4 REPORT — 1895. 



acquaintance of Tyndall at the meeting of the Association held in this 

 town in 1851. 



About forty-six years ago I first began to attend the meetings of the 

 British Association ; and I was elected one of your general secretaries 

 about twenty-five years ago. 



It is not unfitting, therefore, that I should recall to your minds the 

 conditions under which science was pursued at the formation of the Asso- 

 ciation, as well as the very remarkable position which the Association 

 has occupied in relation to science in this country. 



Between the end of the sixteenth century and the early part of the 

 present century several societies had been created to develop various 

 branches of science. Some of these societies were established in London, 

 and others in important provincial centres. 



In 1831, in the absence of I'ailways, communication between difl'erent 

 parts of the country was slow and difficult. Science was therefore local- 

 ised ; and in addition to the universities in England, Scotland, and Ire- 

 land, the towns of Birmingham, Manchester, Plymouth and York each 

 maintained an important nucleus of scientific research. 



Origin of the British Association. 



Under these social conditions the British Association was founded in 

 September 1831. 



The general idea of its formation was derived from a migratory 

 society which had been previously formed in Germany ; but whilst the 

 German society met for the special occasion on which it was summoned, 

 and then dissolved, the basis of the British Association was continuity. 



The objects of the founders of the British Association were enunciated 

 in their earliest rules to be : — 



' To give a stronger impulse and a more systematic direction to scien- 

 tific inquiry ; to promote the intercourse of those who cultivated science 

 in diSerent parts of the British Empire with one another, and with 

 foreign philosophers ; to obtain a more general attention to the objects of 

 science, and a removal of any disadvantages of a public kind which im- 

 pede its progress.' 



Thus the British Association for the Advancement of Science based 

 its utility upon the opportunity it afibrded for combination. 



The first meeting of the Association was held at York with 353 

 members. 



As an evidence of the want which the Association supplied, it may be 

 mentioned that at the second meeting, which was held at Oxford, the 

 number of members was 435. The third meeting, at Cambridge, numbered 

 over 900 members, and at the meeting at Edinburgh in 1831 there were 

 present 1,298 members. 



At its third meeting, which was held at Cambridge in 1833, the 

 Association, through the influence it had already acquired, induced the 



