82 



NA TURE 



{_Nov. 26, I J 



(Here follows a list of the various Corresponding 

 Societies and of the attendance of their respective 

 representatives.) 



At the first meeting 



The Secretary read the first report of the Corresponding 

 Societies Committee, which had been presented to the Council 

 and accepted by the General Committee of the British Associa- 

 tion. Methods of procedure were then discussed, and explana- 

 tions as to the functions of the Conference were given by the 

 Chairman and Secretary in reply to questions or otherwise. 



After some informal conversation, invited by the Chair- 

 man for an interchange of views, in which suggestions 

 were made as to the nature of the work which miglit be 

 taken up by Local Societies, 



The Chairman explained that ah hough individual delegates might 

 perhaps like to lake advantage of the Conference to mention in- 

 formally and when time permitted, any work in which their 

 Society was engaged, with the object of comparing views with, 

 or obtaining assistance from, their brother delegates, it did not 

 fall within the functions of the Conference to .suggest or to 

 initiate any scheme of local investigation. It was their function 

 simply to consider how such schemes of the kind, as had been 

 previously considered and adopted hy the British Association, 

 through its General Committee, could be best carried out. If 

 any delegate desired to formally propose to the Conference any 

 subject for local investigation, he must do so through the regular 

 channels along which all proposals that receive the sanction of 

 the British Association have to pass. In such cases the subject 

 must first be brought before the Committee of the Section 

 within whose province it lies. It is for that Sectional Com- 

 mittee in the first instance to discuss its merits, and if they 

 approve of the idea they will forward it, backed with their 

 approval, to the Committee of Recommendations, whose duty tt 

 is to revise all such proposals, especially when they involve 

 grants of money, and to submit tliem in their revised form to the 

 General Committee, under whose sanction they become invested 

 with the full authority of the British Association. Every pro- 

 posal that has been appro\ed by a Sectional Committee, and is 

 concerned with local investigation, will be forwarded under the 

 new rules by the Secretary of the Section to the Secretary of the 

 Conference, at the same time that he forwards it to the Com- 

 mittee of Recommendations. The hour and day of the meetings 

 would not admit of delaying the consideration of the proposals 

 by the Conference until they had passed through their final 

 stages and had received the formal sanction of the Association, 

 but practically little or no difficulty will arise from this forestall- 

 ment of their final approval, because it is a matter of experience 

 that the deliberate approval of a Sectional Committee is rarely 

 over-ruled on after-consideration, except it be on the grounds of 

 finance, in which case the investigation would simply be aban- 

 doned. The real point of importance is that every proposal 

 should pass its first and principal ordeal before a Sectional Com- 

 mittee before it becomes admissible as a subject of formal con- 

 sideration by the Conference of Delegates. He also reminded 

 the Conference that, in accordance with Rule 7 of the rules 

 relating to Corresponding Societies, " The Conference may also 

 discuss propositions bearing on the promotion of more systematic 

 observation and plans of operation, and of greater uniformity in 

 the mode of publishing results." 



At the second meeting of the Conference the following 

 recommendations for the appointment of Committees 

 intrusted with local inquiries were read to the Con- 

 ference : — 



(i) For the purpose of defining the racial characters of the 

 inhabitants of the British Isles. Dr. Carson explained the 

 objects of this Committee, and invited tlie co-operation of the 

 Local Societies. 



(2) For the purpose of recording the position, height above 

 the sea, lithological characters, size, and origin of the erratic 

 blocks of England, Wales, and Ireland, reporting other matlers 

 of interest connected with the ^ame, and taking measures for 

 their preservation. 



(3) For the purpose of investigating the circulation of the 

 underground waters in the permeable formations of England, 

 and the quality and quantity of the water supplied to various 

 towns and districts from these formations. 



(4) For the purpose of inquiring into the rate of erosion of the 



sea-coasts of England and Wales, and the influence of the arti- 

 ficial abstraction of shingle or other material in that action. 



