274 



NATURE 



[September i, 1910 



A reproduction of the latter, wh.ich is almost equal to the 

 original, is given in the catalogue. 



Among several interesting radiographs. Dr. C. Thurstan 

 Holland exhibits one of an " Adult male chest, through 

 all the clothing, taken with a Snook Transformer. 

 Instantaneous exposure." Dr. H. Ronen, Dr. W. J. S. 

 Lockyer, and Stonyhurst College contribute astronomical 

 and spectroscopical photographs. There are two or three 

 excellent telephotographs, and a single exhibit of photo- 

 mechanical work. 



T7/£ BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT SHEFFIELD. 



WRITING on the eve of the meeting, there is 

 every prospect that the Sheffield meeting of the 

 association will be a successful one, and a certainty 

 that, with an improvement in the weather conditions, 

 it will be an enjoyable one. A considerable amount 

 of private hospitality is being dispensed, but, even so, 

 Kate arrivals will have some difficulty in finding accom- 

 modation. Local interest is considerable, and all 

 classes are combining to give a welcome worthy of 

 the citv. One special feature will be the opportunity 

 afforded to members to inspect the operations con- 

 nected with armour and armament, all the firms 

 engaged in naval shipbuilding opening their works to 

 large parties. Members should be, however, careful 

 to apply for tickets immediately on arrival, as some 

 are open onlv on the Thursday. The technical in- 

 struction and' investigations in iron and steel metal- 

 lurgy carried on in the University have been of very 

 material assistance in enabling Sheffield to maintain 

 its leading position as the centre of high-class steel 

 production, and the University is arranging to run 

 its furnaces and special plants on afternoons at the 

 close of the sectional meetings. Amongst the most 

 interesting mav be mentioned the crucible house, the 

 Kjellin electric nielting furnace, the electric hardening 

 furnace, and the new form of the Siemens' acid open- 

 hearth furnace. Interest will also be taken in the 

 exhibition of Dr. Sorbv's original micro-sections. 



The Sheffield Musical Union is giving a concert to 

 the association on the Saturday evening, under the 

 conductorship of Dr. Coward. This is an innovation 

 which will enable members to hear the famed Sheffield 

 Choir, the programme including, besides part-songs, 

 choral selections from the " Messiah " and the "Golden 

 Legend." 



In consonance with the growing fancy in England 

 for ceremonial, the local committee have arranged for 

 a procession on Sunday of representatives of the asso- 

 ciation, the Town Council, and the L^niversity from 

 the Town Hall to the Parish Church, where the Arch- 

 bishop of York is to preach the official sermon. 



On Tuesdav the University will hold a congregation 

 to confer honorary degrees on leading representatives of 

 the association. The recipients are to be : — The Presi- 

 dent (Dr. Bonney), the Lord Mayor (Earl Fitzwilliam, 

 chairman of the local committee), Mr. W. H. Bateson, 

 Sir \V. Crookes, Mr. Francis Darwin, Sir A. Geikie, 

 Prof. Hobson, Sir J. Jonas, Sir Norman Lockyer, 

 Sir O. Lodge, Principal Miers, Sir W. Ramsay, Prof. 

 Rhvs Davies, Prof. Sherrington, Mr. I. E. Stead, Sir 

 J. J. Thomson, and Sir ^^'. White. Later the same 

 evening the Chancellor of the University (the Duke of 

 Norfolk, E.M.. K.(j.') will hold a reception. In con- 

 nection with this an attempt is being made to arrange 

 a scientific exhibition, more especially in relation to 

 papers read before the various sections. It is hoped 

 therebv to encourage this method of illustrating papers 

 and at the same time to render them available to a 

 wider circle of members. Simultaneously with the re- 

 ception at the Univcrsitv, the Lord Mayor is receiving 

 local guests at the Art Gallery; and the Weston Park, 

 between it and the University, is to be the scene of an 



NO. 2 131, VOL. 84] 



evening garden-party, with a military tattoo and torch- 

 light procession. 



