December 30, 1909J 



NA TURE 



26 = 



People in England do not generally realise these great 

 <Jistanc(?s ; the above towns appear to be quite close on an 

 ordinary map, especially as the maps of Australia are 

 usually on a much smaller scale than those of Europe and 

 America. 



It is partly on account of these great distances that the 

 meetings are no longer held annually, but in alternate 

 years ; the yearly expenditure of time and money was 

 too great a tax upon the working members, for, to their 

 credit, it is they who, in spite of these disadvantages, 

 attend the most regularly. The association has, so far, 

 not had funds placed at its disposal to reduce the travelling 

 and other expenses of its members (the British Association 

 has received considerable sums for this purpose when visit- 

 ing Canada and South Africa) ; the members, however, are 

 granted return railway tickets for a single fare by the 

 Government railways, and certain of the steamship com- 

 panies allow a reduction of 20 per cent, off their ordinary 

 fares. The attendance of members and associates has 

 varied from about 600 to nearly 1200. 



The -Australian Association was founded with the same 

 aims and objects as the British Association, and its rules 

 are very similar; the subscription is lower, viz. i\. for 

 members and los. for associates (ladies and students) for 

 each session, and there is no longer an entrance fee. The 

 sessions last abouff'a week, and the work is distributed over 

 various sections. 



Lectures to working men and others form a popular 

 feature : also garden-parties, conversaziones, and similar 

 social gatherings, which greatly help to bring the members 

 together and afford opportunities to make and renew 

 acquaintances. Local excursions to places of interest and 

 to engineering and other works are also much appre- 

 ciated, as well as the longer botanical and geological 

 excursions. 



The association does a good deal of work by means of 

 special committees for investigation and research ; money 

 grants are made to these where necessary from the interest 

 of the research fund (now nearly 3000/.), which has been 

 slowly built up from the savings from members' subscrip- 

 tions, but this has only been rendered possible by the fact 

 that the Australian and New Zealand Governments have 

 liberally provided for the printing of the volume of reports 

 and proceedings. All other expenses are paid for out of 

 the subscriptions, and the excursions are made self-support- 

 ing; no funds are provided by the towns visited for the 

 entertainment of the members, as is done for the British 

 Association, but private hospitality is gladly offered to 

 visiting members. 



The principal working members are naturally the scien- 

 tific members of the Australasian universities, societies, 

 museums. Government departments, and other institutions, 

 although, as is seen from the association's publications, 

 many others contribute valuable papers. 



There is no doubt that the peripatetic meetings of the 

 association have done much to cause many of the residents 

 in the districts in which it has met to take an interest in 

 scientific matters and do much for its advancement ; the 

 effect is also noticeable in the increased output of the 

 original work of the local universities and similar institu- 

 tions. 



One of the greatest benefits of the meetings of the 

 association is that it enables workers to meet and discuss 

 matters of mutual interest, and there is no doubt that this 

 acts as a stimulus of immensely greater value than the 

 reading of even hundreds of pages of printed reports. 



The association has one medal to award, viz. that 

 founded in memory of the late Baron von Mueller. 



The association has published eleven volumes of reports ; 

 these are of about the same size as the annual volumes of 

 the British Association ; they are well illustrated by maps, 

 plans, and numerous reproductions of photographs. These 

 volumes are distributed gratuitously to about 300 scientific 

 societies and institutions throughout the world, so that they 

 are fairly accessible to anyone interested in Australasian 

 science, even in places so widely separated as Bucharest, 

 Monte Video, Seoul, Port Louis, and Pietermaritzburg. 



As an example of the contents of the volumes, the 

 last report published, viz. that of the Adelaide meet- 

 ing for 1007 (the report of thi^ year's meeting, held 

 at Brisbane, is now being printed), may be referred 

 NO. 2096, VOL. 82] 



to ; after the list of officers, sections, committees, and 

 other preUminary matters (thirty-two pages) there is 

 the interesting address by the president, the late Dr. 

