448 
on Saturday, he having arrived only the previous day at 
Dundee in the Arctic, along with the Polarzs men. 
The private hospitality of the Bradfordians has been 
magnificent, but the hotel charges, every one admits, have 
been simply monstrous. We quite agree with the re- 
marks made in the last number of the Pharmaceutical 
Yournal on this subject, and do not think that hotel- 
keepers by so recklessly increasing their ordinary charges 
do themselves or their town any good. We hope that 
in future the authorities of towns visited by the British 
Association will devise some means of counteracting such 
proceedings, as they no doubt tend to diminish the 
number of visitors. The number of tickets of all classes 
issued this year is not much above 1,800, being several 
hundreds under that of last year ; no doubt the relative 
attractions of Brighton and Bradford will partly account 
for this. 
The sozvée in St. George’s Hall last Thursday was a great 
success ; indeed all the arrangements for the meeting have 
been satisfactory. The public lectures, by Profs. W. C. 
Williamson, Clerk-Maxwell, and Dr. Siemens were well 
attended, but the proportion of the working-classes pre- 
sent at the lecture on Fuel, which was specially intended 
for their benefit, was very small. Indeed, many are of 
opinion that this lecture should be abolished, seeing that 
so few workpeople take advantage of it, and that a lec- 
ture should be given every night, or three or four times 
during the meeting, to working-men who are registered, 
as at the School of Mines, in order to secure that the 
right sort of people gain admission. 
This year the Association gave another lesson to 
Government. Last year, it may be remembered, the ques- 
tion of the Tides was given up by the Association ; this 
year they have done the same to the Rainfall question, 
as being a work which it is the interest of the nation to see 
done. We hope the nation will see that it is attended to 
in the proper quarter. 
On Monday Prof. Smith proposed Dr. Tyndall as pre- 
sident of next year’s meeting ; and it was somewhat of a 
surprise to most present when the Mayor of Belfast 
patriotically proposed that Prof. Andrews of that city 
should preside over a meeting to be held in Ireland. 
Prof. Andrews had been first suggested by the Council, 
and his friends were consulted, but it was found that the 
state of his health rendered it umadvisable to press the 
honour upon him. 
Belfast is the place of meeting next year, and Bristol, 
it has been settled, will be visited by the Association in 
1875; there is a tacit understanding that Glasgow will 
be the rendezvous for 1876, the Lord Provost and a 
strong deputation being present on Monday to earnestly 
urge the claims of that important place. 
The Report of the Council for the year 1872-3 was pre- 
sented to the General Committee at Bradford, on Wednes- 
day, 17th September. The Council have had under their 
consideration the three Resolutions which were referred 
to them by the General Committee at Brighton. The 
first Resolution was—“ That the Council be requested to 
take such steps as they deem desirable to induce the 
Colonial Office to afford sufficient aid to the Observatory 
at Mauritius to enable an investigation of the cyclones 
in the Indian Ocean to be carried on there.” , 
In accordance with this Resolution, a correspondence 
took place between Dr. Carpenter, the President of the 
Association, and the Right Honourable the Earl of 
Kimberley, Secretary of State for the Colonies. 
In consequence of this correspondence, the Council 
requested the President to urge upon the Lords Com- 
missioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury the desirability of 
affording such pecuniary aid to the Mauritius Obser- 
vatory as would enable the Director to continue his 
observations on the periodicity of the cyclones ; and an 
intimation has been received from Her Majesty’s Govern- 
ment that an inquiry into the condition, size, and cost of 
Bie SRR eats Pg Ses de 
NATURE 
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7 7 
the establishment of the Mauritius is now being con- 
ducted by a Special Commission from England, pending 
which inquiry no increase of expenditure upon the Obser- — 
vatory can be sanctioned ; but that when the results of 
this inquiry shall be made known, the Secretary of State 
for the Colonies will direct the attention of the Governor 
to the subject. 
The second Resolution referred to the Botanical estab- 
lishment at Kew, but happily the Council have not deemed 
it necessary to take any action upon this Resolution, 
Third Resolution :—“ That the Council be requested 
to take such steps as they may deem desirable to urge 
upon the Indian Government the preparation of a Pho- 
toheliograph and other instruments for solar observation, 
with the view of assisting in the observation of the Transit 
of Venus in 1874, and for the continuation of solar obser- 
vations in India.” 
The Council communicated with his Grace the Duke 
of Argyll, the Secretary of State for India, upon the sub- 
ject, with the result explained in the following letter :— 
‘*India Office, February 28, 1873. 
‘¢Sir,— With reference to my letter of the 13th of December 
last, relative to an observation in India of the Transit of the 
planet Venus in December 1874, I am directed to state, for the 
information of the Council of the British Association for the 
Advancement of Science, that the Secretary of State for India 
in Council, having reconsidered this matter, and looking to the 
number of existing burdens on the revenues of India, and to the 
fact that the selection of any station in that country was not 
originally contemplated for ‘eye-observations’ of the transit, 
has determined to sanction only the expenditure (3567. 7s. 6d.) 
necessary for the purchase and packing of a Photoheliograph, 
and any further outlay that may be requisite for the adaptation of 
such instruments as may be now in India available for the 
purpose of the proposed observation. 
‘*The Duke of Argyll in Council has been led to sanction 
thus much of the scheme proposed by Lieut. Colonel Tennant, 
in consequence of the recommendation submitted by the Astro- 
nomer Royalin favour of the use of photography for an observation 
of the transit at some place in Northern India, 
“Tam, Sir, Your obedient Servant, 
(Signed)  ** Herman Meriyale,” 
‘‘ William B, Carpenter, Esq., British Association.” 
A Committee was appointed at Exeter in 1869, on the 
Laws Regulating the Flow and Action of Water holding 
Solid Matter in Suspension, with authority to represent 
to the Government the desirability of undertaking Ex- 
periments bearing on the subject. The Committee pre- 
sented a Memorial to the Indian Government, who have 
recently intimated their intention of advancing a sum of 
2,000/. to enable Mr, Login to carry on experiments, 
The Council have added the following list of names of 
gentlemen present at the last meeting of the Association to 
the list of Corresponding Members: M. C. Bergeron, 
Lausanne ; Prof. E. Croullebois, Paris ; Prof. G. Devalque, 
Litge ; M. W. De Fonvielle, Paris ; Prof. Paul Gervais, 
Paris ; Prof. James Hall, Albany, New York; Mr. J. E. 
Hilgard, Coast Survey, Washington; M. George Lemoine, 
Paris ; Prof. Victor von Richter, St. Petersburg ; Prof. 
Carl Semper, Wurtzburg ; Prof. A. Wurtz, Paris. 
We now pass on at once to the Sectional work, de- 
laying a reference to the Scientific grants made this 
year, and the concluding business till next week. 
SECTION A. 
OPENING ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, PRor, HENRY 
J. S. Smirs, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. ’ 
For several years past it has been the custom for the president 
of this section, as of the other sections of the Association, to 
open its proceedings with a brief address. I am not willing upon 
this occasion to deviate from the precedent set by my prede- 
cessors, although I feel that the task presents peculiar diffi, 
[ Sept, 25, 1873 
