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JUN 2 4 1920 



241 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 





THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



The General Officers of the British Association having 

 learnt, on consulting members of H. M. Government, that the 

 proposed meeting at Bournemouth would be deprecated, it was 

 decided to postpone the meeting for this year, and that Sir 

 Arthur Evans remain president for another year. The Annual 

 Conference of delegates from corresponding Societies, however, 

 was held, in the rooms of the Linnean Society, Burlington 

 House, on Thursday and Friday, July 6th and 7th. Mr. John 

 Hopkinson, a Yorkshireman, was the president, and Dr. F. A. 

 Bather, vice-president. There was a fair attendance. 



PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS. 



Mr. C. C. Fagg read a paper on ' Regional Surveys,' illus- 

 trating his remarks by maps, etc. prepared by the Croydon 

 Society ; Mr. T. Sheppard, M.Sc. dealt with ' Weights and 

 Measures/ and Mr. W. Mark Webb introduced a discussion on 

 ' The part to be played by Local Societies after the War in 

 the Application of Science to the Needs of the Country.' On 

 Friday evening, the delegates were invited by the Selborne 

 Society to hear an address by Prof. R. A. Gregory on ' Popular 

 Science Lectures.' Owing to a series of unfortunate events, 

 the notices to the members of the Selborne Society had been 

 delayed, and the Selbornians were not present. Many of the 

 delegates also had either returned home, or had fallen victims 

 to the various lures of London. Prof. Gregory gave his address 

 however, and those who heard it were indeed favoured and 

 grateful. An address by Prof. Armstrong, on a similar theme, 

 was also read, in the absence of the author. It was all very 

 unfortunate; and the address given to those interested in 

 popular lectures, at any rate, demonstrated that, besides the 

 lecturer, another thing was necessary for the thorough success 

 of a lecture, viz., an audience. 



MR. hopkinsqn's address. 



In his Presidential Address to the conference of delegates, 

 Mr. John Hopkinson dealt with the work and aims of the 

 corresponding Societies. As a write! in Nature points out. 

 ' it was Mr. Hopkinson who first suggested, nearly forty years 

 ago, that delegates from the different Societies should hold an 

 Annual Conference, and it must have been some satisfaction 

 to him to preside over what i- now an important annual event 

 for many of the representatives of the Scientific Societies in 

 this country. Mr. Hopkinson gave a review of the work of the 

 British Association as affecting the corresponding Societies, 

 dealing in turn with the various sections ot tin- Association. 

 I lis address was 50 varied in its scope that each member of his 

 audience must have fell that some of it a1 leasl had particular 



1917 Aug. 1. 



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