332 



NA TURE 



\Aug, 22, 1872 



The incident of greatest interest in Thursday's meetings 

 was when, at the close of Sir John Lubboclc's presiden'i il 

 address to Sect'on I), he alUided to the unworthy treat- 

 ment which Dr. Hooker had rcc -ivt-d at the handi of a 

 department of the Ciovernment, the name of the distin 

 guished D.rector of Kew bringing down a perfect storm 

 of applause, which was repeated when Dr. Carpenter, in 

 proposing a vote of thanks to Sir Jolin, spoke of the " low 

 and degrading view of science " entertained by a member 

 of Her IVI.AJesty's Government. The Section adopted the 

 following resolution ; — " That this section would view with 

 regret any change introduced into the botanical establish- 

 ment at Kew which would tend to affect its completeness, 

 or to impair its scientific character ; and that the atten- 

 tion of the Council be called to the subject, with a request 

 that they will take any steps they may deem desirable." 

 This resolution was carried to the Committee of Recom- 

 mendations, where, h:)wever, we regret to say, it halted, 

 and was not allowed to proceed. 



The soiric on Thursday evening was a highly success- 

 ful one, and well brought out the capabilities of Brighton 

 and the Brightonians for managing entertainments of this 

 kind. The arrangcmi^nts, indeed, may be said to have 

 been perfect ; and there w.is a veritable cinharrai dc 

 richessc of objecls of interest. The magnificent array of 

 microscopes, the splendid VVillett collection of the fossils 

 of Sussex, the collection of living flowering plants of the 

 county formed by the Brighton and Susse.x Natural His- 

 tory Society, and the pictures in the new m.useum gallery, 

 were alike objects of attraction. It was universally ad- 

 mitted to be one of the most biilliant gatherings ever held 

 in Brighton. 



On Friday Section E was of course the one object of 

 popular attraction. The scenic, not to say dramatic, cha- 

 lacter of the narra'ive by which Mr. S'anley preceded 

 the reading of his paper produced a great effect, 

 though probably the discussion which followed was hardly 

 so exciting as the popular expectation had calculated on. 

 Sir Henry Rawlinson's graceful acknowledgment, as Pre- 

 sident of the Geographical Society, of the sense entertained 

 of Mr. Stanley's energy, and of the substantial value of 

 his services to Dr. Livingstone, met with a hearty response. 

 With regard to the general upshot of the " Livingstone 

 Day,'' it may be said that while Mr. Stanley's narrative 

 itself carried conviction to the minds of some who were 

 previously sceptical, the manner in which it was delivered 

 was unfoitunate in theextieme. In the lamentable episoJe 

 at the dinner of the Medico-Chirurgical Society on Satur- 

 day, w'.ien Mr. Stanley abruptly left in consequence of a 

 discourtesy offered him by some of the members, there 

 was undoubtedly fault on both sides, though nothing can 

 justify the want of courtesy exhibited towards a stranger 

 and a guest. 



Not more than fifty individuals were collected in the 

 room of Section A, at the Albion Hotel, to hear the most 

 impoitant proposition made at this meeting, by Lieut.-Col. 

 Strange, in the form of a paper entitled, '■ On the duty of 

 the British Association with respect to the distribution of 

 its funds." The view of the distinguished author of the 

 paper was that which has already been advocated in our 

 columns,* that the Association ought not to giant money 

 in aid o! objects which it is the duty of the State to under- 

 take. Such a course, he maintains, only encourages the 

 Government in its present Philistine attitude towards 

 Science ; while if a contrary course were pursued, though 

 Science m-ght for a time suffer, a sounder and truer 

 policy would ultimately be forced. In the discussion which 

 followed the reading of the piper, the chitf objection 

 started to the propos.il was that it will be necessaiy first 

 of all to raise up a race of stdtesmen who have received a 

 more complete scientific training, and will consequeiity 

 have minds more open to the value of scienti.'ic research. 

 This argument was forcibly advocated by Prof. H. Smith; 

 * See Nature Vol. vi. p. 297. 



to whom Col. Strange replied that, if we are to wait for 

 this, we must be content to be a whole generation behi^.d 

 France and Germany, which countries arc bath keenly 

 alive to the necessity of the promotion of sciendlic 

 inquiry. 



