406 
NATURE 
arrangements for the reception of the members of the 
Association perfect ; and if the meeting is not in all re- 
spects a complete success, it will be no fault of theirs, 
nor of the local authorities, who seem anxious to do all 
in their power for the comfort and enjoyment of the 
visitors. 
A very fine town-hall was opened in Bradford a few 
days ago, but so far as we can learn, none of the meetings 
of the Association will be held in it. Ample accommo- 
dation has been provided in other buildings for the various 
meetings. The Sections met to-day at 11 A.M., and con- 
tinue to do so till Tuesday next. Section A meets in 
the School Room, Horton Lane Chapel; Section B in 
the School Room, Unitarian Chapel; Section C in the 
Lecture Hall, Horton Lane Chapel; Section D in the 
Church Institute ;, Section E in the Mechanics’ Institute ; 
Section F in the West Riding Court House ; and Section 
G in the Church Institute. To-night a sozée will be held 
in St. George's Hall: in the same place, to-morrow night, 
at 8.30, Professor W.C. Williamson, F.R.S., of Man- 
chester, delivers a discourse on “ Coal and Coal Plants ;” 
on Saturday evening, at 7.30, Dr. Siemens gives a lecture 
to the operative classes on “ Fuel ;” and on Monday 
evening, at 8.30, Professor Clerk-Maxwell, a discourse on 
“ Molecules.” On Tuesday next, a soirée takes place at 
8.30 P.M. in the Mechanics’ Institute, where, on Wed- 
nesday, the concluding General Meeting will take place 
at 2.30 PM.; on the same evening, a Grand Compli- 
mentary Concert will be given in St. George’s Hall, at 
8 o’clock, 
A number of Reports, both those involving and those 
not involving grants of money, will be given in, and will 
no doubt be listened to with great interest by the scientific 
men present. We hope that this year the Association 
will rise to the occasion in the matter of liberality, and 
give a practical example of what ought to be done in the 
endowment of scientific research. By the courtesy of the 
officers we are enabled to give the Inaugural and some of 
the Sectional Addresses. To the same source we are 
indebted for the following list of some of the papers to 
be read in the various sections :— 
SECTION A.—Lord Rayleigh: A short paper on a 
Natural Limit to the Sharpness of the Spectral Lines.— 
W. Davis : Some Abnormal Effects of Binocular Vision. 
—H. Muirhead; On Regelation—G. M. Whipple: A 
new Electrical Anemograph; a new form of Ruther- 
ford’s Minimum Thermometer ; on the Passage of Squalls 
across the British Isles—W. R. Birt: On the Import- 
ance and Necessity of continued Systematic Observation 
of the Moon’s Surface.—G. O. Hanlon: Some Suggestions 
towards the formation of extended Tables of Logarithms. 
—M. Hermite: On the Irrationality of the Base of Hy- 
perbolic Logarithms.—R. S, Ball : Dynamometers for the 
Measurement of Force in absolute units ; A quiescent 
rigid body possessing three degrees ot freedom receives 
an impulse: determine the instantaneous screw about 
which the body commences to twist. 
SECTION B.—Messrs. A. Vernon Harcourt and F. W. 
Fish : On a continuous process for purifying Coal Gas 
from Sulphuretted Hyd. and Ammonia, and for extracting 
Sulphur and Ammoniacal Salts.—W. H. Pike : On several 
Homologues of Oxalic Acid.—Dr. Gladstone: Black 
Deposits of Metals—C, Horner: On the Spectra of 
certain Boric and Phosphoric Acid blow-pipe beads.— 
J. Spiller: On Artificial Magnetite—W. Symons: Re- 
marks on a paper by the Marquis of Salisbury on Spectral 
Lines of Cold Temperature.—A. Tribe : Spec. gr. bottle 
for liquids spontaneously inflammable in contact with 
air. 
SECTION C.—Rev. J. F. Blake: Additional Remains 
of Pleistocene Mammals in Yorkshire—W. Blandford : 
Some Evidences of Glacial Action in Tropical India—A. 
Leith Adams : Concluding Report of the Malta Fossil Ele- 
phants.—R. Russell: Geological Sketch of Bradford and 
the neighbourhood.—J, Hopkinson: On Graptolites 
found (1) in Ramsay Island, St. David’s; (2) in the 
Ludlow Rocks of Shropshire.—H, Hicks: On the Arenig 
and Llandeilo Rocks of St. David’s.—J. L. Lobley: On 
the British Palaeozoic Arcade. 
SECTION D.—Hyde Clarke : Comparative Chronology 
of Man in America in relation to’Comparative Philology. 
