NATURE 



497 



THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1874 



THE FRENCH ASSOCIATION FOR THE 

 ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 

 Association Franqaise pour P Avancement ties Sciences. 

 Comptcs Rcndiis de la i" Session, 1872. Bordeaux. 

 (Paris, 1873.) 



THIS, the first volume of the yet young French So- 

 ciety's Proceedings, does it infinite credit. It is a 

 h.-indsonie, beautifully printed volume of 1,330 pages, 

 containing upwards of 200 papers, addresses, and lec- 

 tures on a wide variety of subjects connected with 

 Science, pure or applied. The volume is also well illus- 

 trated, some of the plates appended being coloured, a 

 feature which we think the British Association would do 

 well to imitate in its " Proceedings." 



The French Association, as our readers no doubt 

 know, made a very auspicious start, the number of mem- 

 bers amounting to somewhere about 800. There are two 

 classes of members — ist, mcinbres foiidateurs, who sub- 

 scribe one or more shares of the capital of the Associa- 

 tion, a share amounting to 500 francs ; there are about 

 250 members of this class, some of v;hom have subscribed 

 several shares, among the latter being a considerable 

 number of railway and other public companies : 2nd, 

 ordinary members, paying an annual subscription of 

 20 francs, or a life-subscription of 200 francs ; the names 

 of about 50 life-members are in this volume. After an 

 existence of scarcely three months, the Association pos- 

 sessed a capital of nearly 140,000 francs, and an annual 

 revenue of more than 16,000 francs. 



The French Association is modelled pretty closely 

 after the older British one, its aim being, according 

 to the rules, "to promote by every means in its power 

 the progress and diffusion of the sciences from the 

 double point of view of the perfection of pure theory and 

 of the development of their practical applications." 

 These ends it proposes to accomplish by means of meet- 

 ings, lectures, publications, and donations of instruments 

 or money to persons engaged in scientific researches. It 

 appeals for help to all those " who believe that the culti- 

 vation of Science is necessary to the greatness and the 

 prosperity of the country." 



The Association is divided into four Groups, and each 

 group into several sections ; the Groups are — I. The Ma- 

 thematical Sciences; 2. Physical and Chemical Sciences; 

 3. Natural Sciences ; 4. Economic Sciences. The French 

 Association devotes more attention to the practical ap- 

 plication of scientific principles than does the British 

 one ; the ist Group, for example, including Sections of 

 Navigation and of Civil and Tvlilitary Engineering ; the 

 3rd Group including the Medical Sciences, and the 4th 

 Group Agriculture. This arrangement may at present 

 have some advantages in France, where there are probably 

 fewer special Associations than there are in this country, 

 and because, until the Association gets itself firmly esta- 

 blished, it may be advisable to appeal to as many classes 

 of supporters as possible : but we are inclined to believe 

 that it will by and by find that it will serve the cause of 

 Science more effectually by confining its attention to the 

 pure sciences. 



Vol. IX. — No. 23s 



In points of administrative detail, the French follows 

 very closely the British Association. One of its rules 

 ordains that each year the capital fund be increased by 

 20 per cent, of its revenue. If it prospers in the future as 

 it has done hitherto, we have no doubt that it will soon 

 have a very large sum at its disposal. 



As we noticed pretty fully the proceedings of the Asso- 

 ciation at the time of its meeting at Bordeaux in Septem- 

 ber 1872, it is unnecessary to notice in detail the papers 

 contained in the volume before us. There will be found 

 in its pages the names of many of the most prominent 

 men of Science in France, and a few belonging to foreign 

 countries, among the latter being Sir Benjamin Brodie 

 and Dr. Gladstone. Two of the published lectures have 

 been published in NATURE in r.r/tv/jo— that of M. Janssen 

 on the Eclipse of December 12, 1S71, and that of M. P. 

 Broca on the Troglodytes of the Vdzere. 



M. de Ouatrefages, the first President, in his eloquent 

 and powerful opening address, speaks very highly, and 

 we would fain hope with justice, of the work which has 

 been done by the British Association. " Thanks to it," 

 he says, "a part of the population has been reformed. 

 The sons of those fox-hunters, who, as a relief from their 

 rude pastimes, only knew of joys equally violent and 

 material, are now botanists, geologists, physicists, and 

 archKologists." 



The President's impressive words as to the sphere of 

 Science at the present day are well worth quoting : — 

 " Science is at present everywhere ; she is becoming more 

 and more the sovereign of the world. What industry can 

 dispense with the aid of mechanics, and is there any in- 

 dustry which would wish to be bound to the progress 

 already realised by that Science ? Is there one which 

 would despise the help of Chemistry? What physician, 

 worthy of the name, would consent to dispense with 

 physiology, that complex science, daughter of chemistry ? 

 with physics and with mechanics, any more than with 

 anatomy .' What enlightened agriculturist does not un- 

 derstand that the problems of culture and of production 

 are essentially questions of zoology, botany, geology, and 

 chemistry ? And in this great city (Bordeaux), one of 

 the queens of universal commerce, what merchant will 

 deny the importance of geography ? Science is as indis- 

 pensable to the military man as to the manufacturer, the 

 physician, the agriculturist. Certainly I am far from 

 denying the part which in war will always fall to courage, 

 to inspiration. But inspiration must be enlightened by 

 study ; bravery must be furnished with arms equal to 

 those of the enemy. Revive in imagination Renaud de 

 Montauban or the Roland of legend ; place them upon 

 Bayard or Frontin ; cover them with their enchanted 

 armour, and dart them against a simple mechanic mounted 

 upon his locomotive. You all know what will be the 

 result of the shock : coursers and paladins will be 

 brayed." 



It will be remembered that the first meeting of the 

 French Association took place while the country was yet 

 sore with the humiliation inflicted upon it by Germany ; 

 and very naturally the address of the President, as well 

 as the addresses of many others who spoke, took their 

 tone, to some extent, from this condition of affairs. Still 

 the character of these addresses, though intensely patri- 

 otic, is perfectly healthy, the various speakers showing 



