o6 REPOETS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



of Essex.' This organisation was started only last year by the Essex 

 Field Club, at the suggestion of Mr. A. E. Briscoe, but it has already 

 formed the nucleus of a collection of permanent photographs, engravings, 

 maps, &c., which promises to be of much value to the future naturalist 

 and historian of the county. The collection is preserved in the Essex 

 Museum at Stratford, and contributions of suitable photographs should 

 be sent to Mr. Victor Tayloi', of Buckhurst Hill. hon. sec. of the survey. 



Dr. H. R. Mill wrote : The great obligation which all interested in 

 photographic records owe to Sir Benjamin Stone and to the National 

 Photographic Record Society, of which he is the president and most active 

 member, ought not to be lost sight of on this occasion. The rules adopted 

 by that Society and the method of its organisation seem to me to leave 

 little to be desired. The work, although incomplete, is by no means un- 

 systematic, and the fact that the records are deposited in the British 

 Museum makes it national in more than name. Reference should also be 

 made to the admirable work of the London County Council in making 

 the photographing of all buildings before demolition part of its ordinary 

 routine. 



The Chairman suggested that an application should be made at next 

 year's meeting of the British Association to secure the appointment of a 

 Committee for County Photographic Surveys. After some discussion the 

 following were provisionally nominated as members of such a Committee : 

 Rev. J. O. Bevan, Mr. John Brown, Rev. Ashington BuUen, Mr. W. 

 Crooke, Mr. W. Jerome Harrison, Mr. T. Sheppard, Sir J. Benjamin 

 Stone, and Mr. W. Whitaker. 



Reports from the Sections. 



The Chairman then invited any Delegates from the Sections who were 

 present to explain how the Corresponding Societies could assist in aiding 

 the work of the several Sections. 



Professor H. H. Turner, representing Section A (Mathematics and 

 Physics), suggested that local Societies desirous of undertaking new work 

 might profitably consider — 



(a) Observations of solar radiation. 



(6) Observations of the brightness of the sky at night. 



Any Society willing to undertake such work may receive information 

 on the subject by written application to Pi-ofessor H. H. Turner, F.R.S., 

 the University Observatory, Oxford. 



Mr. W. Whitaker, Section C (Geology), solicited the aid of local 

 Societies in the work of the Geological Photogi-aphs Committee, and 

 expressed the hope that certain Societies would assist the Committee 

 for investigating the Speeton Beds at Knapton. 



Mr. W. Crooke, Section H {Anthropology), stated that he had been 

 directed to lay two suggestions before the meeting : — 



First, to draw attention to the work of a Committee formed by Section H 

 with the co-operation of the Anthropological Institute, to collect and register 

 photographs of anthropological interest. He suggested that members of 

 the Corresponding Societies might be asked to co-operate in this work, 

 particularly by the collection of photographs of the best defined types of 

 the peasantry in those parts of the country where they have been least 

 aflfected by foreign influences. The matter is urgent (as pointed out in a 



