436 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 196. 



THE BBITISn ASSOCIATION FOR THE AD- 

 , VANCEMENT OF SCIENCE* 



On September 7th the British Associa- 

 tion met in Bristol for the third time since 

 its foundation. It met there very early in 

 its career -in 1836 — when the Marquis of 

 Lansdowne was President. Among the 

 distinguished men of the period who were 

 present in an oiKcial capacity were Whe- 

 well, Buckland and Henslow, and the total 

 attendance was 1,350. The Association 

 met again at Bristol about forty years later 

 — in 1875 — when the Presidential cliair was 

 occupied by the eminent engineer, Sir John 

 Hawkshaw. Many distinguished scientific 

 men were present, the total attendance 

 being 1,951. There were registered early 

 in the week for the present meeting 2,284 

 members and associates. The Bristol au- 

 thorities and the local officials did every- 

 thing in their power to render the meeting 

 at least a social success. Besides the usual 

 conversazione, there were one or more garden 

 parties, and visits to places of interest in 

 the city and neighborhood every day, not 

 to mention private dinner parties. On Fri- 

 day evening, September 9th, there was a 

 symposium in the Merchant Venturers' 

 Technical College. On Saturdaj^, Septem- 

 ber 10th, there was a public banquet 

 arranged by the President and members 

 of the Bristol Chamber of Commerce. 

 On Tuesday, September 13th, there was 

 another banquet given by the Master 

 and Society of Merchant Venturers. A 

 Biological Exhibition was held in the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens, the opening ceremony 

 being performed by Sir John Lubbock on 

 the afternoon of the 8th. Some two dozen 

 manufactories, works, etc., were open to the 

 inspection of members, besides a variety of 

 institutions and places of interest. Eight 

 excursions were arranged for Saturday, the 

 10th, and other eight for Thursday, the 



* Based on articles in the London Times. 



15th. At the end of the meeting, September 

 16th to 20th, there was a five days' excur- 

 sion to Exeter, Torquay, Plymouth and 

 Dartmoor. 



The President of the Association, Sir 

 William Crookes, in his address * dealt with 

 the subject of the Supply of Wheat to the 

 United Kingdom and then to the whole 

 civilized world. He discussed methods of 

 fixing atmospheric nitrogen and converting 

 it into valuable manure. He then pro- 

 ceeded to deal with more purely scientific 

 subjects — the liquefaction of hydrogen, the 

 constitution of matter at absolute zero, the 

 newly discovered gaseous elements, the 

 Zeeman phenomenon, Eontgen ray discov- 

 eries, practical and theoretical, cathode 

 rays and the fourth state of matter, Ura- 

 nium and Polonium rays, unsuspected 

 sources of energy, spectroscopy, and a new 

 element — and ended with a discussion of 

 psychical research. 



Section A (Mathematics and Physics) 

 was presided over by the distinguished 

 physicist Professor W. E. Ayrton, F.E.S., 

 whose ingenious inventions and applica- 

 tions are well known. His address was 

 largely concerned with the diifusion of 

 smells. On Thursday, the 8th, the Inter- 

 national Conference on Terrestrial Magnet- 

 ism and Atmospheric Electricity assembled 

 and Professor Riicker delivered an address. 

 The meeting of this conference will be re- 

 garded as part of Section A, but separate 

 sittings were held each day. Saturday's 

 sittings were devoted to mathematics and 

 meteorology, and papers on experimental 

 electricity were taken on Tuesday. A 

 joint meeting of Sections A and B (Chem- 

 istry) for the discussion of results of the 

 recent solar eclipse expedition was held on 

 Monday. 



The President of Section B (Chemistry) 

 was Professor F. R. Japp, of Aberdeen Uni- 



*This address -will be published in Science as 

 soon as space permits. — Ed. 



