560 
research, and others will remain for some weeks | the plans for the new federal capital have been 
or months after the proceedings terminate in Bris- 
bane on September 1. In the desire that the 
visitors should spend their few week-ends in ac- 
quainting themselves with extra-metropolitan 
activities and possibilities, a heavy programme of 
tours has been arranged, and upon these all 
members from overseas will be the guests either 
of the particular central State organisation con- 
cerned or of a committee in the locality visited. 
It is unfortunate from many points of view that 
it has been necessary to hold the meeting in one 
of the Australian winter months, for much of the 
pleasure of the excursions will depend upon the 
chances of the weather. 
The Western Australian advance party of 
seventy began work in Perth on July 28. Ina 
previous article a summary was given of the 
places to be visited by the various divisions of the 
party. Public lectures will be delivered by Profs. 
W. A. Herdman (Liverpool) and A. S. Eddington 
(Cambridge), Dr. A. D. Waller (London), Mr. 
Henry Balfour (Oxford), and Mr. C. A. Buck- 
master (London). 
On August 8 the whole party from overseas 
will assemble in Adelaide. Twenty mineralogists 
and chemists will leave at once for Port Pirie 
and Broken Hill, the most famous smelting and 
mining centres in Australia. As guests of the 
manager of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company 
and of the Broken Hill Mining Managers’ Asso- 
ciation they will spend four very strenuous days 
before rejoining their colleagues in Adelaide. At 
the first evening discourse to be delivered by the 
retiring president, Sir Oliver Lodge, the chair will 
be taken by the Governor of South Australia 
(vice-president), who will officially welcome the 
Association to the State. Sir Oliver Lodge has 
taken as his subject “The Aéther of Space.” The 
second discourse will be by Prof. W. J. Sollas 
(Oxford), while Prof. E. C. K. Gonner (Liverpool) 
will deliver a Citizens’ Lecture. Sectional presi- 
dential addresses will be given in geography and 
agriculture. The social engagements of the stay 
in Adelaide include a reception by the Governor 
and a ball by the mayor. 
The sectional work proper begins in Melbourne, 
where the party will arrive in three special trains 
on August 13. Presidential addresses will be de- 
livered in the sections of physics and mathematics, 
chemistry, zoology, economics, and physiology. 
Both here and in Sydney the sectional sessions 
will be devoted largely to discussions upon broad 
problems. Among the subjects to be brought 
forward are the structure of atoms and molecules, 
metabolism, the nature and origin of species, wire- 
less telegraphy, the physiography of arid lands, 
some antarctic problems, mimicry in Australian 
insects, town planning, is Australian culture 
simple or complex?, the study of native culture 
in relation to administration, climate from the 
physiological point of view, anzsthetics, the ori- 
gin of the angiosperms, the literary side of educa- 
tion, vocational education, irrigation and dry 
farming. Town planning will be a leading fea- 
ture of the work of the economics section, and 
NO.6 22235 000102) 
NATURE 
[JuLy 30, 1914 
lent to the section by the Commonwealth Govern- 
ment. To those economists whose interests lie 
in current practical politics, the fact that Australia 
will, throughout the meeting, be preparing for a 
General Election early in September may offer 
some attraction. 
Melbourne being the temporary seat of Govern- 
ment, its social functions include a reception by 
the Governor-General and the Federal Ministry, 
to be held on the first night of the meeting. In 
addition, the State Governor and Government 
and the Lord Mayor will entertain the Association. 
Prof. Bateson will deliver the first part of his 
presidential address, and discourses will be given 
by Prof. E. B. Poulton (Oxford) and the Astro- 
nomer Royal, and Citizens’ Lectures by Prof. 
H. B. Dixon (Manchester) and Dr. W. Rosenhain 
(National Physical Laboratory). 
The long journey of 600 miles to Sydney will 
be made during the night of August 19, and on 
the evening of the following day will be delivered 
the second part of the presidential address. The 
public lecturers in Sydney are Sir Ernest Ruther- 
ford, Prof. Elliot Smith (Manchester), Prof. Ben- 
jamin Moore (Liverpool), and Prof. H. H. Turner 
(Oxford). In the sections, besides discussions and 
papers there will be presidential addresses in 
geology, engineering, anthropology, botany, and 
education. The lighter side of the programme 
includes a luncheon by the State Government and 
entertainments by the State Governor and the 
Senate of the University, and a ball by the Lord 
Mayor. 
After the Sydney session the overseas party 
divides. Some seventy proceed to New Zealand, 
while some 200 travel further north on a twenty- 
eight hours’ journey to Brisbane. Here Mr. A. D. 
Hall (agriculture) and Prof. E. W. Brown, of 
Yale (cosmical physics), will address their sec- 
tions, and public lectures will be given by Profs. 
H. E. Armstrong and G. W. O. Howe (London), 
Dr. A. C. Haddon (Cambridge), and at the last 
meeting, Sir Edward Schafer. Social entertain- 
ments have also been arranged. It is likely that 
in most of the capital cities the universities will 
confer degrees honoris causa upon a few of the 
leading members of the visiting party. 
It is not possible adequately and briefly to sum- 
marise the excursions programme. The organisa- 
tion has endeavoured to include those localities 
most suitable from the point of view of the pro- 
fessional interests of the guests, at the same time 
not failing to include some places of chiefly scenic 
attraction. The limits imposed by the necessity 
for easy accessibility and by the exceedingly short 
time at disposal in any one State, have made the 
task very difficult. A wide and probably rather 
embarrassing choice will be open to the visitor, 
but except for those members who can remain in 
Australia after the meeting it will seldom be pos- 
sible to journey very far from the coastline. The 
names of most of the places to which excursions 
have been planned have already been mentioned 
in a previous article. 
Literature in abundance has been prepared for 
