it were deduced ; nowadays 

 the scientific method is to observe the effects, and after- 

 wards formulate a law which embraces them. To carry 

 out this method of experiment and induction, apparatus 

 is needed, and hence the state of physical science at any 

 epoch can be estimated by the character of the instru- 

 ments at the disposal of investigators. Judged by this 

 criterion, physics and astronomy must have attained a 

 marvellous degree of accuracy. The intricate nature of 

 some physical instruments, and the complicated acces- 

 sories with which all large astronomical telescopes are now 

 equipped, not only testify to the skill of the instrument- 

 maker, but also represent engines of research whereby 

 new fields are explored. These instruments thus afford 

 tangible evidence of advance, and it is for this reason 

 that their exhibition is to be commended. Such an 

 exhibition of physical instruments was lately held at 

 Paris by the Socic'te Franc^aise de Physique, and it is well 

 worthy of imitation on this side of the Channel. 



The apparatus of physics falls naturally into two 

 classes — that used for lectures, and that belonging more 

 especially to the laboratory. The apparatus employed 

 in teaching elementary science cannot be too simple and 

 the experiments performed with it should be so clearly 

 shown that the facts they exemplify become evident to the 

 most obtuse student. In many cases this tenet of experi- 

 mental philosophy is disregarded, the lecturer aiming at 

 producing brilliant effects — stage fireworks, as they have 

 been appropriately called — rather than the illustration 

 of a physical law. In fact, there is a tendency to push 

 lecture-room experimentation too far, to use the lecture- 

 assistant's skill as a make-up for lack of eloquence. The 

 popular mind looks in awe upon the abundance of instru- 

 ments arranged for this end, but it may be doubted 

 whether, under such circumstances, the points of the 

 discourse are not often obscured. 



As to laboratory experiments for students, each should 

 constitute a little mvestigation in itself An experiment 

 consists in changing the conditions and arrangements of 

 natural bodies in order to examine their behaviour. 

 The student should, therefore, be given the apparatus 

 required to demonstrate a principle, and should be told 

 what to do with it, but the inference to be drawn from his 

 observations should be left entirely to him. If it is 

 necessary to tell him what the experiment proves, then 

 the object of his work has not been attained. By 

 following this method, and properly grading the experi- 

 ments, the student not only derives considerable educa- 

 tional benefit in learning to think for himself, but the 

 instinct for research is also stimulated. In many colleges 

 and institutions where the aim is to rush the student 

 through as much experimental work as possible in a short 

 time, the apparatus is all arranged for the student, who 

 merely presses a knob and sees a galvanometer needle 

 wriggle, or something of the kind. There can be no in- 

 dependent thinking in such cases, and, except for 

 examinational purposes, the experiments might just as 

 well be left undone. Most physicists agree with these 

 opinions, and, by arranging an exhibition of apparatus, 

 the Physical Society would help to impress their import- 

 ance upon teachers. Sets of apparatus suitable for 

 lectures and for practical work in various branches of 

 physics might be arranged for exhibition by a committee, 

 and these, with the instruments of precision, would make 

 an extremely interesting, as well as useful, collection. 



