298 Notes and Comments. 
HANDBOOKS. 
In the matter of handbooks the Members were well treated. 
Each was presented with a copy of Mrs. T. F. Johnson’s 
‘Glimpses of Ancient Leicester’ (noticed in our August issue), 
and a useful ‘Handbook to Leicester and Neighbourhood,’ 
prepared under the editorship of Mr. G. Clarke Nuttall. This, 
besides containing a description of the Topography and Anti- 
quities of Leicester and its environs, has a paper on the 
‘Geology of the District,’ by Mr. C. Fox Strangways ; the 
‘Pre-Cambrian Rocks,’ by Prof. W. W. Watts ; ‘ Botany,’ by 
Mr. W. Bell; ‘ Zoology,’ and ‘Cryptogamic Flora,’ by Mr. A. 
R. Horwood; ‘Entomology,’ by Mr. F. Bouskell; ‘The 
Charnwood Forest,’ by Mr. J. B. Everard; and ‘The Stone 
Roads, Canals, and Railways of Leicestershire,’ by Mr. 
C. E. Stretton. A valuable Bibliography (geology, natural 
history, archeology, etc.) by Mr. A. R. Horwood is included. 
But, as at York, we missed the useful sets of excursion hand- 
books, which have, in recent years, been given to the members. 
By the aid of these it was an easy matter for a stranger to chose 
the excursion most likely to interest him. 
THE PRESIDENT'’S ADDRESS. 
The Address of the President, Sir David Gill, K.C.B., was 
one of the most brilliant Presidential Addresses that we have 
listened to for some time. Though dealing with ‘The Science 
of Measurement,’ ‘ The Solar Parallax, ‘The Stellar Universe,’ 
etc., etc.—technical astronomical subjects, he used simple and 
forcible language in such away that surely everybody was 
thoroughly interested throughout the Address. And this could 
not be said for every Presidential Address to the British 
Association ! 
THE VALUE OF A STANDARD. 
An interesting illustration of Sir David’s method occurred in 
his reference to one of Clerk Maxwell’s Lectures in the Natural 
Philosophy Class at Aberdeen, which the President attended 
in 1859. Clerk Maxwell stated that ‘A standard, as it is at 
present understood in England, is not a real standard at all; it 
is a rod of metal with lines ruled upon it to mark the yard, and 
it is kept somewhere in the House of Commons. If the House 
of Commons catches fire there may be an end of your standard. 
A copy of a standard can never be a real standard, because all 
the work of human hands is liable to error. Besides, will your 
Naturalist, 
