;68 



NA rURE 



[August 17, 1905 



cussion had been given, for, in consequence of the 

 vague headings on the opposite pages, it is often a 

 matter of some little difficulty to discover to which 

 particular bird the author is referring. Throughout 

 his volume Mr. Selous is fond of interpolating phrases 

 or quotations in foreign languages, inclusive of 

 French, German, Latin, and Greek. Whether such a 

 practice is altogether desirable mav be a matter of 

 opinion, but there will be only one opinion as to the 

 desirability of quoting correctly, which 



Fig. I.— Long-tailed Tits and the Nest. From E. Selous'; 



being the case when a well-known line from the 

 book of the ^Eneid is introduced on p. 109. 



THE SOUTH AFRICAN MEETING OF THE 



BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 

 'T^HE seventy-fifth meeting of the British Associa- 

 -•■ tion was inaugurated at Cape Town on Tuesday, 

 when the president. Prof. G. H. Darwin, F.R.S., 

 delivered the first portion of his address to a large 

 gathering in the new City Hall. This part is re- 

 printed below, and the remainder of the address, 



NO. 1868, VOL. 72] 



to be delivered at Johannesburg on Wednesday, 

 August 30, will appear in N.ature of the following 

 day. 



From a Renter message we learn that on the con- 

 clusion of the address, the Governor, Sir Walter Hely- 

 Hutchinson, in proposing a vote of thanks, bade the 

 association heartily welcome on behalf of Cape 

 Colony. The occasion was one, he said, of no 

 ordinary importance, whether in the history of the 

 far from j development of scientific inquiry or in the history of 

 the relations of the United Kingdom 

 with the British dominions beyond the 

 seas. He hoped it would be found 

 that a g-reat and important step had 

 been taken in drawing closer together 

 the bonds of the brotherhood of 

 science, and, it might be, through the 

 brotherhood of science, in promoting 

 and developing brotherly feeling be- 

 tween His Majesty's subjects in South 

 .\frica and the Motherland. 



Sir David Gill, K.C.B., chairman of 

 the central organising committee at 

 Cape Town, seconded the motion; and 

 a brief reply by Prof. Darwin brought 

 the proceedings to a close. 



The addresses of all the presidents 

 of sections were to be delivered yester- 

 day on the assembling of the sections 

 at Cape Town. The .sections are also 

 to meet for the reading and discussion 

 of reports and papers to-day and to- 

 morrow, and they will reassemble on 

 Tuesday, August 29, at Johannesburg, 

 where the concluding meeting will be 

 held on September i, and the work of 

 I he sections will terminate. 



I \ \UGUR.\L Address nv Prof. G. H. 

 Darwin, M.A., LL.D., Ph.D., F.R.S.. 



PRESniENT OF THE .ASSOCIATION. 



Part I. 



Bartiiolomeu Diaz, the discoverer of 

 tile Cape of Storms, spent si.xteen months 

 (in his voyage, and the little flotilla of 

 X'asco da Gama, sailing from Lisbon on 

 July 8, 1497, only reached the Cape in the 

 middle of November. These bold men, 

 -ailing in their puny fishing smacks to 

 unknown lands, met the perils of the sea 

 unci the attacks of savages with equal 

 courage. How great was the danger of 

 such a voyage may be gathered from the 

 fact that less than half the men who 

 sailed with da Gama lived to return to 

 Lisbon. Four hundred and eight years 

 have passed since that voyage, and a ship 

 of 13,000 tons has just brought us here, 

 in safety and luxury, in but little more 

 Glimi.-i-s • than a fortnight. 



How striking are the contrasts presented 

 by these events ! On the one hand com- 

 pare the courage, the endurance, and the persistence of 

 the early navigators with the little that has been demanded 

 of us; on the other hand consider how much man's power 

 over the forces of nature has been augmented during the 

 past four centuries. The capacity for heroism is probably 

 undiminished, but certainly the occasions are now rarer 

 when it is demanded of us. If we are heroes, at least 

 but few of us ever find it out, and, when we read stories 

 of ancient feats of courage, it is hard to prevent an uneasy 

 thought that, notwithstanding our boasted mechanical in- 

 ventions, we are perhaps degenerate descendants of cur 

 great predecessoi s 



Yet the thought that to-day is less romantic and less . 

 heroic than yesterday has its consolation, for it means 



R. L. 



