638 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 277. 



The Royal Meteorological Society celebrated 

 its Jubilee on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 

 Srd and 4th. The British Medical Journal states 

 that on Tuesday afternoon a meeting was held, 

 when the President (Dr. C. Theodore Williams), 

 addressed a large number of Fellows of the So- 

 ciety and delegates of other societies. He be- 

 gan by explaining that the late Mr. G. J. 

 Symons, who had been elected President for 

 the Jubilee year, had, before his fatal seizure of 

 apoplexy, prepared an address tracing the be- 

 ginning of meteorology in this country, and the 

 history of the Society. Mr. Symons stated that 

 the earliest observer was the Rev. William 

 Merle, whose records, made at Driby, in Lin- 

 colnshire, from 1337 to 1344, were still pre- 

 served in the Bodleian Library. After referring 

 to Robert Boyle and Dr. Plot, Mr. Symons 

 pointed out that Sir Christopher Wren, the 

 architect of St. Paul's was the inventor of the 

 first recording rain gauge. An English Mete- 

 orological Society had been founded in 1823, 

 but did little work. Another society was 

 founded in 1836, but did not take any part in 

 the formation of the present society, which was 

 founded on April 3, 1850, at the house of the 

 late Dr. Lee, F.R.S., of Aylesbury, under the 

 ■name of the British Meteorological Society. In 

 1866 a Royal Charter was obtained, and the 

 Society assumed its present name. Mr. Symons 

 urged that the Government, which provided a 

 home for some of the richer societies at 

 Burlington House, ought to build a proper 

 centre for the smaller societies, and his address 

 concluded with a sketch of the work done by 

 the Royal Meteorological Society. Dr. Theodore 

 Williams, after a short appreciation of the char- 

 acter and work of the late Mr. Symons, gave ac- 

 count of the scientific work which is now being 

 carried on by the Society. At the conclusion of 

 Dr. Williams's remarks each of the delegates at 

 tending the meeting was presented with a medal 

 struck iu honor of the occasion. In the even- 

 ing a conversazione was held, and on Wednesday 

 morning a visit was paid to Greenwich Obser- 

 vatory. In the evening a dinner was held over 

 which Dr. Theodore Williams presided. Mr. 

 W. N. Shaw, the Secretary of the Bleteorolog- 

 ical Council, who gave the toast of ' The Royal 

 Meteorological Societv,' enumerated some of 



the phenomena which still awaited explanation 

 and insisted on the necessity of co-operation, 

 both among meteorologists themselves and be- 

 tween them and workers in other sciences. 

 The toast having been suitably acknowledged 

 by the President, Mr. Bayard gave that of ' The 

 Delegates fi-om other Societies,' for which Pro- 

 fessor Silvanus Thompson responded. 



Nature in commenting editorially on the dis- 

 cussion before the American Society of Natural- 

 ists, on ' The position that universities should 

 take in regard to the investigation,' published in 

 this JouENAL, compares unfavorably the work 

 of English Universities with those in the United 

 States and in Germany. The article concludes 

 as follows : It is needless to say that, like the 

 American universities, the universities of the 

 continent, and in especial those of Germany, are 

 conspicuous for the extent to which they encour- 

 age research by their funds and by their arrange- 

 ments. The historian of the future, who is to 

 trace the vast progress made in recent years by 

 Germany in power, wealth, commerce, the arts 

 and industries, without doubt will notice the 

 part played by her many universities in this 

 momentous change. A single article in the 

 pages of a scientific journal is not a suitable ve- 

 hicle for any exact examination of the relative 

 advances made by England and other countries 

 in recent times. But, until matters have been 

 put right, every opportunity is convenient to 

 insist that the universities of Britain do not en- 

 courage research sufficiently, and that, in par- 

 ticular, her richest university habitually and 

 systematically despises research in its general 

 arrangements, in the allocation of its endow- 

 ments, and in the distribution of its revenues. 

 Moreover, it is especially unfortunate that not 

 only is the amount of consideration given 

 to research minute, but is diminishing. A 

 single example is more convincing than a 

 multitude of general statements, and an ap- 

 propriate instance lies unfortunately ready to 

 hand In the preface to the last volume 

 of ' Linacre Reports, ' recently issued by 

 Professor Ray Lankester. The late Linacre 

 Professor and present keeper of the British 

 Museum of Natural History, in a preface ad- 

 dressed to the vice-chancellor of the University 

 of Oxford, deplores the attitude of the Oxford 



