XXXVIli REPORT—1868. 
SECTION G.—MECHANICAL SCIENCE. 
President.—G. P. Bidder, F.R.G.S. 
Vice-Presidents.—J. F, Bateman, F.R.S.; Admiral Sir Edward Belcher, K.C.B. ; 
William Fairbairn, LL.D., F.R.S.; C. Hutton Gregory, Pres. Inst. C.E.; T. 
Hawksley, C.E.; James Nasmyth, F.R.S.; Professor W. J. Macquorn Ran- 
kine, LL.D., F.R.S. ; C. Vignoles, F.R.S.; J. Whitworth, LL.D., F.R.S.; Rev. 
Professor Willis, F’.R.S. 
Secretaries.—P. Le Neve Foster, M.A.; Charles Manby, F.R.S.; J. F. Iselin, 
M.A.; William Smith, C.E. 
Report of the Council of the British Association, presented to the 
General Committee, Wednesday, August 19, 1868. 
The Council have received Reports from the General Treasurer, and from 
the Kew Committee at each of their Meetings, and their Reports for the past 
year will be laid before the General Committee. 
Owing to the death of Lord Wrottesley, the Chairman and most active 
member of the Parliamentary Committee, no Report of this Committee is 
presented this year. 
At their Meeting on March 14th, Mr. F. Galton, General Secretary, in- 
formed the Council that considerations of health precluded him, to his sincere 
regret, from continuing to hold office. The Council,in accordance with their 
previous practice, appointed a Committee, consisting of the General Secre- 
taries and the gentlemen who had formerly filled that office, for the purpose 
of reporting a recommendation to the Council of a successor to Mr. Galton. 
From this Committee the Council have received the following Report :— 
* Resolved that Dr. T. Thomson, F.R.8., &c., be recommended as highly 
qualified for election as Joint-General Secretary of the Association.” The 
Council recommend that Dr. T. Thomson be now elected Joint-General Secre- 
tary. 
At the last Meeting of the Association the General Committee referred to 
the Council a Resolution relating to the administration of the Natural-History 
Collections of the British Museum, in which it was recommended to press on 
the Government the importance of transferring the control of these Collections 
from the Board of Trustees to a single officer of Government responsible to 
Parliament. After deliberating on the Report of a Committee specially 
appointed to consider the question, the Council sent a deputation to urge on 
the Government the desirability of making the proposed changes. 
Professor Martins, of Montpellier, and Professor Mannheim, of Paris, who 
attended the Meeting of the Association at Dundee, have been elected Cor- 
responding Members by the Council. 
The Annual Report of the Association for last year has been issued in an 
improved form and at an earlier date than usual. It is hoped that with the 
cooperation of the Authors of Reports it may in future be published at a still 
earlier period, and thereby its utility much increased. 
Owing to the modifications made at the Birmingham Meeting, in the 
arrangements of Section D, the Council have had under consideration the 
advisability of omitting the word “ Ethnology ” in the designation of Section 
EK. They recommend that a Resolution to this effect be passed by the 
General Committee. __ 
The Council have been informed that invitations for 1869 will be presented 
by Deputations from Exeter, Liverpool, Edinburgh, and Brighton ;—and an 
invitation for the following year, by a Deputation from Bradford. 
