1 88 



NA TURE 



[December 22, 1898 



infornialion as to the titles and avilhors of papers read 

 before local societies not corresponding societies of the 

 British Association may be obtained from the " Oflic^al Vear- 

 IxtoU of the Scientific and Learned Societies of Great Britain 

 and Ireland" (C. Griffin and Co., London). The "Year- 

 book ' appears every spring, and contains lists of papers 

 read in the previous year. It v\ill be found that the " Year- 

 book " and the British Association " Index " combined leave 

 little to be desired by the inquirer after papers on any locality 

 in the British Lsles. 



The following societies have Iwen added to the list of the 

 corresponding societies : — The Hull (leological Society, the 

 South-Easlern Union of Naturalists' Societies, and the Astro- 

 nomical and Physical Society of Toronto. 



Mr. Whitaker opened the proceedings by introducing the 

 subject of coast erosion. He remarked on the much greater 

 ease and accuracy with which measurements of the amount of 

 loss could be made now that maps on the scale of 6 inches to 

 the mile were obtainable for all parts of the country. He in- 

 stanced Sheppey as a good example of a place at which loss 

 by coast erosion had been unusually rapid. On the first visit of 

 the Geologists' Association there, the church and churchyard of 

 Warden were untouched : on a later occasion the churchyard 

 was found to have been injured, and coftins were slicking out 

 from the edge of the clifT. That year they had found neither 

 churchyard nor church. They had also seen, during the visit 

 last Whitsuntide of the Geologists' Association to Aldeburgh in 

 Suffolk, an example of another kind of marine encroachment. 

 There they found cottages, sheds and gardens more or less 

 injured or destroyed by the heaping-up of masses of shingle in or 

 against them, the result of a storm in November 1897. The 

 driving inland of blown sand also caused much injury to land on 

 the coast in certain localities. As to the economical aspect of 

 the question, there were certainly many places from which the 

 removal of shingle from the shore should never be allowed. 

 Indeed it should nowhere be allowed without careful con- 

 sideration as to the probable result. And the quarrying of 

 stone on the face of a sea-clifT should seldom, if ever, be 

 permitted. 



Mr. W. II. Wheeler thought that the movement of shingle 

 along our shores was due to the action of the tides, not of the 

 wind.s. Mr. A. T. Walmisley had always advocated the pro- 

 tection of the shore by groynes. Sea walls should be placed a 

 short distance in front of the cliff to be protected. Mr. Vaughan 

 Cornish said that the protection of one part of the .shore was a 

 bad thing for the rest of the district. He thought that no local 

 shore protection should be allowed unless sanctioned by a 

 Government Board. In any study of the effects of coast erosion 

 the coastguard, if the Admiralty gave their consent, would be 

 able to render most valuable assistance. Mr. Wheeler thought 

 the retention of a mass of shingle in front of a place a better 

 protection than a sea wall. He would greatly approve of an 

 attempt to obtain the services of the coast-guard in noting 

 coast erosion, as at present he had found it very difficult to get 

 trustworthy evidence. Prof. Meldola moved the following 

 resolution: — "That the Council of the British Association be 

 requested to bring under the notice of the Admiralty the im- 

 portance of securing systematic observations upon the erosion 

 of the sea coasts of the United Kingdom, and that the co- 

 operation of the coastguard might be profitably secured for this 

 purpose." After some discussion the resolution was seconded 

 by .Mr. Gray, and carried. 



Prof. Meldola read a letter from Prof. W. W. Watts, .stating 

 that the Geological Photographs Committee had formed a collec- 

 tion of duplicate photographs and lantern slides, consisting of 

 about 250 prints and 100 lantern slides, which could be sent 

 during the winter to any local scientific society wishing to make 

 use ol them. 



Second Meeting ok the Conference, Sei-tembek 13. 



The Corresponding Societies Committee were represented 

 by Mr. Whitaker, Dr. (Jarson, Rev. J. O. Bevan, Mr. Hop- 

 kinson, Mr. Symons, and Mr. T. Y. Holmes (Secretary). 



