August 31, 1882] 



NA TURE 



421 



exhaustiveness such as amply to establish his title to 

 them. No man, it may be added, was ever more anxious 

 than Jevons to do justice to the labours of his prede- 

 cessors, and he was ever ready to welcome in the most 

 generous fashion any indication of an anticipation of 

 some favourite thought. His work was good enough, 

 and he knew it was good enough, to stand upon its 

 own merits. 



In logic the system of formal or mechanical reference 

 which Jevons worked out in great detail, was founded 

 upon the antecedent researches of Boole. The processes, 

 however, were presented by Jevons in such a fashion, the 

 principles were so simplified and the capabilities of the 

 method so ingeniously developed that his work has a 

 secure place of its own alongside that of Boole. This is 

 not the place for discussing the permanent worth of the 

 new analysis of inference, but it may be said that- hardly 

 sufficient justice has yet been done to many of the specu- 

 lations into which Jevons was naturally led in the 

 development of his analysis. His treatment of the rela- 

 tions of logical and numerical quantity, and his attempt 

 to deal with induction apart from all quasi metaphysical 

 principles are bold and subtle contributions to logical 

 theory and, in connection with his other work in this 

 department they sufficiently establish his place as an 

 original and thoughtful logician. 



For philosophical speculation, in the wider sense, Jevons 

 had little inclination, and possibly from the character of 

 his intellect, little ability. Dealing with ultimate logical 

 and economical questions he was often driven to the verge 

 of inquiries such as fall under the designation of philoso- 

 phy, to problems of the theory of knowledge and of ethics, 

 but he never crossed the boundary, and indeed seemed 

 somewhat impatient of the existence of a land beyond 

 the formal relations of logical terms or the quantitative 

 variations of pleasure and pain. This lack of interest in 

 problems going to the root of logical and economical 

 theory makes itself apparent in almost all his works, and 

 probably, for many reasons, deprives them of some of 

 their value. It is impossible to say, however, what 

 genuine contribution to English philosophising might not 

 heve been made had so original and well endowed a mind 

 been spared longer to us. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 



A LTHOUGH the numbers at the Southampton meet- 

 **• ing have little exceeded 1200, still so far as the 

 essential work of the Association is concerned, it has 

 been up to a fair average. The New Forest excursion 

 was an especially enjoyable one, though that to the Isle 

 of Wight was most interesting from a scientific point 

 of view. 



During the meeting the reception rooms and the rooms 

 in which the Sections have met have been connected by 

 telephones. In each room was a board on which were 

 painted in a line the letters indicating the Sections. 

 Below each letter there was space for a figure to be in- 

 serted to indicate the number of the paper in the day's 

 programme that was under discussion ; if it were No. 3 

 in Geology, the attendant there sent the number to the 

 reception room. Here the attendant marked the board, 

 and then sent the information to all the other Sections, 

 so that it could be known in all the rooms what was the 

 subject under discussion in each Section. 



There was a sharp discussion on the question whether 

 the Association should meet in Canada next year, seeing 

 that Oxford has withdrawn its invitation, but the meeting 

 decided on Southport, with Prof. Cay ley as President. 

 Canada (Montreal) was, however, selected for 1SS4. 



There is a very strong feeling that the vote of the 

 General Committee binding the Association to go to 

 Canada in 1S84, was not a representative one. The first 



vote taken was adverse to crossing the Atlantic, though it 

 was felt that if this were done it would be specially de- 

 sirable to do so while the Marquis of Lome is President, 

 as he has done much in founding the most important 

 scientific institutions in Canada, and his tenure of office 

 terminates next year. When Southport gained the 

 majority the larger number of the Committee left the 

 room, not being aware that the place of meeting for 

 the following year, 1884, was going also to be determined, 

 and the supporters of the Canada invitation, led by 

 an able tactician, Capt. Bedford Pirn, secured an easy 

 victory. It is worthy of note that the Members of 

 the General Committee, who contributed to this result, 

 with few exceptions, did not include Presidents and Secre- 

 taries of Sections, or indeed many of the working 

 members of the Association, and it is therefore greatly 

 feared that should the proposed visit be made, the 

 meeting will not be a representative one. 



It is satisfactory to learn lhat theCouncil are taking steps 

 to learn the real wishes of the Members, by asking every 

 Sectional Committee to send up three or four representa- 

 tives to constitute a committee to confer with the Council 

 as to the means of carrying out the proposal, if found to 

 be feasible. It is worthy of note that previous to the 

 meeting at Southampton, the Council sent out a notice to 

 the whole of the General Committee, inquiring their 

 views on the subject, and that the replies obtained from a 

 far larger portion of the Committee than that attending 

 the meeting was distinctly adverse to leaving the British 

 Isles. It was felt that the proposed departure would be 

 unfair to Life Members, who had purchased a right to 

 attend meetings in that area, and would prevent the 

 greater number of sectional officers and working members 

 from attending, their movements being controlled by 

 considerations of time and expense. 



The following is the list of grants voted for next 

 year : — 



A — Mathematics and Physics 

 Scoit, Mr. R. H. — Synoptic Chart of Indian Ocean ... £50 

 Darwin, Mr. G. H. — Harmonic Analysis of Tidal Obser- 

 vations 5° 



Brown, Crum — Meteorological Observations on Ben Nevis 50 



B— Chemistry 

 Tilden, Prof. \V. A. — Investigating Isometric Naphthalene 



Derivatives 15 



Odling, Prof. — Photographing the Ultra-Violet Spark 



Spectra 20 



Pye-Smith, Dr. — Elimination of Nitrogen 30 



C— Geology 



Etheridge, Mr. R. — Earthquake Phenomena of Japan ... 50 



Williamson, Prof. W. C— Fossil Plants of Halifax 20 



Sorby, Dr. H. C— British Fossil Polyzoa 10 



Etheridge, Mr. R. — Fossil Phyllopoda of the Palaeozoic 



Rocks 



2 5 



Hawkshaw, Sir John — Erosion of the Sea Coasts of England 



and Wales w 



Hull, Prof. E. — Circulation of Underground Waters ... 15 



Evans, Dr. J. — Geological Record 50 



Ball, Prof. V. — Carboniferous Limestone Caves in the 



South of Ireland 20 



Etheridge, Mr. R.— Llandovery Rocks of Central Wales ... 10 



D — Biology 

 Pitt-Rivers, General— Photographs of the Races and prin- 

 cipal Crosses in the British Isles 10 



Stainton, Mr. — Record of Zoological Literature 100 



Cordeaux, Mr. ].— Migration of Birds 20 



Lanke-ter, Prof. Ray— Table at the Zoological Station at 



Naples 80 



Pye-Smith, Dr. — Scottish Zoological Stations 25 



Hooker, Sir J. — Exploring Kilimandjaro and the adjoining 



Mountains of Eastern Equatorial Africa 500 



Meldola, Mr. R. — Investigation of Loughton Camp ... 10 



Sclater, Mr. P. L.— Natural History of Timor-Laut ... 50 



