SEPTEMBER 28, 1899] 
NATURE 
521 
THE DOVER MEETING OF THE BRITISH 
ASSOCIATION. 
ape final meeting of the general committee of the 
British Association was held on Wednesday in 
last week, for the purpose of receiving the report of the 
committee of recommendations. The list of grants made 
for various scientific purposes has already been given (p. 
496). The committee also recommended that, in view of 
the opportunities of ethnographic inquiry which will be 
presented by the Indian census now beginning, the 
council of the Association be requested to urge the 
Government of India to make use of the census officers 
to obtain information with reference to particular races 
and tribes, and to attach photographers to the census 
officers to furnish a complete photographic series of 
typical specimens of the various races, of views of 
archaic industries, and of other facts interesting to 
ethnologists. This recommendation was accepted and 
ordered to be forwarded to the council. It was also 
resolved that the council be requested to recommend to 
Her Majesty’s Govérnment the importance of giving 
more prominence to botany in the training of Indian 
forest officers. 
At the concluding general meeting of the Association, 
held on Wednesday, September 20, it was announced 
that the number of tickets issued was 1403. The usual 
votes of thanks were then put to the meeting and passed. | 
Sir G. G. Stokes proposed :—“ That the best thanks of 
the Association be given to the Mayor and Corporation, 
to the local committee, and to the officers of the local 
sub-committees for their reception of the Association.” 
Prof. Forsyth, in seconding the resolution, said that 
they should all carry away grateful recollections of the | 
way in which they had been treated at Dover, and if the 
meeting had not been the largest it had certainly been 
very pleasant and highly successful. 
The two local secretaries, Colonel Knocker and Mr. 
W. H. Pendlebury, responded for the local committee. 
Sir John Evans proposed a vote of thanks to the 
President, Council, and Headmaster of Dover College | 
for putting the college buildings at the service of the 
Association. In seconding the resolution Sir W. Thisel- 
ton-Dyer expressed, on behalf of the members of the 
Association, gratitude to the municipality and inhabitants 
of Dover for the reception which they had given to the 
Association. Some of the work this year had been 
of quite exceptional importance. 
The Headmaster of Dover College (the Rev. W. C. 
Compton) acknowledged the vote of thanks. 
Sir Norman Lockyer proposed a vote of thanks to 
Captain Winslow and the other officers of Her Majesty’s | 
ships, to Major-General Sir Leslie Rundle and Staff, and 
to all the inhabitants who had entertained members or 
conducted excursions, and to the heads of firms who had 
thrown open their works. He remarked that the fact that 
this vote of thanks included officers of Her Majesty’s 
Navy and Army gave distinction to a meeting which 
otherwise had a distinctive character. 
members of the Association had met in the Sections to- 
gether with French coz/fréres, and the visit of the French 
Association had been marked by many little incidents 
showing a kindly feeling, which was national rather than 
local. 
Sir W. H. White seconded the resolution, and Dr. 
Sebastian Evans briefly responded. 
Sir John Murray moved that a cordial vote of thanks 
be given to Sir Michael Foster for his services as 
president of the Dover meeting. 
Sir A. Binnie, in seconding the resolution, said that the 
success of this meeting was largely due to the tact and 
urbanity of the president. Sir Michael Foster in a few 
words acknowledged the compliment, and then declared 
the meeting adjourned till next September at Bradford. 
NO. 1561, VOL. 60] 
For the first time | 
On Wednesday afternoon the Mayor and Corporation 
of Canterbury received and entertained at luncheon the 
president and some of the chief officers of the Association, 
together with the president, Dr. Brouardel, and about a 
hundred members of l’Association frangaise pour l’avance- 
ment des sciences 
A brief toast list followed the luncheon. The Queen 
and the President of the French Republic having been 
successively proposed from the chair, Dean Farrar gave 
“Our Guests and Success to the British and French 
Associations for the Advancement of Science,” coupling 
with it the names of the presidents of the two Associa « 
uons. In the course of his remarks he said there was 
no means of human knowledge which the human mind 
could devote itself to study with more profit or advantage 
than the knowledge of science. ‘It was right to do 
honour to those whose efforts had illuminated darkness, 
removed ignorance and extended man’s horizon. 
Dr. Brouardel and Sir Michael Foster responded. 
On Thursday, September 21, the president, officials 
and about three hundred members of the British Associ- 
ation proceeded from Dover to Boulogne to return the 
visit of the French Association. From the 77zwes report 
we learn that at Boulogne they were received by leading 
members of the French Association, who entertained 
them to breakfast, and afterwards they were officially 
welcomed at the Town Hall by the Mayor of Boulogne. 
Later in the day they were entertained at’ a banquet in 
| the ball-room of the casino by the municipality of the 
town, and speeches of compliment and welcome were 
delivered by the Prefect of the Pas de Calais, the 
Director of Primary Education as delegate of the French 
Government, Sir. Michael. Foster and Dr, Brouardel. 
Special commemorative medals were presented by the 
French Association to their president and Sir M. Foster. 
Subsequently the visitors were present at the unveiling 
of amonument of Dr. Duchesne—who died about twenty- 
five years ago and was distinguished by his application 
of electricity to nervous disorders—and of a black marble 
plaque upon the house in which Thomas Campbell, 
the poet (who devoted much time and attention to 
many public matters, including the University of London), 
died at Boulogne in 1844. 
No account of the meeting which has just been con- 
cluded would be complete without a reference to two 
sermons on “Some of the Mutual Influences of Theology 
and the Natural Sciences,” preached in St. Mary’s 
Church for members of the Association by the Ven. 
J. M. Wilson, Archdeacon of Manchester. The en- 
larged conception of the study of theology, as_pre- 
sented by Archdeacon Wilson, will be made the subject 
of deep consideration by many thoughtful minds ; and 
men of science cannot but be gratified at the liberal 
spirit which permeated it. No longer is it asserted 
that the methods and results of theology and science are 
antagonistic, but rather that the two exert beneficial 
influences upon each other, and that the scientific method 
should be applied to theological research. The expression 
of such rational views should do much to overcome the 
prejudice which still exists against scientific habits of 
thought, and to create sympathy between men engaged 
in advancing natural and theological knowledge. The 
common meeting ground is the search for truth, so far as 
the human mind can follow it. 
SECTION E. 
GEOGRAPHY, 
OPENING ADDRESS BY SIR JOHN Murray, K.C.B., F.R.3., 
LL.D., PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION, 
In his opening Address to the members of the British 
| Association at the Ipswich meeting, the President cast a retro- 
spective glance at the progress that had taken place in the 
several branches of scientific inquiry from the time of the form- 
ation of the Association in 1831 down to 1895, the year in which 
