Xliv REPORT — 1870. 



reported their opinion to be favourable to the appointment of a Boyal Com- 

 mission to inqnire into the relations of the State to scientific instrnction and 

 investigation ; and they added that no such inquiry would, in their opinion, 

 be complete which did not extend itself to the action of the State in relation 

 to scientific education, and the cifcct of that action upon independent edu- 

 cational institutions. 



Your President and Coimcil, acting on the advice of this Committee, con- 

 stituted themselves a Deputation and waited upon the Lord President of the 

 Council. They are glad to be able to report that their efforts to bring this 

 important subject before Her Majesty's Government have been attended with 

 success. On the 18th of May, Her lilajesty issued a Commission " to make 

 inquiry with regard to Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science, 

 and to inquire Avhat aid thereto is derived from grants voted by Parliament 

 or from endowments belonging to the several universities in Great Britain 

 and Ireland and the colleges thereof, and whether such aid could be rendered 

 in a manner more cifectual for the purpose." The Commissioners ai)pointed 

 by Her Majesty are the Duke of Devonshire, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Sir 

 John Lubbock, Bart., Sir James Phillips Kay Shuttleworth, Bart., Bernard 

 Samuelson, Esq., M.P., Dr. Sliarpey, Professor Huxley, Dr. W. A. MiUer, 

 and Professor Stokes. J. Norman Lockyer, Esq., F.P.S., has been appointed 

 Secretary to the Commissioners, who, up to last July, were engaged taking 

 evidence with great assiduity, and have now adjourned their meetings until 

 November. There is every reason to hope that valuable results will follow 

 from their deliberations. 



The fourth resolution which the General Committee referred to the Council 

 was — 



" That the rules under which Members arc admitted to the General Com- 

 mittee be reconsidered." 



A Committee of the Council devoted considerable care to a revision of the 

 existing rules. The modified rules approved by the Council are now submitted 

 for adoption to the present General Committee, whose constitution is, of 

 course, not aftcctcd thereby. The most important of the proposed changes 

 are that henceforth new claims to membership of the General Committee shall 

 be forwarded to the Assistant General Secretary at least one month before 

 the next ensuing Annual Meeting of the Association ; that these claims shall 

 be submitted to the Council, whose decision i:pon them is to be final ; and 

 that henceforth it is not the authorship of a paper in the Transactions of a 

 scientific society which is alone to constitute a claim to membership of the 

 General Committee, but the publication of any works or papers which have 

 furthered the advancement of any of the subjects taken into consideration at 

 the Sectional meetings of the Society. 



Your Council has, also, had under its consideration the desirability of re- 

 moving certain administrative inconveniences which arise from the circum- 

 stance that the next place of meeting is never decided upon by the General 

 Committee until near the close of the actual meeting. They are of opinion 

 that the arrangements of the General Ofiiccrs would be greatly facilitated, 

 and at the same time the convenience of those who invite the Association con- 

 sulted, if the General Committee were to decide upon each place of meeting 

 a year earlier than they do at present. In order to make the transition 

 from the existing practice to the proposed one, your Council recommend that 

 two of the invitations which will be received at the present Meeting be ac- 

 cepted, one for 1871, and another for 1872. 



It has often been urged that the Association labours under disadvantages 



