August 26, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



263 



duties of the general committee at Sheffield 

 will be to consider the place of meeting in 

 1912. Although it was only last year that 

 the association went abroad to Winnipeg, 

 it is understood that it will be invited 

 again to leave these islands in 1912, this 

 time for the purpose of bringing Australia 

 within the range of its influence.- Since 

 the association, with many misgivings and 

 in the face of strong opposition, accepted 

 an invitation to visit Montreal in 1884, the 

 principle of varying its meetings in the 

 United Kingdom by occasional flights to 

 the oversea dominions has become firmly 

 established. Two subsequent visits have 

 been paid to Canada — to Toronto in 1897 

 and Winnipeg last year — and one to South 

 Africa in 1905. There is no doubt that 

 these visits serve a useful purpose in bring- 

 ing colonial students into touch with the 

 leaders of British scientific thought, and 

 give a valuable stimulus to the pursuit of 

 scientific knowledge in the empire oversea. 

 Proposals that the British Association for 

 the Advancement of Science should meet in 

 Australia have been urged privately for 

 many years past, but the length of the 

 voyage and the cost of such a tour have 

 hitherto seemed insuperable objections. 

 Now that the commonwealth and state 

 governments are alive to the importance 

 of making better known the vastness of 

 Australia's economic resources, and the 

 many attractions it has to offer to the right 

 class of visitor and immigrant, the finan- 

 cial difficulty might be partially met by 

 official grants-in-aid. 



The question of time remains a serious 

 obstacle. At least each of the state capitals 

 would require a visit, and the return jour- 

 ney could hardly be completed in less than 

 four months. ]\Iost of the members of the 



- The meeting in Australia will probably be held 

 in 1913 or 1914. In 1912 the association is likely 

 to meet at Dundee. — Ed. Science. 



British Association are busy men, with 

 their livings to earn, and many would be 

 unable to spare the time for such an ex- 

 tended absence from this country. The at- 

 tractions of the tour, however, would no 

 doubt induce all who possibly could to 

 make an effort to get away. Speculation 

 as to the number is not very helpful; and 

 with the object of giving some sure basis 

 to go upon the council of the association 

 has issued a circular to a number of the 

 leading men of science in this country, re- 

 questing each to state whether, in the event 

 of an invitation to visit Australia being re- 

 ceived and accepted, he would be able to 

 take part in the meeting. The result of 

 this canvass is awaited with interest, and it 

 must be hoped that it will justify the gen- 

 eral committee in giving favorable consid- 

 eration to the proposed invitation. The 

 British Association is not, and can not 

 hope again to be, the force it once was in the 

 scientific world, but it still deserves its 

 name as the British Parliament of Science. 

 As a missionary agent for the advancement 

 of scientific knowledge in the self-govern- 

 ing dominions of the empire it has an ex- 

 tended field of usefulness before it; and in 

 these days of ever-increasing facilities for 

 world travel Australia ought not to remain 

 indefinitely outside the association's itiner- 

 ant course. 



The wide range of the a.ssociation 's in- 

 terests and the valuable medium which its 

 proceedings afford for the discussion of 

 scientific questions of the day are once 

 again shown by the program of the Shef- 

 fleld meeting. Canon Bonney, the presi- 

 dent-elect, as emeritus professor of geology 

 in University College, London, and a 

 former president of the Geological So- 

 ciety, may be expected to devote his inaug- 

 ural address to the discussion of some as- 

 pect of geological science. He is perhaps 

 best known as a student of petrology; but 



