516 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 42. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



THE IPS^VICH MEETIKG OF THE BRITISH ASSO- 

 CIATION. 



The address of the president, Sir Douglas 

 Gal ton, already printed in this journal, at- 

 tempted the difficult task of reviewing the 

 progress of science during the sixty years 

 that have elapsed since the foundation of 

 the Association. His long service as secre- 

 tary made him especially familiar with 

 those scientific advances to which the Asso- 

 ciation has directly or indirectly contri- 

 buted. Prof. W. M. Hicks, president of 

 Section A (physics), reviewed recent at- 

 tempts to explain the ultimate nature of 

 matter. Prof. Eaphael Meldola, president 

 of Section B (chemistry), reviewed the 

 great progress made by the science since the 

 previous Ipswich meeting in 1851. The ad- 

 dress of Mr. W. Whitaker, president of 

 Section C (geology), is reported in the 

 present number of Science. Prof. W. A. 

 Herdman, president of Section D (zoology), 

 dealt almost entirely with questions of ma- 

 rine zoology. Mr. H. J. Mackinder, presi- 

 dent of Section E (geography), and Mr. L. 

 L. Price, president of Section F (economics), 

 reviewed recent developments in their re- 

 spective departments. Mr. L. F. Vernon- 

 Harcourt discussed the relation of engineer- 

 ing to science with special reference to 

 mathematics and chemistry. The address 

 of Prof. Flinders Petrie, president of Sec- 

 tion H (anthropology), on interference 

 with lower civilizations has been widelj'' 

 quoted in the daily papers. In Section K 

 (botany) the president, Mr. W. T. Thisel- 

 ton-Dyer, gave an account of Henslow in 

 his relations to Darwin, and compared the 

 old natui'al history and the present labora- 

 tory methods in botany. 



The scientific papers presented before the 

 several sections were numerous and interest- 

 ing, but it is diflicult to select any for 



special notice. Lord Eayleigh, who the 

 year before announced the discoverj^ of 

 argon, described minute investigations into 

 the refractive indices and viscosities of 

 argon and helium, and Professor Eunge, of 

 Hanover, communicated the results of ex- 

 periments, showing that the gas from 

 cleveite is made up of two constituents, of 

 which one is always present in the sun, and 

 the other only occasionally and proposed 

 that the name helium should be restricted 

 to the former. The interpretation of the 

 results obtained with the spectroscope was 

 discussed by Prof. Schuster and Dr. G. J. 

 Stonej'. Two of the most important papers 

 presented before the Association, that on 

 the ' Electrification of Air' by Lord Kelvin, 

 Mr. Maclean and Mr. Gait, and that on 

 ' Oysters and Typhoid ' by Professors Boyce 

 and Herdman have been contributed by the 

 authors to this journal. 



The attendance at the Ipswich meeting 

 was the smallest since 1880, the total num- 

 ber of members present being 1.23 J:. This is, 

 however, nearly double the number that 

 attended a previous meeting held in this 

 town in 1851, and bears witness to the in- 

 creasing size and influence of the Associa- 

 tion. According to the report of Professor 

 Eiicker, general treasurer, the receipts for 

 189i-95 were £4,214; £1,160 was appropri- 

 ated by the committee for scientific pur- 

 poses and distributed among the different 

 sections as follows : Mathematics and 

 Physics, £245 ; Chemistry, £80 ; Geology, 

 £140; Zoology, £405; Geography, £10; 

 Mechanical Science, £40 ; Anthropology, 

 £180; Physiology, £25; for the report of 

 the Corresponding Societies, £30. Sir 

 Douglas Galton resigned the general secre- 

 taryship of the Association, a position which 

 he has held for more than twenty-four j^ears. 

 Professor E. A. Schiifer was elected his suc- 

 cessor. The next meeting of the Associa- 

 tion will be held at Liverpool, commencing 



