SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



H7 



SCIENCE IN SESSION. 



The British Association. 



'T*HE results of this year's meeting of the 

 British Association must be considered, on 

 the whole, successful. The attendance numbered 

 some 2,500 persons, and the visitors were received 

 by the citizens of Bristol with marked hospitality. 

 The Colston Hall having been destroyed recently 

 by fire, the local committee were forced to find 

 accommodation at the People's Palace. The 

 address of Sir William Crookes, F.R.S., as 

 President, excited a good deal of interest from 

 the unexpected and somewhat surprising character 

 of its subject-matter. To many of those who 

 crossed the immense prairie regions of North 

 America on the occasion of the Association's visit 

 to Canada, the president's statement, that in view 

 of the growing demand for wheat thirty years 

 would be the limit to its natural production, unless 

 assisted by artificial means, must have come rather 

 as a surprise. His guarded references to telepathy 

 could offend no one. A conversazione was held 

 at the Clifton College, where the visitors were 

 entertained by demonstrations of wireless tele- 

 graphy and of the spectra of the atmospheric 

 elements. The social interest of the gathering — 

 by no means the least important — was well 

 sustained. An excursion to Bath, made at the 

 invitation of the Mayor of that city, was largely 

 attended ; on this occasion the visitors having 

 much to interest them in the way of archjeology 

 and the physical and natural sciences. 



The sectional presidential addresses were all 

 of average interest. In Section A — Mathema- 

 tical and Physical Science, Prof. W. E. Ayrton, 

 F.R.S., after referring to the loss sustained 

 by science through the accident to Dr. John 

 Hopkinson, and welcoming the members of the 

 International Magnetic Conference, took for his 

 subject the " Physics of Smell " as a new field of 

 research, and described what he and others had 

 contributed to a knowledge of the subject. Pro- 

 fessor F. R. Japp, F.R.S., addressed Section B — 

 Chemistry, on Stereochemistry and Vitalism. In 

 Section C— Geology, Mr.W. H. Hudleston, F.R.S.. 

 dealt with the geology of the Bristol area and Severn 

 estuary. Professor W. F. R. Weldon, F.R.S., in 

 Section D — Zoology, discussed the problems 

 arising from variation, inheritance and selective 

 destruction among animals. In Section E — Geo- 

 graphy, Colonel G. E. Church took for his subject 

 the geography of the Argentine and the ancient 

 Pampean Sea. In Section F — Economics, and 

 Section G — Mechanical Science, Dr. J. Bonar 

 and Sir John Wolfe Barry respectively presided. 

 In Section H, Anthropology — which later pro- 

 vided the sensation of the Bristol meeting 

 through M. Louis de Rougemont's paper on the 



natives of unexplored Australia — Mr. E. W, 

 Bradbrook spoke on "The Unity of the Anthro- 

 pological Sciences " ; and in Section K — Professor 

 F. O. Bower, F.R.S., discussed the homology of 

 the members of the vegetable world generally. 



International Congress of Zoologists. 

 The fourth International Congress of Zoologists, 

 under the patronage of the Prince of Wales and 

 presidency of the Right Hon. Sir John Lubbock, 

 Bart., M.P., F.R.S., met at Cambridge in the last 

 week of August. Its meetings are triennial, and this 

 was the first he'd in Britain, the previous gather- 

 ings having been held at Paris, with 60 members ; 

 Moscow, 120 members; and Leyden, 200 members. 

 In his address, delivered on August 23rd, Sir John 

 Lubbock took for his subject the importance of 

 international conference in scientific matters, and 

 the value of the study of science for the general 

 well-being of mankind. The president proceeded 

 to show how much was still awaiting investigation, 

 and how many workers were still required. Pro- 

 ceeding with instances of recent discovery, he 

 showed the value of studying common things and 

 incidents close to hand. Among the invitations 

 and entertainment provided by the Committee for 

 foreign and other visitors, in addition to the 

 local attractions offered by the reception committee 

 at Cambridge, were visits to the Zoological 

 Gardens in London, the Natural History Museum, 

 Cromwell Road, the Royal Societies Club, the 

 Museum of the College of Surgeons, the Hon. 

 Walter Rothschild's Museum at Tring, the collec- 

 tion of deer at Woburn Park, and the Marine 

 Biological Laboratories at Plymouth and the Isle 

 of Man. 



The meetings of the Congress were sectional, 

 being divided into {a) General Zoology, (b) Verte- 

 brata, (c) Invertebrata, excepting (d) Arthropoda. 

 The papers read before these sections were 

 numerous and varied, and by some of the lead- 

 ing zoologists of the world. The question of 

 nomenclature, which it was hoped would receive 

 the attention of the Congress and possibly 

 some approach to settlement, was left untouched. 

 The next or fifth Congress is to be held in 

 Germany in 1901, the town to be selected by 

 the Permanent Committee of the Zoological Con- 

 gress in Paris. Not the least interesting cere- 

 mony was the presentation of nine of the leading 

 foreign visitors to the Vice-Chancellor for honorary 

 degrees. The orations describing the attainments 

 of each were delivered by Dr. Sandys, the Public 

 Orator, who adopted the reformed pronunciation • 

 in his Latin addresses. 



The "Journal of Malacology" has returned to 

 its founder, Mr. Walter E. Collinge, who will in 

 future conduct it instead of Mr. Wilfred Mark 

 Webb. 



