August 19, 1922] 



NA TURE 



263 



The Hull Meeting of the British Association. 



Programmes of the Sections. 



THE programmes of the various Sections of the 

 British Association for the forthcoming meet- 

 ing at Hull have now been provisionally completed, 

 and it is possible to state what are the chief subjects 

 to be brought forward. We are indebted to the 

 Recorders of the Sections for the subjoined outline 

 of arrangements made for the meeting. 



Section A (Mathematics and Physics). — The 

 proceedings of Section A this year promise to be of 

 more than usual interest. The Section is fortunate 

 in having secured the attendance of three very dis- 

 tinguished foreign guests, Prof. P. Langevin, Prof. 

 P. Weiss, and M. le Due de Broglie. The two former 

 will take part in a discussion which has been arranged 

 on the origin of magnetism, to which Sir J. A. 

 Ewing and Dr. A. E. Oxley have also promised to 

 contribute. M. de Broglie will read a paper, which 

 cannot fail to attract great interest, on X-rays and 

 Beta rays, and as Prof. R. Whiddington will make 

 a communication on the same subject, a valuable 

 discussion on this aspect of physics may be expected. 

 Prof. G. H. Hardy has chosen as the subject of his 

 presidential address "The Theory of Numbers," and 

 it may be confidently anticipated that he will make 

 it of that fascinating interest which is an attribute of 

 all his lectures. An important and somewhat novel 

 joint discussion will take place under the auspices 

 of Sections A and I on physical instruments for 

 biological purposes. Prof. A. V. Hill will open this 

 discussion, and several biologists and physicists have 

 promised to take part. In connexion with this dis- 

 cussion there will be an extensive exhibition of 

 appropriate apparatus by Major W. S. Tucker, Mr. 

 F. E. Smith, Dr. G. Wilkinson, and The Cambridge 

 and Paul Scientific Instrument Company. In view 

 of the success attending the experiment at Edinburgh 

 last year, the Committee of Section A has arranged 

 several lectures of a semi-popular character. Sir 

 William Bragg will lecture on " The Significance of 

 Crystal Analysis " ; Prof. J. Proudman has chosen 

 a subject especially appropriate to Hull, namely, 

 "Tides, with Special Reference to the North Sea" ; 

 and Prof. H. H. Turner will delight the children with 

 the topic, " The Telescope and what it tells us." 



Section B (Chemistry). — The programme of Sec- 

 tion B will include several discussions. Principal 

 Irvine has selected research problems in the sugar 

 group as the subject of his presidential address, and 

 this will be followed by several papers on carbo- 

 hydrates from the St. Andrews laboratories. Photo- 

 synthesis will be discussed jointly with Section K 

 (Botany), the recent work from the Liverpool labora- 

 tories on the synthesis of the more complex plant 

 products being well represented. Sir William Bragg 

 will describe his researches on the crystalline structure 

 of organic compounds ; and the recent theories of 

 organic structure will be considered in a discussion 

 on valency and polarity, to be opened by Prof. 

 Robinson, and in a paper by Prof. Holleman on 

 substitution in the benzene nucleus. Other separate 

 papers include an account of the recent work on 

 compressibilities under high pressures conducted in 

 the Geophysical Laboratory at Washington, and a 

 study of the properties of soap solutions by Prof. 

 McBain. Two discussions of industrial questions have 

 been arranged. One of these concerns the local in- 

 dustry of the hvdrogenation of fats, which will be 

 considered from the scientific and the industrial side, 

 and the other is the industry of synthetic nitrogen 

 compounds. Several of the modern processes of 



NO. 2755, VOL. I IO] 



synthesis will be described. The city is an important 

 centre of chemical manufactures, and visits of the 

 Section to some of the principal works, including the 

 fat and oil and the cement industries, have been 

 arranged. 



Section C (Geology). — As a part of the series of 

 discussions on questions connected with the North 

 Sea to be held in various Sections, the first item in 

 the programme will be an account by Prof. Kendall 

 of the geological history of the North Sea Basin from 

 Permian times to the present day. This will be 

 followed by an account of the floor deposits of the 

 North Sea and by a general discussion of these topics. 

 The geology of the Hull district will be described by 

 Mr. T. Sheppard, whose lecture will be illustrated by 

 lantern slides. Other communications on local geo- 

 logy are the erosion of the Holderness Coast, by Mr. 

 C. Thompson ; a new section in the Oolites and Glacial 

 deposits at South Cave, by Mr. J. W. Stather ; and 

 a new section in the Oolites at North Ferriby, by 

 Mr. W. S. Bisat. Pleistocene and Recent ice condi- 

 tions in North-eastern Labrador will be described by 

 Prof. Coleman of Toronto. The subject of the 

 presidential address by Prof. P. F. Kendall is the 

 physiography of the coal swamps. The address will 

 be followed by Prof. Gilligan on sandstone dykes in 

 the Cumberland coalfield and the subjects raised in 

 the. two communications will be discussed. A dis- 

 cussion on Wegener's hypothesis of continental drift, 

 in which both the geological and astronomical sides 

 will receive attention, has been arranged, and the 

 relation of early man to the phases of the ice age 

 in Britain will form the subject of a joint meeting 

 between the anthropological, geological, and geo- 

 graphical sections. Papers dealing with the zoning 

 of Carboniferous rocks will be read by Mr. W. S. Bisat 

 and Mr. R. G. Hudson, and Dr. H. L. Hawkins will 

 describe the relation of the Thames to the . London 

 Basin. Numerous excursions will be held during the 

 meeting. 



Section D (Zoology). — The organising committee 

 of Section D, the president of which is Dr. E. J. Allen, 

 has shaped its programme for the forthcoming meeting 

 at Hull with the view of relating it so far as possible 

 to local interests. Four of the eight sessions will be 

 devoted to marine biological and fisheries problems ; 

 the remaining four to matters of a wide variety of 

 interest. One whole day will be given to discussion with 

 representatives of the fishing industry, when members 

 of the industry will propound difficulties and questions 

 which the biologist will endeavour to answer to the 

 limits of his knowledge, and which he will, it may be 

 hoped, take to heart against the planning of further 

 investigations. Another feature of the meeting will 

 be the number of distinguished foreign marine bio- 

 logists who will attend. Dr. Hjort, of Norway, will 

 give an evening lecture at Grimsby, Dr. C. J. Joh. 

 Petersen will come from Denmark to open a dis- 

 cussion on the fauna of the sea bottom, of the quanti- 

 tative study of which he is the pioneer, Dr. Johs. 

 Schmidt will give an account of his recent explora- 

 tions in the Atlantic, and there will be eleven other 

 distinguished oceanographers, including representa- 

 tives from Belgium, Denmark, France, Holland, 

 Norway, and Sweden. It is anticipated that a 

 representative gathering of research vessels will also 

 attend, including, in addition to our British vessels, 

 the Danish Dana, the French Pourquoi Pas, and the 

 Swedish Skagerak. Of items other than those con- 

 cerned with marine biology one will be a discussion 