—Prehistoric Names of Weapons:—W. T. Blandford : 
The Fauna of Persia.—J. Willis: The Flora of the 
Environs of Bradford.—J. Milnes Fothergill : Heart and 
Brain.—K. Kaines : A true Cerebral Theory necessary to 
Anthropology. 
SECTION E.—C. F, Beke: On the True Position of 
Mount Sinai.—W. Blandford : Physical Geography of the 
Deserts of Persia and Central Asia—G. Darwin: On 
Some Maps of the World and on a Portable Globe.—Rey. 
W. B. Kerr: Overland Route from India.—E. L. Oxen- 
ham: A Journey from Pekin to Hankow.—Capt. Davis : 
The Voyage of the Challenger— Sir F. Goldsmid : On 
Persia. : 
SECTION F.—Hyde Clarke: The Influence of Large 
Centres of Population on Intellectual Manifestation.—Dr, 
Appleton : On some of the Economical Aspects of Endow- 
ments of Education and Original research.—T. G. P. Hal-- 
lett: The Income Tax Question—W. P. Henderson : 
Commercial Panics.—W. Hastings: Postal Reform.—R. 
H. Palgrave : The Relation of the Banking Reserve of 
the Bank of England to the Current Rate of Interest.— 
G. C. T. Barnsley : The Poor-Law Board and its Effect 
on Thrift. 
Among British men of science expected to be present at 
this year’s meeting are the following :—Prof. W. G. Adams, 
F.R.S. ; Major-General Sir J. Alexander, Sir Rutherford 
Alcock, K.C.B.; Prof. Attfield, Prof. R. S. Ball, Admiral 
Sir E. Belcher, K.C.B.; W. H. Barlow, F.R.S. ; Prof. 
Balfour, W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S.; Sir P. G. Egerton, 
F.R.S. ; Sir W. Fairbairn, F.R.S. ; Dr. W. Farr, Prof. 
Michael Foster, M.D.: Mr. J. G. Fitch, Mr. P. Le Neve 
Foster, Mr. C. L. N. Foster, Col. Lane Fox, Sir G. D. 
Gibb, Bart. ; Rev. Prof. Griffiths, Capt. D. Galton, C.B. ; 
G. Griffiths, F.C.S.; Prof. Greenwood, Mr. J. W. L. 
Glaisher, Sir F. Goldsmid, J. P. Gassiot, F.R.S.; Dr. J. 
H. Gladstone, F.R.S.; Dr. P. H. Holland, W. Huggins, 
D.C.L., F.R.S. ; Prof. Hughes, Lord Houghton, F.R.S. ; 
Prof. G. Harley, F.R.S. ; Prof. Herschel, Rev. R. Harley, 
F.R.S.; Mr. A. V. Harcourt, F.R.S.; Mr. G. J. Holy- 
oake, Mr. A. K. Johnston, Prof. Leone Levi, Prof. J. Clerk 
Maxwell, F.R.S. ; Prof. A. Newton, F.R.S. ; Vice-Admiral 
Ommaney, C.B., F.R.S.: Prof. Phillips, W. Pengelly, 
F.R.S.; the Earl of Rosse, Prof. G. Rolleston, M.D., 
F.R.S.; Prof. Roscoe, F.R.S.; Dr. W. Rutherford, Dr, 
W. Jj. Russell, F.R.S.; Prof. Savage, Prof. Balfour 
Stewart, F.R.S.; Major-General Scott, Prof. Smith, Prof. 
Tyndall, F.R.S.; Prof. W. C. Williamson, F.R.S.; T, 
Wright, F.S.A.; Prof. Williamson, F.R.S.; the Arch- 
bishop of York, &c. The following foreigners are also 
expected to be present :—M. Guido Cora, Dr. Janssen, 
Prof. Klein, Baron von Richthofen, Arminius Vambery, 
&e, 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF PROF, ALEXANDER W. WILLIAMSON, 
: F.R.S., PRESIDENT. 
InsTEAD of rising to address you on this occasion I had hoped 
to sit quietly amongst you, and to enjoy the intellectual treat of 
listening to the words of a man of whom England may well be 
proud—a man whose life has been spent in reading the great 
book of nature, for the purpose of enriching his fellow men with 
a knowledge of its truths—a man whose name is known and 
honoured in every corner of this planet to which a knowledge of 
science has penetrated—and, let me add, a man whose name 
will live in the grateful memory of mankind as long as the records 
of such noble work are preserved. 
At the last meeting of the Association I had the pleasure of 
proposing that Dr. Joule be elected President for the Bradford 
. Meeting, and our Council succeeded in overcoming his reluctance 
and in persuading him to accept that office. 
[ Sep¢. 18, 1873. 
7” 
a 
