418 
NATURE 
[ Sepz. 22, 1870 
couragement of experiments which are not clearly legiti- 
mate of living animals.” —The amendment was seconded by 
Professor Rolieston, and carried by a large majority. The 
following appointments were then made ;—Council : The 
President and President elect ; Vice-president and Vice- 
presidents elect ; General Secretaries and Assistant-secre- 
tary ; General Treasurer ; trustees, presidents of former 
years, and the following gentlemen :—Mr. Bateman, Dr. 
Beddoe, Mr. G. Busk, Dr. Debus, Mr. Warren Delarue, 
Mr. J. Evans, Captain Galton, Mr. F. Galton, Mr. 
Gassiot, Mr. Godwin-Austen, Lord Houghton, Mr. W. 
Huggins, Sir John Lubbock, Prof. W. A. Miller, Mr. 
Newmarch, Sir S. Northcote, Prof. Ramsay, Prof. Rankine, 
Dr. J. Simon, Lieut.-Col. Strange, Col. Sykes, Sir W. 
Tite, Prof. Tyndall, Mr. A. R. Wallace, Prof. Wheatstone, 
Prof. A. W. Williamson. General Secretaries, Prof. Hirst 
and Dr. Thomas Thomson. Assistant Secretary, Mr. 
Griffiths. Treasurer, Mr. Spottiswoode. Auditors, Mr. 
G. Busk, Dr. M. Foster, Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys. Mr. J. 
Evans and Dr. M. Foster were added to the Committee 
of Recommendations. B. 
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL 
*¢The Council have received the usual reports from the General 
Treasurer and from the Kew Committee. Their reports for the 
past year will be laid before the General Committee this day. 
The Council have to report upon the action they have taken 
relative to each of the four resolutions referred to them by the 
General Committee at Exeter. 
The first of these resolutions was— 
€ That the Council be requested to take into their considera- 
tion the existing relations between the Kew Committee and the 
British Association.’ 
The Council accordingly appointed a Committee of their own 
body to examine into these relations. This Committee had be- 
fore them a special report drawn up by the Kew Committee, and, 
after due deliberation, they recommended— 
‘That the existing relations between the Kew Observatory 
and the British Association be continued unaltered until the 
completion, in 1872, of the magnetic and solar decennial 
period ; but that after that date all connexion between them 
shall cease.’ 
The Council adopted this recommendation, and now offer it, 
as their own, to the General Committee. 
The second resolution referred to the Council was as follows :— 
That the full influence of the British Association for the 
Advancement of Science should at once be exerted to obtain the 
appointment of a Royal Commission to consider— 
First, the character and value of existing institutions and 
facilities for scientific investigation, and the amount of time and 
money devoted to such purposes. 
Secondly, what modifications or augmentations of the means 
and facilities that are at present available for the maintenance 
and extension of science are requisite ; and, 
Thirdly, in what manner these can be best supplied.’ 
By a third resolution the Council was ‘requested to ascertain 
whether the action of Government in relation to the higher 
scientific education has been in accordance with the principles of 
impartiality which were understood to guide them in this matter ; 
and to consider whether that action has been well calculated to 
utilise and develop the resources of the country for this end, and 
to favour the free development of the higher scientific education. 
That the Council be requested to take such measures as may 
appear to them best calculated to carry out the conclusicns to 
which they may be led by these inquiries and deliberations.’ 
The Committee of the Council appointed to-consider these 
two resolutions reported their opinion to be favourable to the 
appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire into the relations 
of the State to scientific instruction and investigation ; and they 
added that no such inquiry would, in their opinion, be complete 
which did not extend itself to the action of the State in relation 
to scientific education, and the effect of that action upon inde- 
pendent educational institutions. 
