212 



NATURE 



[June 26, 1890 



■denied a similar privilege, when their governing bodies unite 

 with the London County Council in the petition which this 

 memorial sets forth ? 



Seeing, then, that our position has now grown to be one of such 

 well-nigh irresistible strength, I think you will all agree with me 

 in holding that a policy which has gained such results during the 

 past fifteen years of our existence as a Society ought to be the 

 policy which we shall continue to follow. Having achieved this 

 large measure of success by our quiet persistence in the way of 

 enlightening public opinion, and patient gaining of all the 

 strategic points of importance which we now hold, I, for one, 

 would strongly deprecate the more noisy methods of popular 

 agitation, with their Hyde Park processions, and so forth. But 

 there is one piece of machinery which we have used with con- 

 siderable effect on several occasions in the past ; and this piece 

 of machinery we intend once more to put into motion. 



Three times in the fifteen years of its existence the Sunday 

 Society has convened a National Conference, and in the opinion 

 of our Committee the time is ripe for the convening of another. 

 Therefore arrangements have been made for this the fourth Con- 

 ference to meet in London during the present year. I must 

 express my gratification that the Committee have thought fit to 

 elect me President of the Society in a year which is thus destined 

 to be one of unusual prominence in its annals, and I may be 

 permitted to record my thanks for the honour which has thus 

 been conferred, even while expressing my regret that the duty of 

 presiding over the coming Conference has not fallen into abler 

 hands. 



As you are probably well aware, the importance of these Con- 

 ferences consists in their bringing together, and combining in a 

 collective manner, representative opinions upon the Sunday 

 question from all parts of the kingdom. Not only are invita- 

 tions issued to institutions which are already opened on Sundays 

 to send their delegates, but statements of opinion are solicited 

 from eminent men in all departments of science, art, and letters, 

 as well as of public life and social organization. In this way we 

 are able to focus the best thought of our time upon the objects 

 which we have in view, and to deliver the result in the form of 

 printed papers to the public, and of weighty resolutions to the 

 Government. Time does not admit of my dwelling as fully as 

 I should have desired upon this the most important feature of 

 our programme for the current year, and therefore I will ask 

 you to read an instructive historical sketch which has already 

 been published by our Hon. Secretary, touching the work that 

 has been accomplished by the three previous Conferences. You 

 will find this sketch in the Sunday Review for January of the 

 present year, and in order to give you a general idea of its 

 substance, I will conclude by making two short quotations. The 

 first I give as a sample of the opinions obtained from eminent 

 men, and the second I give as a brief epitome of the work that 

 we hope to accomplish by means of the fourth Conference. 



The sample of opinion which I select for quotation is taken 

 from what was said by Sir Joseph Hooker at the last Conference ; 

 and I select this expression of opinion, not only because its 

 author, like his illustrious ancestor, is proverbially gifted with 

 one of the best judgments that has ever helped to raise a man to 

 the highest rank of eminence, but also because his opinion is, in 

 this case, founded upon a statement of the most cogent facts. 



Speaking as Director of the Royal Gardens at Kew, Sir Joseph 

 Hooker said : — 



"If there is one matter that gratifies me more than another, 

 in respect of the administration of the Kew Gardens and 

 Museums by the Government, it is the opening them to the 

 public on Sundays. On no day of the week have we more in- 

 terested visitors, or more of that class which we should wish to 

 see profiting by the instructive contents of this institution. The 

 Museums especially are crowded, and, when it is considered 

 that the exhibits in them are not of articles that strike the eye 

 or gratify the senses of colour or form, the interest they excite 

 is almost to be wondered at. The artisan classes are great fre- 

 quenters of these Museums, with their wives and families, and it 

 is pleasing to see the delight with which the children recognize 

 such articles as the sugar-cane, the coffee-plant and its products, 

 and the various implements used in their preparation, manufac- 

 ture, &c. I should add that this interest in the instructive 

 character of the Gardens is largely on the increase, and is 

 mnnifest to the most careless observer. It is further accom- 

 panied by a marked improvement in the conduct of certain 

 classes, which were formerly troublesome in many ways, and a 

 nuisance to quiet visitors. It speaks volumes for the moral effect of 



NO. 1078, VOL. 42] 



the Sunday opening when I add that such classes no longer exist 

 at Kew. Whether it is that such no longer come, or that, 

 coming, they now behave themselves, is immaterial — the moral 

 gain is great. During the last two years we have had in each 

 year a million and a quarter of visitors, of whom the greater 

 proportion are Sunday afternoon arrivals from every quarter of 

 the metropolis and its surroundings. Let the numbers speak for 

 themselves : — 1882, Sunday visitors, 606,935 '■> week-days, 

 637,232. 1883, Sundays, 616,307; week-days, 624,182." 



