RErORT OF THE nOTTNCII.. XCV 



in which I aui largely interested, to take advantage, af3 I have said, of the 

 lessons in practical science which the exertions of scientists have de- 

 veloped. In regard to the material for the construction of ships, whether 

 of steel or of iron, to the advance in naval architecture, to the adaptation 

 of power to produce suitable results, to the inquiry into the means of 

 securing the maximum advantage in the consumption of fuel, to the 

 application of electricity as a motive and illuminative power, and to the 

 utilisation of telegraphy in all its forms, men like myself who have been 

 benefited by the practical applicatif)n of such discoveries are really bound 

 to do all we can to assist you in any scheme such as you now contemplate 

 to enlarge the scope of your aims and operations. 



' In addition to the terms for the conveyance of yourselves and friends 

 of the deputation to and from South Africa, which you will approve of as 

 favourable, I shall be glad to subscribe 500/. to any fund which you will, 

 I think, find it desirable to collect in order that all the expenses of your 

 visit to South Africa may be fully covered. 



' Believe me, yours very truly, 



'Donald Cuerie, 



' Professor Dewar, 

 * President of the British Association.' 



To this letter the following reply was sent : — 



' British Association for the Advancement of Science, 



' Burlington House, London, W., June 12, 190."?. 



'Dear Sir Donald Currie, — I am in receipt of your most noble 

 response to my appeal for aid and support on behalf of the project of a 

 visit of the British Association for the Advancement of Science to South 

 Africa in the year IQOn, and will forthwith communicate the same to the 

 Council. May I at once, as the President, express on behalf of the 

 Council and the Association the profound gratitude which I am sure they 

 would desire me to convey for your generous appreciation of the work of 

 Science, and the helpful and fatherly way in which you have responded 

 to pecuniary difficulties. 



' Yours very faithfully, 



'James Dewar. 



The Council have received the following important letter from Sir 

 Frederick Bramwell, Bart., F.R.S., which they desire to record in their 

 Report : — 



' 5 Great George Street, Westminster, S.W., 

 ' July 2, 190:i 



' My dear President,— It may, perhaps, be in the recollection of a 

 few of the older Members of Section G that, at the Jubilee Meetin"', 

 York, 1881, I said (in a " comraunicatioii " ordered to be printed in 

 cxtenso), speaking of the Steam Engine, that " a change in the pi'oduction 

 of power from fuel appears to be impending, if not in the immediate 

 future, at all events in a time not very far remote ; and however much 

 the Mechanical Section of the British Association may to day contemplate 

 with regret even the mere distant prospect of the Steam Engine becoming 

 a thing of the past, I very much doubt whether those who meet here fifty 

 years hence will then speak of that motor except in the character of a 

 curiosity to be found in a museum. " ' 



' British Association Proceedings, 1S81 Volume, page .'503. 



