r 



XXxii REPORT — 1861. 



Major-General Sabine, together with Professor Phillips, be a Committee 

 to consider and report the steps which they deem it advisable for the 

 Council to take in regard to the appointment of a General Secretary ; 

 and that their Report be printed and circulated among the Members of 

 Council previous to their meeting in Manchester on the -ith of Septem- 

 ber next. 

 By the following Report, which has been received from these gentlemen, 

 the General Committee will learn with satisfaction that, if it be their 

 pleasure to elect him, the services of a most efficient and experienced Mem- 

 ber, who has discharged many offices, including the Presidency, with great 

 benefit to the Association, are at their disposal for the duty of General 

 Secretary. 



Report of the Rev, W. V. Harcourt, Sir R. I. Murchison, and Major- 



General Sabine. 



Considering the present state of health of the General Secretary of the 

 British Association, the Rev. Professor Walker, F.R.S., and the announced 

 withdrawal at no distant period of Professor John Phillips, F.R.S., from the 

 post of Assistant General Secretary, which he has so long held, and with such 

 very great advantage to the British Association, we the undersigned, as 

 requested by the Council to propose some suitable arrangement, have now to 

 express our unanimous opinion that Mv. William Hopkins, F.R.S., of St. 

 Peter's College, Cambridge, is eminently qualified to fill the post of Joint 

 General Secretary. 



We beg to add that, having applied to Mr. Hopkins, we find that he cor- 

 dially accepts the offer, and, with the sanction of the Council, will be ready 

 to commence his duties at the ensuing Manchester Meeting. 



The consideration of the future relation of Professor Phillips to the British 

 Association is postponed, in compliance with his own request. 



William Vernon Harcourt, ^ -n. ^ , 



T) T i\/r , Former General 



Rod. I. Murchison, f c f • 



July 25, 1861. Edward Sabine, J secretaries. 



The Council have resolved, in conformity with the recommendation of this 

 Report, to propose to-day in the General Committee that W. Hopkins, Esq., 

 M.A., F.R.S., be elected General Secretary. 



(8) The following Foreign gentlemen, eminent in Science, who were 

 present at the late Oxford Meeting and took part in the proceedings, were 

 elected Corresponding Members of the British Association : — 



Dr. Bergsma, Utrecht. 

 Dr. Carus, Leipzig. 

 Prof. A. Favre, Geneva. 

 Dr. Geinitz, Dresden. 

 Dr. Hochstetter, Vienna. 



M. Khanikoff, St. Petersburg. 

 M. Werner Siemens, Vienna. 

 Prof. B. Pierce, Cambridge, U.S. 

 Prof. E. Verdet, Paris. 



(9) Major-General Sabine communicated a copy of the Statutes of the 

 Humboldt Foundation, now definitely organized, and of a Circular issued by 

 the Committee, announcing that about £8000 had been secured as a Capital 

 Fund, and that about £260 will be available in tlie year 1862 for the general 

 object of assisting Researches in Natural Science and Travels, in which Hum- 

 boldt was conspicuously active. The disposition of the fund rests with the 

 Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin, and is open to applications from Sci- 

 entific Travellers of all nations. 



