CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 65 
J. Batalha-Reis, as a Vice-President of that Section. By the sanction 
of the Council that gentleman represented at the Conference the Lisbon 
Geographical Society. If he had anything to tell them as to the way in 
which local Societies could do geographical work they would be glad to 
hear him. 
The Geographical Society of Lisbon.—Professor Batalha-Reis said that, 
having been sent by the Geographical Society of Lisbon as a Delegate, he 
should be very glad if his presence on the present occasion led to some good 
scientific result. He saw the good work which local Societies were doing 
in England in connection with the British Association, and that led him to 
the belief that perhaps foreign Societies connected with the Association 
might do something useful if they could work systematically under a plan. 
He called attention to the capabilities of work of his Society and expressed 
the hope that the Geographical Society of Lisbon might perhaps help the 
work prosecuted by the British Association in some way. To begin with, 
the limits of geography as a science were rather vague, that is to say, 
geography was more or less in connection with all other sciences repre- 
sented by the different Sections of the British Association. Thus the natural 
features of a district, its animals, minerals, and plants were strictly 
geographical, and at the same time had relationship with the biological, 
geological, and other sciences. Then, as they were aware, his country 
had in Africa, by the peculiar situation of their colonies, a large field where 
experiments and researches could be prosecuted. At that moment they 
had six expeditions working in Central Africa, and not only the leaders of 
those expeditions, but, he was pretty sure, all the naturalists connected with 
them, were members of the Geographical Society of Lisbon, most of them 
working under the instruction of that Society. Then, too, their colonies 
were in a very intimate connection with the English colonies in Africa, 
so that, if they could establish a joint plan of exploration, say from the 
Cape of Good Hope to the furthermost Portuguese settlement, valuable 
scientific results ought to be achieved. 
No communications or recommendations from Section F were brought 
forward. 
Section G. 
Committee on Flameless Huplosives.—Professor Lebour said the North 
of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers had one Com- 
mittee which was mentioned last year (that on explosives) in full working 
order at the present time. When mentioned last year it was only about 
to be appointed ; now it had begun its work, which was not simply that of 
xamining the properties of all the so-called flameless explosives; the main 
object was a philanthropic one, so that an explosive which a dealer liked to 
call flameless, and which was not really flameless, might not be used 
unwarily by miners in positions where the use of an explosive carrying a 
flame under certain circumstances might be exceedingly dangerous. Now 
that they had a good deal more knowledge than formerly of such things as 
coal-dust explosions, it became very important indeed to avoid as far as 
could be any possibility of having a flame projected by a blown-out shot 
or any other currents of that kind inan atmosphere laden with particles of 
dust. It was a disputed question as to whether coal-dust itself was 
_ dangerous. If coal-dust did not cause an explosion itself it certainly 
C ia it. The explosion might be there before the coal-dust had any- 
0. FP 
