12 REPORT — 1841. 



" 'Royal Society's Apartments, May 5th, 1841. 



" ' The Secretary of the Committee appointed by the Council of the British 

 Association, on the 29th March 1 841, — to inquire into the authority alleged to 

 have been given to the report furnished by Mr. Nasmyth to the Secretary of 

 the British Association by a printed revise, purporting to be the report of the 

 Editorial Secretary of a paper of Mr. Nasmyth's, read to the Geological Sec- 

 tion at the meeting of the British Association at Birmingham, — is instructed 

 by the Committee to request Mr. Nasmyth to bring or send the original paper 

 which he read at the Geological Section at Birmingham, to the Committee, at 

 their next meeting, to be held at the Apartments of the Royal Society, at half 

 past four o'clock, on Saturday, the 8th of May, under cover, addressed to the 

 Chairman of the Committee of the British Association, Royal Society, Somer- 

 set House.' 



" Your Committee again met for the purpose of receiving Mr. Nasmyth's 

 answer, and found the following letter, addressed to the Chairman, had been 

 sent to the Royal Society : — 



"' 13 A, George Street, Hanover Square, 7th May, 1841. 



" ' Mr. Nasmyth begs to acknowledge the receipt of a communication, dated 

 May 5th, from the Secretary of a Committee appointed by the Council of the 

 British Association, on the 29th March 1841, to inquire into the authority 

 alleged to have been given to the report furnished by Mr. Nasmyth to the Se- 

 cretary of the British Association by a printed revise purporting to be the re- 

 port of the Editorial Secretary of a paper of Mi'. Nasmyth's, &c. Mr. Nasmyth 

 begs positively to state that he had nothing whatever to do with the drawing 

 up of the above-mentioned printed revise, and he takes this opportunity of 

 distinctly repeating, that it does not merely ' purport ' to be the report of the 

 Editorial Secretai'y, but must actually be considered as such, having been sent 

 to him by that gentleman precisely in the state in which it at present exists in 

 his possession. 



" ' The evidence in Mr. Nasmyth's hands, respecting the origin of this re- 

 port, he has already submitted to the Secretary of the Council*, as well as all 

 his original communications. In respect to the latter he begs to refer the 

 Committee to two letters in Mr. Yates's possession ; the one in print, dated 

 the 17th April, addressed by Mr. Nasmyth to the Members of the Council of 

 the British Association ; the other in manuscript, dated 27th April, and ad- 

 dressed to Mr. Yates himself. 



" ' Mr. Nasmyth is pleased to find that the question at issue, between the 

 Council and himself, is so distinctly defined in the note to which he is at pre- 

 sent replying; and in order that this matter may now at once be set at rest, 

 will the Committee have the goodness, as soon as possible, to forward to Mr. 

 Nasmyth the assurance that so soon as satisfactory proof shall have been sub- 

 mitted to it, that the 'printed revise' of the report in question emanated from 

 the officer of the British Association, satisfaction shall also be immediately af- 

 forded to him by the restoration of his own report to the urinted Transactions 

 of the Association ?' 



* The printed revise in question was stated by Mr. Nasmyth to Mr. Yates to have been re- 

 ceived by him in an envelope, produced for Mr. Yates's inspection ; it bore the London post 

 mark of the 2nd of April, 1840 ; was directed to Mr. Nasmyth in the hand- writing of the fore- 

 man of Mr. Taylor's printing establishment, and contained the following printed sentence :— 

 " Professor Phillips will be obliged by the immediate return of this proof to Messrs. R. and J. E. 

 Taylor, Red Lion Court." From the date of the post mark it n'.ay be inferred that the inclo- 

 sure contained ia the envelope was the printed abstract of Mr. Nasmyth's geological paper re- 

 ferred to in his letter to Mr. Phillips of the same date (page 2). The "proof," which must 

 have preceded the "revise" in Mr. Nasmyth's possession, has been sought in vain, as well 

 as the manuscript from which it had been printed. 



