66 
the gathering. The somewhat unusual combina- 
tion of the Presidency of the Association and the 
Principalship of the local University in one person 
seems, on this occasion, to have been attended 
with the happiest results. It certainly had a 
great effect in stimulating local interest, besides 
attracting a number of the foremost foreign 
exponents of the exact sciences. The ovation 
accorded to Madame Curie, more especially by 
her own sex, was as remarkable as the extra- 
ordinary popularity achieved by Prof. Lorentz, 
who succeeded in making even so formidable a 
subject as entropy attractive and entertaining to 
the generality of members. 
The fact that the old Mason College, the Mid- 
land Institute, and the Technical College are 
within a stone’s throw of each other accounts for 
the ease with which members could pass from 
one section to the other. The Geography Section, 
it is true, was inconvenienced by the noise of the 
traffic outside the Midland Institute, which is 
greatest in the morning, but the other sections 
were admirably housed. Section A had, on the 
whole, the best lecture theatre, although the 
applause in the Zoology Section overhead occa- 
sionally disconcerted (pleasantly, perhaps) the 
lecturing physicist below, who sometimes failed 
to locate the sound. 
The arrangements in the reception room met 
with high commendation on all sides. The 
spacious Town Hall was an ideal place for the 
purpose. The ground floor was fitted with 
luxurious carpets and easy chairs, and a specially 
built staircase ascended to the gallery, which was 
laid out in some forty writing compartments. 
Even at times of the greatest activity, it was 
reasonably easy to find one’s way about, and the 
local secretaries deserve much credit for the 
completeness and adequacy of the accommodation 
afforded. 
A still greater triumph of organisation was the 
Lord Mayor’s reception at the Council House, 
where 3500 visitors had to be marshalled and 
entertained. Large as was the assemblage, it 
was quickly distributed over a large space, the 
new Art Gallery and the Natural History Museum 
being thrown open for the occasion, so that the 
sense of crowding conveyed by the hour’s pro- 
cession into the reception chamber was quickly 
dispelled. The visitors had an agreeable choice 
between band music; exhibits of British birds, 
nests, and eggs; dancing; and Dr. Collisson’s 
musical and humorous entertainment in the Coun- 
cil Chamber. 
Friday’s afternoon reception at Messrs. Cad- 
bury’s factory at Bournville gave visitors an 
interesting though short glimpse of the well-known 
model village and its various institutions. The 
spacious recreation ground was the scene of a 
pretty masqiie and some maypole dances by the 
village children which were set off very attrac- 
tively by the brilliant sunshine, though provision 
had been made for the event of rain by the 
erection of three spacious marquees capable of 
NO. 2290, VOL. 92] 
NATURE 
[SEPTEMBER 18, 1913 
accommodating the whole of the visitors, number- 
ing, as they did, several thousand. The guests 
were taken back to Birmingham by special trains 
running by two routes, so that. both platforms 
could be utilised—a fortunate detail which avoided 
much inconvenience. 
Saturday’s excursions were a welcome change, 
both to the visitors who had conscientiously spent 
their time every morning at the sections, and the 
secretarial officials, who gained some time to make 
up arrears of work. It was notable that the 
foreign visitors preferred the roads that led to 
Stratford-on-Avon, though Malvern, Kenilworth, 
Worcester, Coventry, Lichfield, and the Forest 
of Arden put forth their strongest magnetism, 
aided by the hospitable efforts of their resident 
aristocracy. The geological excursions to 
Nuneaton and Hartshill, the Lickey and Clent 
Hills, the Wrekin, and the Lutley Valley, the 
botanical excursion to Sutton, and the excursi.. 
to the Burbage experimental farm were of absorb- 
ing interest to those specially concerned. 
The ecclesiastical services on Sunday were well 
attended, and the various preachers took pains to 
emphasise the points in which they agreed with 
the declarations of prominent speakers from 
Association chairs. They seemed to find these 
points unusually numerous. The afternoon saw 
a large social gathering of physicists and mathe- 
maticians at “Mariemont,” Sir Oliver Lodge’s 
residence, at which Friday’s radiation discussion 
was informally continued, though not by any 
means concluded. 
The entertainments provided by the local com- 
mittee for the Monday evening gave members a 
choice of three. There was St. John Hankin’s 
“Return of the Prodigal” at the Repertory 
Theatre, Gliick’s “Orpheus” at the Prince of 
Wales’s Theatre, and a special series of animated 
pictures dealing with scientific and historical sub- 
jects at the Picture House, New Street. The 
opera was patronised by a brilliant gathering 
which filled the theatre to overflowing, and Herr 
Denhof’s company gave a new life to the 
eighteenth century work by symbolic dances and 
movements which brought out all the tenderness 
and pathos of the music and the otherwise rather 
formal acting. 
Of the scientific proceedings of the meeting it 
is difficult. to speak with discrimination until a 
few days have elapsed after its conclusion. The 
twelve main sections each had their devoted band 
of special followers, and each had some special 
occasion on which its proceedings commanded a 
larger general interest. Thus it was with the 
radiation discussion in Section A, the fuel and 
radioactivity discussions in Section B, the joint 
discussions of Sections D, I, and K on the 
synthesis of organic matter by inorganic colloids 
in the presence of sunlight (in which, by the way, 
Prof. Moore did not by any means succeed in 
carrying the majority of his colleagues with him, 
though his exposition was of masterly clearness) ; 
the waterways debate in Section F (a matter of 