Inaugural .Address by the Rev. Prof. T. G. Bonnev, 

 Sc.D., LL.D., F.R.S., President of the Association. 



Thirty-one years have passed since the British Associa- 

 tion met in -Sheffield, and the interval has been marked 

 by exceptional progress. A town has become a city, the 

 head of its municipality a Lord Mayor ; its area has been 

 enlarged by more than one-fifth ; its population has in- 

 creased from about 280,000 to 479,000. Communication 

 has been facilitated by the construction of nearly thirty- 

 eight miles of electric tramways for home service and of 

 new railways, including alternative routes to Manchester 

 and London. The supplies of electricity, gas, and water 

 have more than kept pace with the wants of the city. 

 The first was just being attempted in 1879 ; the second 

 has now twenty-three times as many consumers as in those 

 days ; the story ' of the third has been told by one who 

 knows it well, so that it is enough for me to say your 

 water supply cannot be surpassed for quantity and quality 

 by any in the kingdom. Nor has Sheffield fallen behind 

 other cities in its public buildings. In 1897 your hand- 

 some Town Hall was opened by the late Queen Victoria ; 

 the new Post Otlice, appropriately built and adorned with 

 material from almost local sources, was inaugurated less 

 than two months ago. The Mappin .Art Gallery com- 

 memorates the munificence of those whose name it bears, 

 and fosters that love of the beautiful which Ruskin sought 

 to awaken by his generous gifts. Last, but not least, 

 Sheffield has shown that it could not rest satisfied until its 

 citizens could ascend from their own doors to the highest 

 rung of the educational ladder. Firth College, named 

 after its generous founder, was born in the year of our 

 last visit ; in 1897 it received a charter as the University 

 College of Sheffield, and in the spring of 1905 was created 

 a University, shortly after which its fine new buildings 

 were opened by the late King ; and last year its library, 

 the generous gift of Dr. Edgar .\llen, was inaugurated by 

 his successor, when Prince of Wales. I must not now 

 dwell on the great work which awaits this and other nev 

 universities. It is for them to prove that, so far from 

 abstract thought being antagonistic to practical work, or 

 scientific research to the labour of the factory or foundry, 

 the one and the other can harmoniously cooperate in the 

 advance of knowledge and the progress of civilisation. 



You often permit your President on these occasions to 

 speak of a subject in which he takes a special interest, 

 and I prefer thus trespassing on your kindness to attempt- 

 ing a general review of recent progress in science. I do 

 not, however, propose, as you might naturally expect, to 

 discuss some branch of petrology : though for this no place 

 could be more appropriate than Sheffield, since it was the 

 birthplace and the lifelong home of Henry Clifton Sorby, 

 who may truly be called the father of that science. This 

 title he won when, a little more than sixty years ago, he 

 began to study the structure and mineral composition of 

 rocks by examining thin sections of them under the micro- 

 scope." A rare combination of a singularly versatile and 

 active intellect with accurate thought and sound judgment, 

 shrewd in nature, as became a Yorkshireman, yet gentle, 

 kindly, and unselfish, he was one whom his friends loved 

 and of whom this city may well be proud. Sorbv's nam° 

 will be kept alive among you by the Professorship of 

 Geology which he has endowed in vour University ; but, 

 as the funds will not be available for some time, and as 

 that science is so intimately connected with metallurgy, 

 coal-mining, and engineering, I venture to express a hooe 

 that some of your wealthier citizens will provide for the 

 temporary deficiency, and thus worthily commemorate one 

 so distinguished. 



But to return. I have not selected petrology as my 

 subject, partly because I think that the great attention 

 which its more minute details have of late received has 

 tended to limit rather than to broaden our views, while 



1 " History and Description of Sheffield Water Works." W Terrey, 1908. 



2 His subseouent investiffations into the microscopic structure of steel and 

 other alloys of iron, in the manufacture of which your city holds a foremost 

 riace, have been extended by Mr. T. F. Stead and others, and they, b'sides 

 beinc of trreat vahieto industr'al proeress, have thrown impoitant sidelights 

 on more than one dark place in petrology. 



