NATURE 



301 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 1877 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 



Plymouth, Tiesday 

 "T^HERE is every sign that the meeting of the British 

 Association for 1877 will be a very successful one as 

 far as attendance is concerned. It is too early in the 

 day to quote figures, but in the spaces of time between 

 the arrival of one London train and another a marked 

 difference may be seen in the reception-room, and the 

 clerks at the tables are already under a state of siege 

 taking subscriptions, issuing tickets, answering innu- 

 merable questions, and indeed converting themselves into 

 a long book-shelf of encyclopsdias of useful knowledge. 

 It is a significant fact in connection with the numbeis 

 who have secured their tickets for the meeting, that at 

 least half the reserved seats for the President's address 

 and the two evening discourses, have already been applied 

 for and appropriated. The Committee have, however, 

 made a very fair arrangement with regard to these places. 

 On the block plan of the noble Guildhall in which the 

 addresses are to be delivered, a line has been drawn down 

 the centre from the middle of the platform to the back of 

 the hall which is thus divided longitudinally into two 

 equal portions. One of these portions has been reserved 

 for members coming from a distance, and will not be 

 thrown open for general application until to-morrow. By 

 this arrangement local residents applying for tickets have 

 the advantage of priority over one another, but do not, 

 through living on the spot, have any advantage over 

 those arriving early to-morrow, which is the first day of 

 the meeting. 



Amor.g early arrivals we noticed several familiar faces, 

 among which may be mentioned Prof. Williamson, the 

 general treasurer, Prof. Redfern, Mr. Glaisher, Mr. J.W. 

 L. Glaisher, Mr. Fengelly, Mr. W. Chandler Roberts, 

 Admiral Sir Erasmus Ommanney, K.C.B., Prof Gladstone, 

 Mr. Woodward, of the British Museum ; but the great 

 bulk of the visitors to the present meeting will be 

 arriving by the late trains this evening and the early 

 trains to-morrow (Wednesday) morning. 



The following is the programme of the daily arrange- 

 ments for the meeting : — 



Wcducsdav, August 15. — The Address by the President, 

 Prof. Allen Thomson, F.R.S., 8 P.M., in the Guildhall. 



T/itt7'sday, August 16. — Sectional meetings. Soiree at 

 8 o'clock in Guildhall. 



Friday, August 17. — Sectional meetings. — Lecture in 

 Guildhall, 8.30 P.M., by Prof Warington Smyth, F.R.S. 



Saturday , hw^vist 18. — Sectional meetings. Excursions. 

 Lecture to working men in Guildhall, 7 p.m., by Mr. 

 Preece. 



Monday, August 20. — Sectional meetings. Lecture in 

 Guildhall, 8.30 P.M., by Prof Odling, F.R.S. 



Tut-saay, August 21. — Sectional meetings. — Soiree in 

 Guildhall, 8 p.m. 



Wednesday, August 22. — Sectional meetings. Con- 

 cluding meeting, 2 30 p.m. 



'I harsday, August 23. — Excursions. 

 The business of the sections will not be considered until 

 to-morrow's meeting of the committees, but the excursions 

 are pretty well settled. The first excursion-day will be 

 Saturday next, the iSth instant, on which day there will 

 be four excursions, in addition to a visit to Mount 

 Edgcumbe, which will be thrown open to the members 

 of the Association by the kindness of the Earl of Mount 

 Edgcumbe. The other excursions are as follows : — 



I. To Lee Moor and Dartmoor. An excursion will be 

 made in waggonettes, by Plympton and Newnham Park, 

 to the Lee Moor China Clay Works, the largest in the 

 Vol. XVI. — No. 407 



West of England. When the works have been inspected 

 the company will be entertained at luncheon by the 

 Messrs. Martin, the proprietors. After luncheon some of 

 the party will inspect the pre-historic remains on the 

 Plym, under the guidance of Mr. C. Spence Bate, F.R.S., 

 one of the vice-presidents of the Association, who, 

 besides his well-known biological memoirs, is the author 

 of a most valuable work upon the remains, both historic 

 and prehistoric, to be found in Devon and Cornwall. 

 Others will visit Shell Top and Pen Beacon, from which 

 the most magnificent views of Devonshire may be had. 

 The party will be limited to one hundred, and application 

 for tickets, which will be free, must be made before twelve 

 o'clock on Friday next. 



2. Another excursion for Saturday will be to the 

 ancient city of Exeter. This excursion is by special 

 invitation of the Mayor of Exeter on behalf of the citizens 

 and inhabitants of the neighbourhood. The company, 

 after visiting the Cathedral, Guildhall, and Museum, will 

 be entertained at luncheon by the Mayor and Corpora- 

 tion at four o'clock. This excursion being only by special 

 invitation partakes more or less of a private character, 

 and therefore no tickets can be applied for. 



3. One of the most interesting excursions for Saturday 

 will be a visit to the Eddystone Lighthouse, th a Plymouth 

 Breakwater, and the Hamoaze, where a visit will be made 

 to the gunnery ship Cambridge, to witness the great gun 

 drill and torpedo practice, which will derive an especial 

 interest from the affairs going on in Eastern Europe, in 

 which torpedo warfare seems destined to play a hitherto 

 unrivalled part. After leaving the Cambridge, the 

 steamers which have been kindly placed at the disposal 

 of the Association by Sir T. Symonds, the Naval Com- 

 mander at this port, will go up the Hamoaze and Tamar 

 to the Brunei's Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash, and the 

 industrial Xra.mmgshX'p, iMo:otl Edgcumbe. After leaving 

 the Bridge the party will return down the Hamoaze, and 

 proceed to sea, taking the breakwater on their way : here 

 the work will be explained by one of the engineering staff, 

 after which the boats will go on to the Eddystone Light- 

 house, where some of the party will "land," if such it can be 

 called. On the way between the Breakwater and the Light- 

 house experiments will be made with Sir William Thom- 

 son's pianoforte-wire sounding apparatus, and with his 

 vci-y beautiful compass, which has already been described 

 in these pages, but which we may remind our readers 

 consists of a ring of aluminium which is supported from 

 an agate centre, moulded in an aluminium boss, by means 

 of a lacing of silk thread, so that the ring is kept in its 

 place and concentric with the pivot by the tension of the 

 threads. In this it bears some resemblance to the tension- 

 ox "spider" wheels which are now fitted to the best 

 bicycles. The magnetic portion of the instrument consists 

 of two, four, six, or eight magnetised needles of steel wire, 

 supported also to the ring by a lacing of silk threads. To 

 the outer ring is attached the card or dial, which is of 

 paper, and in order to prevent errors through the expansion 

 or contraction of this material due to variations in the 

 humidity of the atmosphere ; it is divided radially into 

 small sectors, each of which can expand or contract on 

 its own account, but can have no effect on its neighbours. 

 The advantages of this compass are extreme lightness 

 of the movable portion, whereby friction on the pivot is 

 reduced to a minimum, and variations in the direction of 

 m.agnetic force, however slight, are indicated by the move- 

 ment of the card ; and owing to the smallness of the 

 needles which are capable of performing the work. Sir 

 William Thomson's compass comes to rest very quickly 

 when disturbing influences are removed, and it is easily 

 adjusted both in its permanent and in its temporary ad- 

 justments. After visiting Smeaton's masterpiece of en- 

 gineering construction, which has stood the fury cf the 

 Atl.antic storms for so many years, the party will return to 

 Mill-Bay in time for the many private evening engage- 



