xlii REPORT — 1869. 



SECTION G.' MECHANICAL SCIENCE. 



President— Q. W. Siemens, C.E., F.E.S. 



Vice-Presidents.— Q. P. Bidder, C.E. ; C. Vignoles, C.E., F.R.S., F.R.A.S. ; Pro- 

 fessor W. M. Rankine, LL.D., F.R.S. ; Eer. Professor WUlis, F.R.S. ; C. H. 

 Gregory, Pres.I.C.E. ; Admiral Sir E. Belcher, K.C.B. ; Captain Douglas Galton, 

 C.B., Pi.E., F.R.S. ; J. F. Bateman, F.R.S. ; F. J. Bramwell ; Sir Joseph Whit- 

 wortli, Bart., LL.D., F.R.S. 



Secretaries, — P. Le Neve Foster, M.A. ; H. Bauerman, F.G.S. 



Report of the Council of the British Association for the year 1868-69, 

 presented to the General Committee at Exeter on Wednesday, 

 August 18, 1869. 



The Reports of the General Treasurer and of the Kew Committee for the 



past year have been received, and will be laid before the General Committee. 



At the Meeting of the Association at Norwich, the General Committee 



referred two Resolutions to the Council for consideration and action, if it 



should be deemed desirable. 



The first Resolution was : — 



That the Council be instructed to prepare and cause to be presented to 



the Houses of Lords aud Commons petitions on behalf of the Association, 



prajdng them without loss of time to pass such measures as wiU remedy 



the existing defects in Secondary Education in Schools, aud that the 



Council be empowered to take such other steps as in their j udgment may 



be best calculated to promote the object of these petitions. 



The Council, after receiving the report of a Committee specially appointed 



by them to consider the question, resolved to act in accordance with this 



Resolution. They consequently prepared the following Petition, which was 



presented by the Right Hon. Lord Lyttelton to the House of Lords, by Sir 



W. Tite to the House of Commons. 



The Humble Petition of the British Association for the Advancement 



of Science 



Sheweth, — That one of the ends for which the Association was established 

 was to " obtain a more general attention to the objects of Science, and a re- 

 moval of any disadvantages of a pubhc kind which impede its progress." 



That some of the chief impediments to the progress of Science in the 

 United Kingdom are to be found in the limited aud defective state of Se- 

 condary Education, and in the condition of the Endowed Grammar Schools, 

 which, having been founded in past times, represent for the most part the 

 knowledge and wants of the past, rather than of the present. 



That, not-withstanding the defects of the Endowed Grammar Schools, they 

 are enabled, by their number, antiquity, and endowments, to maintain a 

 prescriptive rank and influence, and seriously to impede the adoption of im- 

 proved systems of education. 



That the necessity for inquiry into the state of the Endowed Grammar 

 Schools, and into the education given in schools generally, above the Ele- 

 mentary, has already been recognized in the appointment by Her Majesty of 

 three Commissions to report on this Class of Schools in England and 

 Scotland. 



That in the year 1866 the Council of the Association appointed a Com- 

 Mttee to consider the best means of promoting Scientific Education in Schools, 

 .and that thi§ Committee drew up a Report on the subject, which is printed 