Saturday was, as usual, a kind of hilf-diy, th: brilliant 

 weather inducing all who could possibly avail themselves 

 of the various attractians in the form of excursions, 

 scientific or picturesque, in the neighbiuvh jod. 



On Monday Section F was crowded to hear Miss Lydia 

 Becker read her paper " On the attendance and educa- 

 tion of girls in the elementary schools of Manchester." 

 The object of the paper was to enforce the necessity for 

 giving equal idvanrages to girls as to boys in the matter 

 of education; and it was listened to with marked atten- 

 tion, the discussion which followed exciting also great in- 

 terest. Considerable astonishment was caused by the 

 statement that even the last Revised Code enforced a 

 higher standard for male than for female pupil-teachers. 

 On this the President of the Section, Piof. Fawcett, com- 

 mented severely, and strongly urged the justice of allowing 

 women to exercise the highest gifts of their nature as 

 freely as men. The discussion proceeding this morning 

 in the same section as Miss Shirtff's paper on Female 

 Education, embraces the higher rather than the primary 

 department of the subject, and will be the great feature of 

 to-day's proceedings. 



At the meeting of the General Committee held yester- 

 day letters of invitation for the meeting of 1874 were read 

 from Belfast, Glasgow, Bristol, and Bath. 



Mr. De La Rue proposed that Belfast should be selected 

 for 1874. Mr. Pengelly seconded, and the resolution was 

 carried unanimously. 



Prof. Williamson proposed that Dr. James P. Joule, 

 LL.D., D.C.L, F.R.S, be appo.nted presidcnt-ele^t of 

 the Association for the meeting at Bradford, which was 

 seconded by Pro^ Rankine, supported by Sir W. Thomson, 

 and carried by acclamation. 



The next meeting was fixed for September 19, 1S73. 

 The I-Iarl of Rosse, Lord Houghton, Right Hon. \V. 

 E. Forster, M.P., Mayor of Bradford, Mr. G issiot, DC L., 

 F.R.S, Prof Phillips, D.C.L, F.R.S., Mr. T. Hawkshiw, 

 F.R S., were requested to accept the office of vice-presi- 

 dents-elect of the Association. 



The following alterations were mide in the list of the 

 ordinary members of the Council : — Mr. De La Ru;-, Mr. 

 W. H. Flower, Sir Henry Rawlinson, and Mr. Sclatcr, 

 were substituted for Prof Foster, Mr. Gassiot, Mr. Simon, 

 and Mr. Wallace. 



Dr. Michael Foster was appointed one of the general 

 secretaries, in the place of Dr. T. Thomson, and Mr. 

 John Ball, F.R.S., Colonel A. Lane Fo.x, F.G.S., F.S.A., 

 and Mr. Gwyn Jehreys, F.R.S., were appointed auditors. 

 The other officers were re-elected. 



The lecture in the evening by Prof Clifford, " On the 

 Aims and Instruments of Scientific Thought," was un- 

 doubtedly the great intellectual treat of the ineeiing. It 

 is impossible to give in a few words any idea of the lec- 

 ture, which we hope to reprint at length. Suffice it to say 

 that it presented some of the moit abstruse problems 

 winch can form the subject of scientific thought, in a 

 manner so lucid and sparkling as to enchain the audience 

 in rapt attention, notwithstanding that it was unillustrated 

 by a single experiment, like the very beautiful ones ex- 

 hibited at Mr. Spoitiswoade's admirable lecture to work- 

 ing men delivered the previous Saturd.iy evening, of which 

 a report will be found in our columns. 



The number of distinguished foreigners attending the 

 meeting is considerably la g.r than was anticipated. 

 Among those not already named may be mentioned Dr. 

 Hilya:d, of the V'.S. Coast Survey, Prof. Semper, of 

 Wurtemberg, Prof Gcrvais, of Paris, Prof Gaudrey, of 

 Paris, M. Geo:ges Pouchet, Dr. Anton Dohrn, Prof. 

 Richter, of St. Petersburg, &c. 



