August 15, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



215 



open in Birmingham on September 10, will 

 be the fifth meeting which the association 

 has held in the metropolis of the Midlands. 

 The first Birmingham meeting was as far 

 back as 1839, nine years after the associa- 

 tion was established; the Rev. "W. Vernon 

 Harcourt, F.R.S., was president, and the 

 attendance numbered 1,438. At the second 

 Birmingham meeting, ten years later, when 

 the Rev. Dr. T. R. Robinson, F.R.S., was 

 president, the attendance sank to 1,071, one 

 of the smallest musters in the history of the 

 association; but at the third meeting, in 

 1865, when Professor J. Phillips, F.R.S., 

 was president, the attendances totalled 

 1,997. The last meeting held in Birming- 

 ham was in 1886, two years after the asso- 

 ciation had paid the first of its visits to the 

 overseas empire at the invitation of the city 

 of Montreal. As an acknowledgment of 

 the hospitality then shown to the associa- 

 tion, as well as of the high standard of 

 scientific attainment in Canada, the presi- 

 dent of the Birmingham meeting in 1886 

 was Sir J. William Dawson, F.R.S., prin- 

 cipal and vice-chancellor of McGill Univer- 

 sity. Both in point of numbers and as 

 regards the scientific interest of the pro- 

 ceedings, the meeting was one of the most 

 successful in the long record of the associa- 

 tion. The attendance numbered 2,453, and 

 among the sectional presidents were Pro- 

 fessor (afterwards Sir) George Darwin, 

 F.R.S., Mr. (afterwards Sir) W. Crookes, 

 F.R.S., Professor T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 

 and Major-General Sir F. J. Goldsmid. 



Hopes are entertained that the forth- 

 coming meeting will be the largest of all 

 the Birmingham meetings. There are ex- 

 pectations of an attendance of over 3,000, 

 and the program of the meeting, both on 

 its scientific and social sides, is certainly 

 one of a very attractive order. Appropri- 

 ately enough. Sir Oliver Lodge will assume 

 the presidential chair at the inaugural 



meeting. By conservative men of science 

 the principal of Birmingham University is 

 regarded as decidedly heterodox in some of 

 his views; but he has the courage of his 

 convictions, and is not afraid, when grap- 

 pling with problems of supreme human 

 interest, to take a wide view of the scope of 

 scientific research. How far he will allow 

 himself to go in this direction in his presi- 

 dential address is not known, but the sub- 

 ject of it, so far as yet defined, offers nu- 

 merous possibilities, and the address is cer- 

 tain to be awaited with a good deal of 

 curiosity. At present Sir Oliver Lodge's 

 idea is to take a wide and philosophical 

 survey of the position of science in general, 

 incidentally dealing with the discussions 

 and controversies relating to the existence 

 and the functions of the ether of space, and 

 to the physical continuity of which it is 

 the chief element. 



ACCOMMODATION AND ENTERTAINMENTS 



Birmingham is excellently fitted to ac- 

 commodate the largest congresses, even 

 when they attain the size and complexity 

 of the British Parliament of Science. The 

 twelve sections composing the association 

 will be much less scattered than in many 

 cities in which meetings have been held. 

 No fewer than seven of the sections will be 

 grouped in one of the university buildings. 

 Mason College. Excellent quarters have 

 been found for the other sections in 

 Queen's College, the Midland Institute, the 

 Technical School and the Temperance HaU. 

 The Town Hall has been allotted for the 

 use of the association as a general recep- 

 tion room, and in the new Art Gallery of 

 the Council House the Lord Mayor will 

 hold a reception on the evening of Thurs- 

 day, September 11. On the afternoon of 

 the same day the university will confer 

 honorary degrees on some of the most dis- 

 tinguished visitors, the ceremony taking 



