422 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 40. 



as a speaker his lucid and forcible stj'le was 

 adorned with ample and effective illustra- 

 tion in the lecture room ; and his energy 

 and wealth of argument in a more public 

 arena lai-gely helped to win the battle of 

 evolution, and to secure for us the right to 

 discuss questions of religion and science 

 without fear and without favor. It may, I 

 think, interest you to learn that Huxley first 

 made the acquaintance of Tj'ndall 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 Associa- 

 tion; and I was elected one of your general 

 secretaries about twenty-five yeai's ago. It 

 is not unfitting, therefore, that I should 

 recall to your minds the conditions under 

 which science was pursiied at the formation 

 of the Association, as well as the very re- 

 markable position which the Association has 

 occupied in relation to science in this countrj\ 

 Between the end of the sixteenth century 

 and the early part of the present century 

 several societies had been created to de- 

 velop various branches of science. Some of 

 these societies were established in London, 

 and others in important provincial centers. 

 In 1831, in the absence of railways, com- 

 miunication between different parts of the 

 country was slow and diificult. Science 

 was therefore localised ; and in addition to 

 the universities in England, Scotland and 

 Ireland, the towns of Birmingham, Man- 

 chester, Plymouth and York each main- 

 tained an important nucleus of scientific re- 

 search. 



Under these social conditions the British 

 Association was founded in September, 1831. 

 The general idea of its formation was de- 

 I'ived 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 As- 

 sociation 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 scientific inquiry ; 

 to promote the intercourse of those who 

 cultivated science in different parts of the 

 British Empire with one another, and with 

 foreign philosophers ; to obtain a more gen- 

 eral attention to the objects of science, and 

 a removal of anj' disadvantages of a public 

 kind which impede its progress." 



Thus the British Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science based its utilitj^ upon 

 the opportunity it afforded 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 1834 there were present 1,298 members. 



At its third meeting, which was held at 

 Cambridge in 1833, the Association, through 

 the influence it had alreadj' acquired, in- 

 duced the Government to grant a sum of 

 £500 for the reduction of the astronomical 

 observations of BailJ^ And at the same 

 meeting the General Committee commenced 

 to appropriate to scientific research the sur- 

 plus from the subscriptions of its members. 

 The committees on each branch of science 

 were desired " to select definite and impor- 

 tant objects of science, which thej' may think 

 most fit to be advanced by an application 

 of the funds of the society, either in com- 

 pensation for labor, or in defraying the 

 expenses of apparatus, or otherwise, stating 

 their reasons for their selection, and, when 

 they may think proper, designating indi- 

 viduals to undertake the desired investiga- 

 tions." The several proposals were submit- 

 ted to the Committee of Recommendations, 

 whose approval was necessary before they 

 could be passed by the General Committee. 



