2 REPORT — 1877. 



on the capillary constant of dilute sulphuric acid, or the latest improvement in the 

 construction of aneroid harometers, some consideration would still be due to their 

 audience. And, long-suffering as British-Association audiences have often shown 

 themselves to be, there is no doubt that before a tenth part could be read of a 

 report on the year's work on the subjects included in this Section, the room would 

 be cleared and most of those who came to hear about Mathematics and Physics 

 woidd have gone to try whether they could not find in Section E or F something 

 appealing more directly to the common sympathies of mankind. 



But, although a serious report of progress would thus be both impossible and 

 unsuitable in the form of an Address to the Section, it remains none the less true 

 that such reports are in themselves of the utmost scientific value ; and, as has 

 been pointed out repeatedly, there are few ways in which the British Association 

 could more effectually fulfil its function of promoting the Advancement of Science 

 than by aiding in their preparation and publication. But when one tries to think 

 out in detail the way in which the Association could do this, the practical diffi- 

 culties of the scheme are seen to be neither few nor trifling. It may be sufficient 

 to point out that there is no evident reason why help of this kind should be afforded 

 to one branch of science rather than to another, and that the publication of reports 

 upon all branches would completely overtax the resources of the Association. 



In the case of some important sciences, however, the work of reporting recent 

 advances has already, with more or less of help from this Association, been 

 undertaken by other bodies ; thus there are the ' Abstracts ' published monthly 

 in the Journal of the Chemical Society, and there are the Zoological Record, 

 the Geological Record, and other publications of a like nature ; but hitherto 

 nothing of the kind has been done in this country for those departments of 

 science with which this Section is specially concerned. But without attempting 

 to commit the Association to any burdensome outlay, or to any larger scheme 

 than it would be practicable to carry out, it seems to me possible that a sys- 

 tematic series of reports might be established in connexion with this Section 

 which would have a very high value. In the early volumes of the British 

 Association's Transactions we find, more frequently than in recent ones, reports, 

 not merely on some special investigation, but on the recent progress and present 

 state of some more or less compreheusive branch of Science. Thus in the first four 

 volumes we find the following, among other reports, presented to this Section : — 

 On the Progress of Astronomy, On the Present State of Meteorology, On the 

 Present State of the Science of Radiant Heat, On the Progress of Optics, On the 

 Magnetism of the Earth, On Capillary Attraction, On Physical Optics, On the 

 Recent Progress and Present Condition of the Mathematical Theories of Electricity, 

 Magnetism, and Heat. Now I venture to think that this form of the activity of 

 the Association might with great advantage be revived and systematized. I would 

 suggest, as a plan that seems to me worth consideration by the Committee of this 

 Section, the appointment of Committees charged to report to the Section periodi- 

 cally on the advances made in each of the chief departments of Science of which 

 we here take cognizance. For example, to confine my remarks to Physics, we 

 might have a Committee on Optics, a Committee on Acoustics, one on Heat, one 

 on Electricity, and so on. It would not be in accordance with the usages of the 

 Association to nominate these as standing Committees, but they might be made 

 virtually such by annual reappointment. I would suggest that they should not 

 report annually, but at intervals of perhaps five or six years, the times being so 

 arranged that different Committees should report in different years, the report in 

 each case being a systematic account of all the work of any importance done on 

 the subject and within the period to which it related. In order not to make the 

 work too heavy, it would probably be needful to make each Committee compara- 

 tively numerous, so that individual members might each undertake to report upon 

 some" limited part of the general subject. Some one member of each Committee 

 would also require to act as editor ; his function woidd be not merely to put 

 together the detached fragments sent in by his colleagues, but to distribute to 

 them the materials on which they would have to report. For this purpose it would 

 be needful that copies of all the important scientific periodicals relating to Physics 

 should be supplied to the Committee ; but, besides providing these and printing 