The other quotation is taken from the close of our Hon. 

 Secretary's paper on National Conferences, already alluded 

 to: — 



"Thus the Fourth National Conference will be able to point 

 to the friendly action of the Government in providing funds for 

 opening the British Museum to those who desire to visit it on 

 week-day evenings ; it will have a friendly Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer to appeal to in Mr.Goschen, who is backed up by the 

 vote of the London County Council, and meets Parliament with 

 a surplus which, there is a general opinion, should in part be 

 devoted to education. 



" Could education be better or more equitably promoted than 

 by furnishing the Trustees of the National Museums and Galleries 

 in the Metropolis with the funds necessary for throwing open 

 these avenues of culture and refinement to the millions of people 

 surrounding then? The people have already not only the 

 inclination to become better acquainted with the contents of 

 these Museums and Galleries, but they have for the most part the 

 necessary leisure for this purpose on the fifty-two Sundays 

 throughout the year, when the Trustees are precluded from 

 opening them solely from want of funds, which it is just as much 

 the duty of the Government to provide in London as outside of 

 it, and for those who wish to visit the Museums on Sundays as 

 well as for those who wish to do so on week-day evenings. 

 Should the Conference make a strong appeal to Mr. Goschen, 

 and through him to the Government, to deal justly by London in 

 this matter, the time cannot be far distant when the reproach to 

 the nation of having all such institutions as the National 

 Museums and Galleries in the Metropolis closed on Sundays will 

 be removed." 



These, as I have said, are the words of our Hon. Secretary. 

 And I cannot refer to him from the chair which I have now the 

 honour to occupy without asking you, in conclusion, to join with 

 me in heartily recognizing the unique value of his indefatigable 

 work in promoting the objects of this Society. For I know it is 

 not too much to say, that at whatever time the reproach to the 

 nation of which he speaks will eventually be removed, its removal 

 will have been due much more largely to one Englishman than 

 to any other, and that the name of this Englishman is Mr. Mark 

 H. Judge. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Studies from the Biological Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins 

 University, Baltimore, vol. iv., Nos. 5 and 6. — No. 5 contains : — 

 Some observations on the effect of light on the production of 

 carbon dioxide gas by frogs, by H. Newell Martin and Julius 

 Friedenwald. The influence exercised by light on the metabolisms 

 of the animal body has been recognized for the last fifty years. 

 Following up the researches of Moleschott, the authors experi- 

 mentally proved that, in frogs deprived of their cerebral hemi- 

 spheres, a greater quantity of carbon dioxide is given off in the 

 light than in the dark ; that, therefore, the influence of light in 

 producing greater oxidations in normal frogs is simply reflex, 

 and not due to greater bodily activity brought about by psychi- 

 cal conditions dependent on the light ; that the cerebral hemi- 

 spheres do not take any direct part in regulating the oxidations 

 of the frog's body ; and that this reflex action of the light, 

 though mainly effected through the eyes, is produced partly 

 also through the skin. — On the comparative physiological effects of 

 certain members of the ethylic alcohol series (CH4O to CsH^aO) 

 on the isolated mammalian heart, by John C. Hemmeter.— On the 

 ventricular epithelium of the frog's brain, by A. C. Wightman. 

 The author concludes that the epithelial layer of the frog's brain 

 and spinal cord forms a continuous lining to the central nervous 

 system. It is everywhere a single layer thick. The epithelium 

 of the ventricles forms a central zone of cells, about which the 

 brain-cells are concentrically arranged. The cells of the epi- 

 thelium and of the brain are connected by processes which ex- 

 tend from the tips of the former. The epithelial layer consists 



