SEPTEMBER 21, 1899] 
NATURE 
495 
The chief members of the French Association who 
visited Dover were Dr. Brouardel, the president ; Dr. 
Aigre, the Mayor of Boulogne ; Dr. Boushard, the ex- 
president; MM. Dislere, also ex-president; Gariel, 
secretary; Léir (nephew of Pasteur), also secretary ; 
M. Bergoine, Professor of Medicine at Bordeaux; M. 
Namy, Membre de l’Institute ; M. Giard, professor at 
the Sorbonne ; Dr. Ferraud ; M. Collignon ; M. Farjon ; 
M. de Guerne, ex-president; Dr. de Walcourt; Dr. 
Dufour, of Lausanne, and others. It will be seen that 
the French visitors were representative men. 
W. H. PENDLEBURY. 
Work of the General Committee. 
The report of the couneil of the Association was read 
and adopted at the first meeting of the general com- 
mittee. It announced that after due consideration the 
council had resolved to recommend the general com- 
mittee to contribute the sum of 1000/. to the National 
Antarctic Expedition, and that the grant be given out of 
the accumulated funds of the Association, and not out of 
the sum allocated toannual grants. The report also stated | 
that the following resolutions, referred to the council by | 
the general committee for consideration and action if 
desirable, have been considered and acted upon :-— 
(1) That having regard to the letter of December 15, 
1897, from Sir E. Maunde Thompson, the council be 
requested to take further action with regard to a bureau 
of ethnology, by renewing the correspondence with the 
Trustees of the British Museum. 
A committee was accordingly appointed for the pur- 
pose of conferring with the officers of the British 
Museum. The President has also been in corre- 
spondence with the Marquis of Salisbury regarding 
this matter, and the council have the pleasure to 
announce that satisfactory arrangements have been made 
for the establishment of such a bureau, and that Lord 
Salisbury has directed that reports prepared by officers 
in the various Protectorates under the administration of 
the Foreign Office be forwarded to the British Museum. 
(2) That the council be requested to consider the 
desirability of representing to the Colonial Government 
that the early establishment of a magnetic observatory 
at the Cape of Good Hope would be of the highest 
utility to the science of terrestrial magnetism, especially 
in view of the Antarctic expeditions which are about to 
leave Europe, and that the observatory should be estab- 
lished at such a distance from electric railways and 
tramways as to avoid all possibility of disturbance from 
them. 
The question having been considered, the council re- 
quested the President to make the necessary represent- 
ation to the Colonial Government. The council have 
received a minute of the Government of Cape Colony, 
through the High Commissioner, stating that while 
Ministers have much sympathy with the suggestion to 
establish a magnetic observatory, and do not overlook 
the scientific and practical aspects of the project, they 
do not regard as practicable the immediate provision by 
the colony of funds for the carrying out of the scheme. 
(3) That the council be requested to consider the ad- 
visability of urging Her Majesty’s Government to. place 
at the disposal of the Seismological Committee of the 
British Association a suitable building for the housing of 
apparatus for continuous seismological observations. 
A committee which was appointed to report on this 
resolution stated that in their opinion it is desirable 
that a central station should be established, and recom- 
mended the council to request the Government to place 
a suitable building at the disposal of the Seismological 
Committee which could be used as a station for carrying 
on observations and would serve as a centre for the 
stations (now twenty-three in number) in various parts of 
the world which, at the request of the committee, have 
NO. 1560, VOL. 60] 
been supplied with seismographic apparatus of the 
pattern they have recommended. 
The council decided to reappoint the committee for 
the purpose of reporting further on the best situation for 
the proposed central seismological station and on the 
cost of its maintenance. 
(4) That the council be requested to urge strongly on 
the Indian Government the desirability, in the interests 
both of administration and of science, to promote an 
inquiry, under the direction of skilled anthropologists, 
into the physical and mental characteristics of the various 
races throughout the Empire, including their institu- 
| tlons, customs and traditions, and a carefully organised 
photographic survey. 
A committee which was appointed to consider this 
question reported that in their opinion the resolution 
in its present form is of too comprehensive and costly a 
character to justify the council in submitting it to the 
Indian Government. 
(5) That the council be recommended to issue the 
collected reports on the North-Western tribes of Canada 
in a single volume at a moderate price, reprinting so 
many of the reports as may be necessary. 
The council resolved that the reports be not reprinted. 
(6) That the council be requested to bring under the 
notice of the Admiralty the importance of securing 
systematic observations upon the erosion of the sea 
coast of the United Kingdom, and that the co-operation 
of the coastguard might be profitably secured for this 
purpose. 
A committee having been appointed to report on the 
above resolution, recommended that the council inquire 
whether the Admiralty would be willing to arrange that 
observations of a simple character on changes in the sea 
coast be recorded and reported by the coastguards. The 
committee pointed out that if the Admiralty consented 
to carry out this proposal it would be necessary to 
appoint a committee for the purpose of drawing up a 
scheme of instruction for the observers, making arrange- 
ments for starting the work, and subsequently examining 
from time to time such localities as may seem to require 
special attention. This recommendation having been 
adopted by the council, the president was requested to 
approach the Admiralty upon the subject, and in re- 
sponse a reply was received from the Admiralty stating 
that my Lords saw no objection to this proposal, as the 
required observations could be made by the men in the 
ordinary course of their duty. 
At the second meeting of the general committee invita- 
tions for the meeting of the Association in 1902 were 
received, and the officers were appointed for next year’s 
meeting at Bradford, to commence on Wednesday, 
September 5. The meeting will be held at Glasgow 
in 1901. Representatives of the cities of Belfast and 
Cork invited the Association to meet at one of these 
places in 1902; but the president explained that no 
definite answer could yet be given to the invitations. 
Upon the proposal of Lord Lister, seconded by Sir 
Archibald Geikie, Sir William ‘Turner, F.R.S., was 
appointed President-elect for the meeting at Bradford 
in 1900. 
Sir J. Evans proposed that the following persons be 
asked to serve as vice-presidents at the Bradford 
meeting :—The Earl of Scarborough (Lord Lieutenant 
of the West Riding), the Duke of Devonshire, the 
Marquis of Ripon, the Bishop of Ripon, Lord Masham, 
the Mayor of Bradford, the Hon. H. E. Butler, Sir A. 
Binnie, Prof. Rucker, and Prof. Thorpe. 
Sir Norman Lockyer seconded the resolution, which 
was carried unanimously. 
The general secretaries (Sir W. Roberts-Austen and 
Prof. Schafer), the assistant general secretary (Mr. 
Griffith), and the general treasurer (Prof. Carey Foster) 
were re-elected. 
