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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 610. 



service with sermon by the Bishop of 

 Ripon, were most impressive. 



In view of the anniversary nature of 

 this meeting, it is not out of place here to 

 repeat the aims of the British Association 

 which were set forth seventy-five years ago 

 by William Vernon Harcourt as follows : 



To give a stronger impulse and more systematic 

 direction to scientific enquiry, to obtain a greater 

 degree of national attention to the objects of sci- 

 ence, and a removal of those disadvantages which 

 impede its progress, and to promote the inter- 

 course of the cultivators of science with one an- 

 other and with foreign philosophers. Therefore it 

 is that I propose to you to found an association, 

 including all the scientific strength of Great 

 Britain, which shall employ a short period of 

 ■every year in pointing out the lines of direction 

 in which the researchers of science should move, 

 in indicating the particulars which most imme- 

 diately demand investigation, in stating problems 

 to be solved and data to be fijxed, in assigning to 

 ■every class of mind a definite task, and suggesting 

 to its members that there is here a shore of which 

 the surroundings should be more accurately taken, 

 .and there a line of coast along which a voyage of 

 discovery should be made. 



E. Ray Lankester, in his presidential ad- 

 dress before a brilliant gathering of 1,800 

 members and guests, reviewed some of the 

 more important advances in science which 

 had been made during the quarter century 

 which has elapsed since the last meeting in 

 York, and he characterized these advances 

 as showing a 'continuity and healthy evo- 

 lution in the realm of science' rather than 

 any revolution or inconsistency in the 

 previous course of human thought. His 

 address, which was somewhat disjointed 

 because of many cuts, was based largely 

 upon contributions from certain leaders in 

 different branches of science, and much 

 was lost of that spontaneity which comes 

 from personal opinion, although made up 

 perhaps by the thoroughness of the pre- 

 sentation. Particular attention was given 

 to radium on the side of the physical sci- 

 ences and to human disease and to 

 Metchnikoff's phagocytic theory of im- 



munity on the side of the natural sciences. 

 Curiously enough, one of the most widely- 

 followed branches of modern research, ex- 

 perimental zoology, was not even men- 

 tioned. 



In this brief outline only the general 

 trend of the scientific work of the several 

 sections can be given. Before Section A 

 (Mathematics and Physical Science) 

 President Griffiths gave a review of the 

 progress of physical science in the last 

 twenty-five years, emphasizing the need for 

 more accurate measurements of the ele- 

 ments and for improved methods in scien- 

 tific education to meet the modern require- 

 ments of the vast stores of accumulated 

 knowledge. 



Interesting discussions upon the evolu- 

 tion of the elements, opened by Mr. Soddy, 

 and upon the notation and use of vectors, 

 opened by Professor Henrici, were held in 

 the departments of general physics and 

 pure mathematics, respectively, while at 

 a combined meeting of the two sub-sections 

 a more generally interesting discussion was 

 opened by the Honorable R. J. Strutt on 

 radioactivity and the internal structure of 

 the earth, in which it was concluded that 

 no radium exists in the center of the earth 

 and can be traced to a depth of only 45 

 miles, which is enough to account for the 

 heat of the earth. The discussion was 

 carried on by Professor J. Milne, Sir Wil- 

 liam Crookes, Sir William Ramsay, Mr, 

 Soddy, Professor J. W. Gregory, Professor 

 Lamb, Sir George Darwin and others. 

 Other interesting work of the section con- 

 cerned Professor Milne's seismological in- 

 vestigations, in which the interesting theory 

 was propounded that a valley opens and 

 shuts, opens by day and closes by night: 

 and still another by Professor J. Swin- 

 burne on the nature of radiation from in- 

 candescent mantles. 



In Section B (Chemistry) the work was 

 confined chiefiy to economic products, to 



