438 



NATURE 



[September io, 1903 



the organisation which the Marconi Co. has buih 

 up, and to enable home-bred systems to reap some 

 of the reward of the enterprise of others. To a 

 certain extent this is unavoidable, but it should be 

 possible to arrange matters so that little or no in- 

 justice is done to the Marconi Co. whilst securing 

 to the public the very fullest benefit that wireless 

 telegraphy can confer,' and it must not be forgotten 

 that the interests of the British public, especially 

 where shipping is concerned, extend all over the 

 world. Maurice Solomon. 



THE SOUTH PORT MEETING OF THE 

 BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



THE seventy-third meeting of the British Association 

 was opened yesterday, when the President, Sir 

 Norman Lockyer, K.C.B., F.R.S., delivered his ad- 

 dress in the Opera House. 



Everything points to a highly successful meeting, 

 though the number attending will probably fall short 

 of that of the previous Southport meeting twenty 

 years ago. In other respects, however, this year's 

 meeting will probably surpass in interest that of 1883. 

 The second edition of the local programme shows 

 some additional arrangements made since our last 

 article. 



The list of excursions is given in greater detail, and 

 a dredging excursion has been added on Thursday, 

 September 17. A good deal of interest is being 

 manifested in the motor car excursion on Saturday 

 afternoon to Hoole and Rufford. A number of South- 

 port gentlemen have placed their cars at the disposal 

 of the local committee, and the show of automobiles 

 will in itself attract attention. The excursion has a 

 further interest, as Hoole is being visited, so that 

 an opportunity may be given of seeing the place where 

 Jeremiah Horrocks, the astronomer, lived at the time 

 of his observation of the transit of Venus. A pro- 

 posal has recently been mooted in Liverpool and 

 Southport to erect a memorial to Horrocks, and a good 

 deal of attention has been given to the Lancashire 

 astronomer in the local Press. The Liverpool Cor- 

 poration has kindly lent Mr. Eyre Crowe's picture 

 of Horrocks at Hoole to the Southport committee, and 

 it will be exhibited in one of the reception rooms 

 during the meeting. The accuracy of Mr. Crowe's 

 delineation of Horrocks 's astronomical apparatus hav- 

 ing been disputed, a Southport gentleman who has 

 made a special study of Horrocks and his works has 

 had painted by a local artist a picture representing 

 the same subject depicted by Mr. Eyre Crowe, and the 

 two pictures will hang in the same room. 



The dredging excursion arranged for Thursday, 

 September 17, is being organised by Prof. Herdman, 

 and has been made possible through the courtesy of 

 Mr. R. Dawson, the superintendent of the Lancashire 

 and Western Sea Fisheries, who has kindly put the 

 Sea Fisheries steamer, John Fell, at the disposal of 

 the local committee for that purpose. 



It is yet uncertain whether the kite-frying ex- 

 periments for investigating the upper atmosphere can 

 be successfully carried out at Southport. As men- 

 tioned in our issue of August 13, the Admiralty vessel 

 put at the disposal of the kite-flying committee is 

 no longer available, and it has been found impossible 

 to bring the Renown (the boat from which the ex- 

 periments are being conducted by Mr. W. H. Dines 

 at Crinan) to Southport. The local committee has 

 been ofifered the use of the John Fell by the Lanca- 



NO. 1767, VOL. 68] 



shire and Western Sea Fisheries Board for three days 

 (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, September 14, 

 15, and 16), but it is feared that the deck space will 

 be insufTicient for the proper conducting of the ex- 

 periments. It is, therefore, possible that Mr. Dines 

 will merely exhibit the apparatus at Southport, though 

 every endeavour will be made to make use of the 

 boat. 



Prof. Pernter, of Vienna, has had forwarded to 

 Southport one of the cannons used on the Continent 

 for firing on clouds so as to arrest hailstorms. Test 

 experiments in horizontal firing of vortex rings will 

 be carried out on the Southport shore by permission 

 of the Corporation. 



A lecture has been arranged for Wednesday night, 

 September 16, on " Garden Cities," by Mr. Ebenezer 

 Howard, the founder of the Garden Cities Association, 

 following an excursion on the same day to Port 

 Sunlight, Cheshire, the model village erected by 

 Messrs. Lever Brothers. 



The local loan exhibition which is situated in the 

 corridor near the reception room is in the hands of 

 a small committee drawn from the Southport Literary 

 and Philosophical Society, Society of Natural Science, 

 and Photographic Society, and comprises local 

 botanical and geological exhibits, photographs and 

 drawings illustrating the antiquities of the district, 

 and various exhibits of general scientific interest. 

 The canoe which was dug out of the bed of Martin 

 Mere in 1899 is being exhibited during the time of the 

 meeting in the lecture room of Section H (Anthro- 

 pology) in the Town Hall. The canoe is seventeen 

 feet long and four feet wide. 



The reception and writing rooms in the Art Gallery 

 are rendered specially attractive by the presence on 

 the walls of a portion of the Southport Corporation 

 permanent collection of pictures. 



The Mayor of Southport (Mr. T. T. L. Scarisbrick) 

 is extending an almost lavish hospitality at his resi- 

 dence, Greaves Hall, Banks, and the local committee 

 and the Southport Corporation are doing their utmost 

 to make the meeting a memorable one so far as 

 social entertainment is concerned. The Mayor has 

 invited members of the Association to attend Em- 

 manuel Church on Sunday morning, when the 

 preacher will be the Bishop of Ripon. Other special 

 preachers in Southport the same day include the 

 Bishop of Liverpool, the Dean of Peterborough, the 

 Rev. T- D. Bevan, the Rev. A. L. Cortie, S.J., the 

 Rev. T. J. Walshe, the Rev. J. H. Moulton and the 

 Rev. Frank Ballard (Wesleyan), the Rev. Dr. John 

 Hunter (Congregational), the Rev. Dr. S. R. Macphail, 

 Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of England, and 

 the Rev. R. A. Armstrong (Unitarian). 



In connection with the Mayor's and the committee's 

 receptions to-night and on Tuesday next, a portion 

 of the municipal gardens in front of the Cambridge 

 Hall will be enclosed. These gardens are illuminated by 

 electricity at night, more than 4000 glow-lamps being 

 installed among the foliage of the trees. The instal- 

 lation is quite unique in this country. Special fittings 

 had to be designed, as, being an outdoor installation, 

 the electrical conditions are very severe. More than 

 sixteen miles of underground and overhead cable are 

 used. 



The Mayor's dinner at Greaves Hall on Wednes- 

 day, September 16, promises to be a very brilliant 

 function, and the lecture by Prof. Forsyth before _tl\e 

 Literary and Philosophical Society on the following 

 night on " Universities " will be largely attended by 

 members of the British Association, a large number 

 of whom have accepted the invitation to be present. 



