ADDRESS. 5 



Government to grant a sum of 500?. for the reduction of the astronomical 

 observations of Baily. And at the same meeting the General Committee 

 commenced to appropriate to scientific research the surplus from the sub- 

 scriptions of its members. The committees on each branch of science 

 were desired ' to select definite and important objects of science, which 

 they may think most fit to be advanced by an application of the funds of 

 the society, either in compensation for labour, or in defraying the expense 

 of apparatus, or otherwise, stating their reasons for their selection, and, 

 when they may think proper, designating individuals to undertake the 

 desired investigations.' 



The several proposals were submitted to the Committee of Recommen- 

 dations, whose approval was necessary before they could be passed by the 

 General Committee. The regulations then laid down still guide the 

 Association in the distribution of its grants. At that early meeting the 

 Association was enabled to apply 600?. to these objects. 



I have always wondered at the foresight of the framers of the 

 constitution of the British Association, the most remarkable feature of 

 which is the lightness of the tie which holds it together. It is not bound 

 by any complex central organisation. It consists of a federation of 

 Sections, whose youth and energy are yearly renewed by a succession of 

 presidents and vice-presidents, whilst in each Section some continuity 

 of action is secured by the less movable secretaries. 



The governing body is the General Committee, the members of which are 

 selected for their scientific work ; but their controlling power is tempered 

 by the law that all changes of rules, or of constitution, should be submitted 

 to, and receive the approval of, the Committee of Recommendations. This 

 committee may be described as an ideal Second Chamber. It consists of 

 the most experienced members of the Association. 



The administration of the Association in the interval between annual 

 meetings is carried on by the Council, an executive body, whose duty it 

 is to complete the work of the annual meeting (a) by the publication of 

 its proceedings ; (b) by giving effect to resolutions passed by the General 

 Committee ; (c) it also appoints the Local Committee and organises the 

 2}ersonnel of each Section for the next meeting. 



I believe that one of the secrets of the long-continued success and 

 vitality of the British Association lies in this purely democratic constitu- 

 tion, combined with the compulsory careful consideration which must be 

 given to suggested organic changes. 



The Association is now in the sixty-fifth year of its existence. In 

 its origin it invited the philosophical societies dispersed throughout Great 

 Britain to unite in a co-operative union. 



Within recent years it has endeavoured to consolidate that union. 



At the present time almost all important local scientific societies 

 scattered throughout the country, some sixty-six in number, are in corre- 

 spondence with the Association. Their delegates hold annual conferences 

 at our meetings. The Association has thus extended the sphere of its action : 



