356 American AssociatioTi. 



vey of Great Britain, Professor Eamsay; and to represent tbe 

 botanists of England, and the Linnean Society of London, we had 

 Mr. Seaman, one of the more eminent of the younger cultivators 

 of botanical science. Both of these gentlemen made themselves 

 very useful in the meetings of the sections. Prof. Ramsay, in par- 

 ticular, at once took his place as a leading mind in geological 

 science ; and by his union of bonhommie and ready utterance, 

 with profound and extensive knowledge, took a firm hold both of 

 the hearts and heads of the members. The mathematical and 

 physical science of Great Britain had but one eminent represen- 

 tative — Prof Kelland, of Edinburgh, whose presence in the phy- 

 sical section was warmly greeted by the American physicists; 

 though his dislike of public display prevented him from taking a 

 prominent part in the public meetings. 



It is to be regretted that the efforts of the Committee were un- 

 able to secure the presence of any of the savans of France or Ger- 

 many ; but even the partial success which attended the invita- 

 tions sent to Great Britain is a proper subject of congratulation; 

 and, taken in connection with the number of American men of 

 science who attended the late meeting of the British Association, 

 gives reason to hope for a more cordial union of scientific men on 

 the opposite sides of the Atlantic. A practical union of the Ame- 

 rican Association with its older and greater sister of Britain is 

 much to be desired. Why may not Canada, as a middle ground, 

 some day secui'e a joint meeting of both these bodies. As an 

 initiatory foreshadowing of such a communication, we insert a few 

 sentences from the address of the President of the Natural History 

 Society : — 



" We believe that Science knows no political limits. The great 

 physical laws of the Universe are the same in all lands. Geolo- 

 gical structure and animal and vegetable life are everywhere 

 framed on one uniform type. We cannot attempt to nationalize 

 science without losing its greatest results. But we are connected 

 with our American scientific friends by still closer ties. We are 

 one with them in language, institutions and origin. Descended 

 with them from that great people that, alone of the nations of the 

 world, has the vigor to beget children in its own likeness, and 

 capable of maintaining an independent existence, we acknowledge 

 their great nation as a brother. We regard it not as a prodigal 

 that has left his father's house to waste his father's substance, but 

 as an honorable adventurer who has departed from his paternal 



