290 
NATURE 
af 
[Aug. 10,1871 

first part of the meeting, have been the proposed dred¢- 
ing exploration, which it is understood will be undertaken 
by the Government, following the example set by the 
American, Swedish, and other nations, and the proposed 
Eclipse Expedition to Ceylon next December. The former 
announcement has been hailed with the liveliest satisfac- 
tion ; and the Government is on all hands congratulated on 
its appreciation of the importance of this work. The feel- 
ing touching the Eclipse Expedition is of an entirely 
opposite character, as it has leaked out that this year, as 
last, affairs have been delayed and badly managed. 
After Messrs, Lockyer’s and Janssen’s papers on Friday, 
Sir William Thomson said he joined very warmly in 
what Mr. Lockyerand M. Janssen had urged. M. Janssen 
had asked that Britain should join France and Germany: 
in this friendly struggle, and it would be a disgrace to 
England if it did not accept that challenge, and do its 
very best to beat both France and Germany in the 
struggle, adding that all the efforts of all the nations 
would not be too much for the importance of the work. 
The Scotsman, in a leading article on this subject, after 
urging an appeal to Government on the part of the British 
Association, writes as follows :- 
“The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in fact, who is de 
facto the keeper of the nation’s purse, is de jure, so far as 
science is concerned, the keeper of the nation’s honour ; 
and may the time be long distant when the honour of 
England shall be tarnished by her relinquishing those 
expeditions and scientific explorations to the precursors of 
which we all look back with so much pride. Surely, from 
this point of view, it should bea subject of regret to the 
leaders of science now among us that the progress of the 
nation’s best interests should be liable to be thwarted by 
the jealousies and self-seeking of individuals, and we are 
glad to learn that the action of the British Association, 
which we are informed becomes necessary in consequence 
of some such cause as this, is likely to be carried forward 
with such vigour that Her Majesty’s Government will 
willingly yield to the demands of science, while at the 
same time a salutary lesson will be read to those who 
attempt to make the progress of science—the national 
importance of which is thoroughly acknowledged here— 
subservient to their own selfish interests. We have been 
the more anxious to make these remarks, because we 
think the time has arrived when the general interests of 
science and truth demand that any effort, by whomsoever 
made, to retard the progress of knowledge, should be 
publicly met without respect of persons and without 
hesitation ; and we may express a hope that the Parliament 
of Science, now assembled in this city, will counteract the 
efforts of an oligarchy in the same bold manner as the 
Parliament of the nation has recently done.” In these 
remarks we cordially concur. 
We may dismiss this subject by stating that an appli- 
cation for aid is to be sent off to the Government 
to-night. 
The President’s address, delivered in the evening in the 
Music Hall, was received with enthusiasm, The Emperor 
of Brazil, who seems to have come over to this country 
to show how easily our own rulers might further the pro- 
gress of science if they chose, occupied a seat on the 
platform, which was as crowded by the general committee 
as the body of the Hall was by the ordinary members. | 
Prof. Huxley, in resigning the presidential chair to 
Sir William Thomson, reminded his auditors of the 
achievements of the new president, which 
age of cultivation of science and in the pressing rivalry 
of able and accomplished men in all directions, entitled 
him to the appellation of an “intellectual giant,” adding, 
as the poet says of Lancelot,— 
Gentler knight 
There never broke a lance. 
On the morrow the sectional work began in real earnest, 
and has continued with but small interruptions ever since 

in this | 
—theinterruptions consisting in excursionson the Saturday, 
by which the geological, chemical, and botanical sections 
protested against that rule of the Council which attempts 
to discountenance such blandishments during the Associa- 
tion, forgetting, as it seems to us, the extreme value of local 
inquiries which it is impossible to carry out otherwise, as 
every moment is so fully occupied. Our notice of the 
sectional work may here be very brief, as we shall give in 
their proper places notices of all papers of importance or 
interest. 
After the reading of the addresses, in Section A Dr. 
Carpenter made an interesting communication with re- 
ference to oceanic currents. Sir W Thomson and Prof. 
Stokes joining in the discussion, which was followed by 
a paper by M. Janssen on his balloon experiences. 
Among the papers submitted to the Chemical Section the 
most popular was perhaps one relating to the working of 
haematite ore. The Geological Section had some papers 
of local interest, as also a report on Scotch earthquakes. 
Of the zoological papers, a report from the Close-Time 
Committee, anda p2per o1 the rarer raptorial birds of 
Scotland, gave rise to a discussion on the extirpation of 
indigenous animals. This was followed by an important 
paper on co-operation among natural history societies. 
The Anthropologists discussed such subjects as longevity, 
and the degeneration of race in Britain ; the Geographers 
received notes of researches in various parts of the world ; 
and among the subjects taken up in the Economic Science 
Section was that of the Merchant Company’s schools. 
- On Friday the proceedings in Section A were opened by 
papers by Mr. Lockyer and M. Janssen on the recent 
and coming eclipses. The Chemical Section had, among 
other papers, a report on recent progress in chemistry in 
the United States. The geologists received a report on 
the exploration of Kent’s Cavern, besides papers detailing 
the results of researches in various departments of the 
science. The Anthropologists discussed, among other 
subjects, that of ancient hieroglyphic structures. In the 
Biological Department, spontaneous generation formed 
the subject of a small discussion between Dr. Calvert 
and Dr. Bastian, and an important paper was communi- 
cated by Prof. Thistleton Dyer on mimicry in plants. The 
geographical programme included papers on the geography 
of Moab and the famous Moabite stone. In the Economic 
Section a lively discussion took place on the Merchant 
Company’s Education Scheme, introduced by Mr. Boyd’s 
paper of the preceding day. 
On Saturday, Monday, and yesterday, the flow of papers 
still continued, the Anthropological Section soon becoming 
notorious for actual or probable rows, though nothing very 
serious took place. The questions of state aid to science, 
and obstacles to science teaching in schools, were dis- 
cussed yesterday in Section A, and here our notice must 
stop. 
To-day we have the final General Meeting, and as many 
of the recommendations which have been made during 
the meeting will be discussed there, it will be well to delay 
our notice of them till next week, merely remarking here 
that we never knew a larger number of valuable recom- 
mendations made for action or money grants. In the 
meeting of the General Committee on Monday, Bradford 
was fixed upon as the next place of meeting after Brighton, 
with Belfast in reserve for the year after. The appoint- 
| ment of Dr. Carpenter as next president was moved ina 
highly eulogistic speech by Prof. Huxley ; the officers of 
the Association were re-elected with the exception of Dr, 
Hirst, who, as before stated, is succeeded by Mr. Douglas 
Galton ; and the following Council was appointed for the 
ensuing year: Messrs. Bateman, Beddoe, Debus, Fitch, 
G. C. Foster, M. Foster, F. Galton, Gassiot, RA.C., 
Godwin-Austen, Huggins, Gwyn-Jeffreys, Lockyer, Mer- 
rifield, Ramsay, Simon, Tyndall, Wallace, Williamson, 
Sir Stafford Northcote, Sir Charles Wheatstone, Colonel 
Strange, Colonel Sykes, and General Strachey. 
