ON POPULAR SCIENCE LECTURES. 327 



Abstract of Eeplies to Questions. 



(2) .Ire arnuigGinents made for the delivery of public lectures upon 

 scientific subjects each session? If so, (a) are iheleclurcs free? 

 (b) What are the lowest and highest charges for admission? 



In most cases local scientific societies arrange for the delivery of 

 occasional popular lectures each session. These lectures, however, are 

 not usually intended for the general public, but for members of the 

 societies and any friends who may accompany them. The lectui'es are 

 thus more of the nature of scientific meetings than public assemblies, 

 and the fee for admission to them is the membership subscription, 

 which varies from Is. to a guinea per session. In a few cases one or 

 more public lectures are arranged each session, and admission to these 

 is free, or at nominal charges varying from Id. to 6d. 



Series of public lectures are arranged by several Corporations in 

 connection with museums, libraries, and other institutions, as well as 

 by Universities and Technical Colleges. The annual series of Cor- 

 poration Free I^ectures at Liverpool includes scientific subjects ; at the 

 Ilorniman Museum, Forest Hill, S.E., twenty free lectures are given 

 on Saturday afternoons from October to March ; at the Manchester 

 Museum, sixteen public lectures are arranged each j'ear ; at the National 

 Museum of Wales, Cardiff, lectures are given from time to time in 

 connection with special exhibits in the museum ; at the Technical 

 School, Barrow-in-Furness, a course of popular lectures is delivered on 

 Saturday evenings ; and at the Museum, Free Library, and Bentlif Art 

 Gallery, Maidstone, free popular lectures were successfully arranged 

 every winter before the War. The Secretary of the Buchan Club, 

 Aberdeen, remarks of public lectures: ' They were formerly given imtil 

 iliey declined for want of suitable lecturers and variety of lectures '; 

 and the Principal of Battersea Polytechnic says : ' We have dis- 

 continued the arrangement of popular lectures as the attendance was 

 discouraging. We have found that the people in this district will not 

 attend popular lectures, whatever the subject. We have offered lec- 

 Inres by such men as Max O'Eell, E. T. Eeed, J. Foster Fraser, T. P. 

 O'Connor, Sir J. D. McClure, P. Villiers, Fred Enoch, and H. Furniss ; 

 and the response of the public was disappointing, although the charge 

 for admission was only 3(/. We an-anged for a lecture on " Air-ships " 

 in the Spring of this year, but failed to secure an audience and had to 

 cancel the lecture.' 



(3) Where, are the. lectures usually given? (a) MHiat is approximately 

 the average attendance ? 



Lectures given in rooms of Museums, Public Libraries, Universities, 

 Technical Schools, and like institutions, attended by members of 

 scientific societies and their friends, have usually audiences of about 

 30 in number, and the limit of accommodation does not often exceed 

 about 200. The average attendance of the whole of the lectures of 

 which particulars have been received is about 300. In the Town Hall, 

 Stockport, the average is 1,250, * but this is a decreasing number '; at 

 the Mechanics' Institution, Bumlev, it is SOO-1,200; at the Town 



