REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. Ixxxv 
But while the Trustees have accepted in principle the proposal, I beg to observe 
that the desired end would scarcely be obtained without the influential co-operation 
of the British Association, upon which I assume the Trustees may rely. 
May I then suggest that, as a preliminary step in maturing the scheme, one or 
more members of the British Association should be appointed to confer with the 
officers of the British Museum as to the most advisable course to follow? 
A Committee, consisting of the President, the President-Elect, the 
General Officers, Mr. Francis Galton, and Professor Tylor, was accordingly 
appointed for the purpose of conferring with the officers of the British 
Museum, as proposed by Sir E. Maunde Thompson. The President has 
also been in correspondence with the Marquess of Salisbury regarding this 
matter, and the Council have the pleasure to announce that satisfactory 
arrangements have been made for the establishment of such a Bureau, 
and that Lord Salisbury has directed that reports prepared by officers in 
the various Protectorates under the administration of the Foreign Office be 
forwarded to the British Museum. 
(2) That the Council be requested to consider the desirability of 
representing to the Colonial Government that the early establishment of 
a Magnetic Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope would be of the 
highest utility to the Science of Terrestrial Magnetism, especially in view 
of the Antarctic Expeditions which are about to leave Europe, and that 
the Observatory should be established at such a distance from electric 
railways and tramways as to avoid all possibility of disturbance from 
them. 
The question having been considered, the Council requested the 
President to make the necessary representation to the Colonial Govern- 
ment, and the following letter was accordingly sent to Sir Alfred Milner, 
the High Commissioner and Governor of Cape Colony, for presentation 
to the Government :— 
British Association for the Advancement of Science, 
Burlington House, W., March 1899. 
S1r,—I have the honour to inform you that at the Annual Meeting of the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science, held last September at Bristol, an 
International Conference met for the purpose of discussing questions connected with 
Terrestrial Magnetism. One of the resolutions, which was adopted by the Conference 
in the following terms, was referred to the Council of the Association for further 
consideration :— 
‘That the Council be requested to consider the desirability of representing 
to the Colonial Government that the early establishment of a Magnetic 
Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope would be of the highest utility to the 
Science of Terrestrial Magnetism, especially in view of the Antarctic Expedi- 
tions which are about to leave Europe, and that the Observatory should be 
established at such a distance from electric railways and tramways as to avoid 
all possibility of disturbance from them.’ 
I have been requested by the Council to inform you that they have considered 
this resolution, and have decided to transmit it to you for your favourable con- 
sideration. 
If you should require any further information in regard to this proposal, I shall 
be glad to furnish it. 
I am, your obedient servant, 
WILLIAM CROOKES, President. 
The Council have received the following minute of the Government of 
Cape Colony through the High Commissioner :— 
! The correspondence is given in the Appendix, p. Ixxxix, 
