Ixxxii REPORT — 1898. 



REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 



Report of the Council for the Year 1897-98, presented to the General 

 ComTtiittee at Bristol on Wednesday, September 7, 1898. 



The Meeting held at Toronto last August was attended by a represen- 

 tative body of members from the British Isles and from the Dominion 

 of Canada, and by a large number of scientific men from the United States 

 of America and from the Continent of Europe. The success of the 

 Meeting had been confidently anticipated in view of the experience of 

 the Montreal Meeting in 1884, and that this anticipation was fully 

 realised was largely the result of the unremitting exertions of the Local 

 Ofiicers and Committee at Toronto, and the support which was received 

 from the Government of the Dominion, the Government of Ontario, and. 

 the City of Toronto. 



A Permanent Committee on Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric 

 Electricity was appointed at the Meeting of the International Meteoro- 

 logical Conference at Paris in 1896. The members of this body were 

 desirous of holding a Conference with other magneticians, and at the 

 suggestion of Professor Riicker, who is President of the Committee, the 

 Council decided to invite the Committee to hold the Conference at 

 Bristol during the Meeting of the British Association. This invitation 

 was accepted, and it was decided that the Conference should meet as a 

 Department of Section A, and that the foreign magneticians who might 

 attend should have all the privileges of foreign members of the Associa- 

 tion. The Council have reason to believe that this arrangement will 

 work satisfactorily, and that the Conference will be well attended. 



The Council have nominated the Master of the Society of Merchant 

 Venturers to be a Vice-President of the Association for the Meeting at 

 Bristol, in addition to the Vice-Presidents elected at the last meeting of 

 the General Committee. 



The Council have received Reports from the General Treasurer 

 during the past year, and his Accounts from July 1, 1897, to June 30, 

 1898, which have been audited, will be presented to the General 

 Committee. 



The Council have been informed by Professor Riicker that he does not 

 intend to offer himself for re-election as General Treasurer after the 

 Bristol Meeting. Professor Riicker has held this post since 1891, and the 

 Council desire to put on recoi'd their sense of the important services 

 which Professor Riicker has rendered to the Association during this period. 

 The Council recommend that Professor G. Carey Foster, F.R.S., be 

 appointed General Treasurer in succession to Professor Riicker. 



The Council have to deplore the loss by death of Lord Playfair, who 

 had been one of the Trustees of the Association since 1883. The Council 

 have nominated Professor Riicker as Trustee, the other Trustees being 

 Lord Rayleigh and Sir John Lubbock. 



The Council have elected the following men of Science who have 

 attended Meetings of the Association to be Corresponding Members : — 



Professor C. Barus, Brown University. 

 M. C. de Candolle, Geneva. 

 Dr. G. W. Hill, West Nyack, N.Y. 

 Professor Oskar Montelius, Stockholm. 



Professor E. W. Morley, Cleveland, 



Ohio. 

 Professor C. Richet, Paris. 

 Professor W. B. Scott, Princeton, N.J. 



The Council were invited to nominate one or two Members to give 