Your President and Council, acting on the advice of this 
Committee, constituted themselves a Deputation and waited 
upon the Lord President of the Council. They are glad 
to be able to report that their efforts to bring this im- 
portant subject before Her Majesty's Government have 
been attended with success. On the 18th of May, Her 
Majesty issued a Commission ‘‘to make inquiry with regard 
to Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science, 
and to inquire what aid thereto is derived from grants 
voted by Parliament or from endowments belonging to the 
several universities in Great Britain and Ireland and the colleges 
thereof, and whether such aid could be rendered in a manner 
more effectual for the purpose.” The Commissioners appointed 
by Her Majesty are the Duke of Devonshire, the Marquis of 
Lansdowne, Sir John Lubbock, Bart., Sir James Phillips Kay 
Shuttleworth, Bart., Bernhard Samuelson, Esq., M.P., Dr. 
Sharpey, Professor Huxley, Dr. W. A. Miller, and Professor 
Stokes. J. Norman Lockyer, Esq., F.R.S., has been appointed 
Secretary to the Commissioners, who, up to last July, were en- 
gaged taking evidence with great assiduity, and have now 
adjourned their meetings until November. There is every reason 
to hope that valuable results will follow from their deliberations. 
The fourth resolution which the General Committee referred 
to the Council was— 
‘That the rules under which members are admitted to the 
General Committee be reconsidered.’ 
A Committee of the Council devoted considerable care to a 
revision of the existing rules. The modified rules approved by 
the Council are now submitted for adoption to the present 
General Committee, whose constitution is, of course, not affected 
thereby. The most important of the proposed changes are that 
henceforth new claims to membership of the General Committee 
shall be forwarded to the Assistant General Secretary at least 
one month before the next ensuing Annual Meeting of the Asso- 
ciation; that these claims shall be submitted to the Council, 
whose decision upon them is to be final ; and that henceforth it 
is not the authorship of a paper in the Transactions of a scien- 
tific society which is alone to constitute a claim to membership 
of the General Committee, but the publication of any works or 
papers which have furthered the advancement of any of the 
subjects taken into consideration at the Sectional meetings of 
the Society. 
Your Council has, also, had under its consideration the desira- 
bility of remoying certain administrative inconveniences which 
arise from the circumstance that the next place of meeting is 
never decided upon by the General Committee until near the 
close of the actual meeting. They are of opinion that the 
arrangements of the General Officers would be greatly facili- 
tated, and at the same time the convenience of those who 
invite the Association consulted, if the General Committee 
were to decide upon each place of meeting a year earlier than 
they do at present. In order to make the transition from the ex- 
isting practice to the proposed one, your Council recommend that 
two of the invitations which will be received at the present 
meetings be accepted, one for 1871, and another for 1872. 
It has often been urged that the Association labours under dis- 
advantages in consequence of its not possessing central offices in 
London, where its Council and numerous committees could 
hold their meetings, where the books and memoirs which 
have been accumulating for years could be rendered accessible 
to Members, and where information concerning the Associa- 
tion’s proceedings could be promptly obtained during the 
interval between annual meetings. The Council have had the 
subject under consideration, and in the event of the establish- 
ment at Kew being discontinued, they are prepared to recom- 
mend that suitable rooms, in a central situation, should be 
procured. The additional annual expenditure which this would 
involve would probably not exceed 150/. 
The Council have added the names of Professor H. A, Newton 
and Professor C. S. Lyman, who were present at the Exeter 
meeting, to the list of corresponding members.” 
We append the new rules referred to in the Council’s Report. 
“ New Rules for Admission to the General Committee 
The General Committee will in future consist of the follow- 
ing classes of members :— 
CLASS A.—PERMANENT MEMBERS 
1. Members of the Council, presidents of the Association, 
and presidents of sections for the present and preceding years, 
with authors of reports in the Transactions of the Association, 
2. Members who, by the publication of works or papers, have 
furthered the advancement of those subjects which are taken into 
consideration at the sectional meetings of the Association. With 
a view of submitting new claims under this rule to the decision 