Mr. C. E. De Ranee made brief statements explanatory of the 

 work of each of the three foregoing Committee?, and pointed out 

 the manner m which assistance could be rendered by the Local 

 Societies. 



A letter was read from the Secretary of .Section D, trans- 

 mitting a recommendation that the subject of the preservation of 

 the native plants of this country should be brought under the 

 notice of the Local Societies, and deputing Prof W. Hillhouse 

 to bring this subject before the delegates present at the Con- 

 ference. 



In accordance with the foregoing recommendation. Prof 

 Hillhouse gave numerous instances of the extermination of rare 

 plants from certain localities by dealers, to whom their habitat 

 had become known. He stated that, having been empowered 

 by the Sectional Committee to represent their views on this 

 subject, he had thought it desirable to draw up the following 

 protest : — 



" We view with regret and indignation the more or less com- 

 plete extirpation of many of our rarest or most interesting native 

 plants. Recognising that this is a subject in which Local Societies 

 of naturalists will take great interest, and can exercise especial 

 influence, we urge upon the delegates of Corresponding 

 Societies the importance of extending to plants a little of that 

 protection which is already accorded by legislature to animals 

 and prehistoric monuments, and of steadily discouraging and, 

 where possible, of preventing any undue removal of such plants 

 from their natural habitats ; .and we trust that they will bring 

 these views under the notice of their respective Societies." 



It was then arranged : (l) That the above gentlemen (or, if more 

 convenient, the Chairman or the Secretary of the Committees 

 they severally represent) should communicate witli each of the 

 delegates as soon as the details of their proposed investigations 

 had been matured. {2) That each delegate should thereupon 

 do his best to interest the members of his Society, and, if 

 thought desirable, the Society itself, in the subject of investiga- 

 tion, and should send to his correspondent the names and 

 addresses of such persons in his neighbourhood as might be 

 likely to render willing and effectual help, so as to put him at 

 once in direct communication with them. 



It was further agreed that, with the view of making the dele- 

 gates personally acquainted with one another, it was advisable 

 to give them an opportunity of dining together at an early day 

 during the meeting, and Prof Meldola was authorised to make 

 the necessary arrangements for tlie following year at Birming- 

 ham. Thursday was suggested as a convenient day for the 

 dinner, but it seems better on reconsideration to adopt Wednes- 

 day, at 6. After the dinner the delegates would proceed to the 

 places reserved for them at the opening evening meeting to he.ar 

 the President's address. Particulars of the place and cost of 

 the dinner, &c. , will be posted on the notice board in the 

 reception room. 



The Corresponding Societies Committee have now to point 

 out that, although thirty-nine Societies were admitted as Cor- 

 responding Societies, only t\iii»nty-thi-ee of them nominated 

 delegates. Of the twenty-three delegates only eleven were 

 present at the final meeting to hear the explanations of 

 the gentlemen who attended f^r the purpose of making 

 them, and of placing themselves in personal communica- 

 tion with the several delegates. The Committee feel sure 

 that the delegates who failed to attend the Conference had 

 not realised the character of the engagement into which 

 they had entered, and that they must have erroneously 

 regarded their title and privileges as purely honorary, and 

 their duties as sinecures. The Corresponding Societies Com- 

 mittee desire it to be clearly understood that such is not the 

 case, as the work intrusted to the delegates is real and im- 

 portant. Conspicuous notices of the times and place of meeting 

 of the Conference had been posted in prominent positions in the 

 reception room and in the sectional rooms, so that ignorance of 

 the meetings could hardly be pleaded in excuse. The position 

 of each delegate is that of a person of scientific influence in his 

 own neighbourhood, who, by the acceptance of his title and its 

 privileges, pledges himself to act as a friendly intermediary 

 between those Committees of the British Association who are 

 occupied with local investigations and the local scientific men 

 who are known to him. It is his duty to make himself well 

 informed of the n.ature of the proposed inquiries sanctioned by 

 the British Association as personally explained by the represent- 