 A. W. Howitt, C.M.G., upon personal reminiscences 

 of Central Australia and the Burke and Wills' expedi- 

 tion, which affords a good deal of hitherto unpublished 

 information upon this disastrous expedition ; this is followed 

 by the addresses of the presidents of the sections, beginning 

 with Section A, for mathematics, astronomy, and physics, 

 by E. E. J. Love, on the theory of the Voltaic cell; 

 Section B, chemistry and metallurgy, by R. C. Stiehl, on 

 progress in rapid oxidation processes applied to copper 

 smelting, a most important subject in Australia ; Section C, 

 geology, by A. Gibb Maitland, Government geologist of 

 Western Australia, on recent advances in the knowledge 

 of the geology of Western Australia ; Section D, biology, 

 a century of botanical endeavour in South Australia, by 

 J. H. Maiden, Government botanist of New South Wales; 

 Section E, geography, by Thomas Walker Fowler, upon 

 Australasian geography ; Section F, anthropology and 

 philology, by R. Parkinson, of Ralum, Bismarck Archi- 

 pelago, on totemism and its possible origin ; Section G, 

 I., social and statistical science; Section G, IL, agricul- 

 ture, by F. Anderson, professor of mental philosophy, 

 Sydney University, on Liberalism and Socialism, and the 

 outlook of agriculture in Australia, by T. Cherry, Director 

 of Agriculture, N'ictoria ; Section H, engineering and 

 architecture, no address ; Section I, sanitary science and 

 hygiene, by Dr. R. Greig-Smith, on air infection ; 

 Section J, mental science and education, by Dr. Henry 

 Laurie, professor of mental philosophy, Melbourne Uni- 

 versity, on materialism and evolution. 



Next, on p. 263, follow the reports of committees : — 



(i) For the investigation of glacial phenomena in 

 Australasia. This contains the most recent results of the 

 investigations into the Cambrian (?) and Permo-Carbon- 

 iferous glacial history of South Australia, Victoria, 

 Tasmania, West Australia, and New Zealand, and is sup- 

 plementary to reports by this committee published in several 

 of the association's previous volumes. (2) For the bio- 

 logical and hydrographical study of the New Zealand 

 coast. (3) On 'New Zealand food fishes. (4) On terrestrial 

 magnetism in Australia and New Zealand. (5) On seismo- 

 logical phenomena in Australasia. This committee has 

 worked continuously for several years, and has issued 

 several valuable reports. (6) On a uniform system for 

 the nomenclature of igneous rocks in Australasia. 



Previous volumes contain other valuable reports from 

 committees upon other subjects ; amongst them the follow- 

 ing may be mentioned, as they give a general idea of the 

 matters which hav., engaged, and are still engaging, the 

 attention of the associ- 'ion : — 



(i) Upon a uniforr system of spelling native names. 

 (2) To inquire into and report upon the teaching of science 

 in primary and secondary schools, technical colleges, and 

 universities. (3) To investigate and report upon the best 

 method of utilising diamond-drill bores for the determina- 

 tion of underground temperatures. Deep bores are being 

 put down in many parts of Australia by the Governments 

 and by private individuals for ordinary water supplies and 

 for irrigation. (4) For collecting and cataloguing geo- 

 logical photographs and surveys. (5) For cataloguing 

 marine Mollusca. (6) For cataloguing the minerals of 

 Australia. (7) To investigate the tides of South Australia. 

 (8) The movements of New Zealand glaciers, (q) The 

 fertilisation of the fig in Australia. (10) On rust in 

 wheat. (11) On Antarctic exploration. (12) On the pro- 

 tection of native birds and animals. (13) On improve- 

 ments in museums as a means of popular education. 

 (14) On the Adulteration of Food .Acts of the Australian 

 Governments. (15) On the chemical compositions and 

 properties of the mineral waters of New Zealand. (16) On 

 the vernacular names of Australian birds. 



Next follow the papers read before the sections ; several 

 of these, in common with papers in previous volumes, are 

 of a high order, and will be of permanent value. It 

 would be rather difficult to make a selection of these 

 papers, and much space would be occupied by even their 

 titles, but it may perhaps be mentioned that in astronomy, 

 mathematics, and physics there are eleven papers ; in 

 chemistry, &c., ten ; geology, twenty ; biology, eleven ; 