The Chairman (Mr. Whitaker) announced that the resolution 

 on coast erosion, passed at Iheir last meeting, had been submitted 

 to the ticological and Geographical Sectinns, both of which 

 had unanimously supported the recommendations contained in 

 it. It would now be forwarded to the Council. 



Prof. Silvanus Thompson had been asked to bring before the 

 Conference the importance of adopting one or two uniform 



NO. I 52 I, VOL. 59] 



standard sizes for the pages of scientific publications. Ali- 

 engaged in scientific investigation were greatly indebted to thiii 

 fellow workers for reprinted papers, and all recognised tKt 

 advantage given by uniformity of size in allowing these papers 

 to be bound together. The great advantages of uniformity in 

 size had caused the formation of a British Association Com. 

 mittee some four years ago, whose object was to prescribe the 

 adoption of certain standard octavo and quarto sizes. The 

 report of this Committee would be found in the Ipswich Report 

 (1895)1 P- 77- The standard octavo size there recommendel 

 was — 



Paper demy, pages measuring when uncut S| inches by i] 

 inches. The width, measured from the stitching to the edge ■•{ 

 the printed matter, to be 4I inches, and the height of the 

 printed portion, including the running headline, to be 7 inches. 



The standard quarto size. Paper demy, the pages measuring 

 when uncut 8f inches wide by 11 inches high. Letterpress n< I 

 to exceed the measurements of 74 inches by 9 inches. It was 

 alsodesirable that each article should begin a page, and, if prac 

 ticable, the right-hand page. It can then be bound with other 

 articles without the last page of a preceding article being boun 1 

 up with it. -Many other details would be found in the Report 

 of the Committee, with illustrations. 



Prof. Meldola said that a glance at the shelves at Burlington 

 House, on which the publications of the corresponding 

 societies were collected, showed a considerable amount <'f 

 diversity in size. Some societies also did themselves injustice 

 as regards paper and printing. Mr. Hopkinson thought that 

 the chief offenders were societies which, from want of sufficient 

 funds, published reprints from local newspapers. 



Seclion A. 



Mr. G. J. Symons said that Prof. Milne was making im- 

 portant observations on earthquake tremors in an unsatisfactoryi 

 house in the Isle of Wight. It had been suggested that theiei 

 were houses in Richmond Park suitable for the purpose, and 

 that it might be well to approach the Government and try 

 to obtain one for him. Or perhaps some rich man migh^ 

 lend Prof. Milne a house for a few years. 



Seclion C. 



Mr. Beeby Thompson said that a fine specimen of a Dinosaur 

 had recently been discovered near Northampton. It would, 

 however, be a very expensive work to uncover it carefully, and 

 he wished either to obtain a grant from the British Association 

 for that purpose, or to induce any rich people who might hear I'f, 

 the case to assist in providing funds. 



The Chairman thought that the matter should be brought 

 before the scientific societies of Northampton. 



Seclion H. 



The Chairman directed the attention of the Conference to the 

 Ethnographical Survey, an investigation in which few loc.il 

 societies were co-operating. 



Mr. Hartland, Secretary of the Ethnographical Survey Com- I 

 mittee, said that it would greatly help his Committee if each • I 

 the corresponding societies would lake up one or more branchi s 

 of the inquiry. He had explained at previous Conferences th,'. 

 it was by no means necessary that all branches should be takm 

 up everywhere. He would be ha|ipy to send to all the corti • 

 sponding societies .all the information they might require fr 

 the purpose of carrying on the work. 



The Chairman hoped that the delegates would give som ■ 

 account to their respective societies of the discussions whicii 

 had taken place at the Conference. 



The proceedings then terminated. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Prok. RiiNTGEN has decided not to accept the call to th^- 

 University of Leipzig as the successor of Prof. Wiedermann, 

 who has retired, at the age of seventy-two. 



It is announced that the Queen has conferred a knighthoo I 

 on Mr. W. C. McDonald, who provided the funds for tho 

 chemistry wing to the McGill University, Montreal, which wa~ 

 opened on Tuesday, and has made other generous gifts to Ih • 

 University. 



