338 Notes and Comments. 
had the top room in the municipal buildings, where there was 
no lift, and the daily diminishing attendance at the section 
was a result of the survival of the fittest. Early in the morning 
of the first day the journals were ‘ off,’ and in the almost entire 
absence of notices, etc., the Conference of Delegates and other 
meetings were held before those who ought to have been present 
were aware. As regards apartments, the experiences were 
very varied! | 
THE HANDBOOK. 
The ‘ Handbook and Guide ’ is perhaps the most disappoint- 
ing for many years. The York (384 pp.), Dublin (450 pp.), 
and Sheffield (506 pp.) handbooks were about uniform, 
and it was hoped that subsequent handbooks would match 
them in size, if not in thickness. The Portsmouth volume, 
however, is considerably smaller in each of its 250 pp., and it 
has none of the fine coloured geological and other maps which 
were such useful features in the volumes mentioned. The 
whole of the geology, botany and zoology of the district, in- 
cluding the Isle of Wight, occupies less than forty small pages. 
THE STUDY OF PURE SCIENCE. 
Sir William Ramsay concluded his presidential address 
by putting in a plea for the study of pure science, with- 
out regard to its application. He stated ‘the discovery 
of radium and similar radioactive substances has widened the 
bounds of thought. While themselves, in all probability, 
incapable of industrial application, save in the domain of 
medicine, their study has shewn us to what enormous advances 
in the concentration of energy it 1s permissible to look forward, 
with the hope of applying the knowledge thereby gained to 
the betterment of the whole human race. As charity begins 
at home, however, and as I am speaking to the British Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science, I would urge that our 
first duty is to strive for all which makes for the permanence 
of the British Commonweal, and which will enable us to trans- 
mit our posterity a heritage not unworthy to be added to 
that which we have received from those who have gone before.’ 
THE SCIENTIFIC WORKER. 
Similarly, Mr. W. Bateson, in his address to the Agricultural 
‘Sub-section, pointed out that the man who devotes his life to 
applied science should be made to feel that he is in the main 
stream of scientific progress. If he is not, both his work and 
science at large will suffer. The opportunities of discovery are 
so few that we cannot afford to miss any, and it is to the man of 
trained mind who is in contact with the phenomena of a great 
applied science that such opportunities are most often given. 
Through his hands pass precious material, the outcome some- 
“Naturalist, 
