42 [Proc. B.N.F.C, 



David Brewster to Professor John Phillips, the geologist, who 

 was then Secretary to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society. 

 As the result of this communication, the first scientific Parlia- 

 ment of Great Britain, the British Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, was held in York in 1831, under the 

 presidency of Lord Fitzwilliam. At first the Universities gave 

 the movement a hesitating support, but the policy of the pro- 

 moters in visiting successively for the following four years 

 Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, and Dublin removed all 

 doubts, and the success of the Association was assured. Since 

 its establishment in 1831, or a period of seventy years, the 

 British Association has held 71 annual meetings — 47 at 23 

 English centres, 11 at 4 Scotch centres, 6 at 3 Irish centres, 

 3 at 2 Welsh centres, and 2 at 2 Canadian centres. The place 

 of meeting, date, and President of each of the six Irish meet- 

 ings are as follow: — Dublin, 1835, the Rev. Provost Lloyd, 

 LL.D.; Cork, 1843, the Earl of Rosse, F.R.S.; Belfast, 1852, 

 Lieutenant-General Sabine, F.R.S. ; Dublin, 1857, the Rev. 

 Humphrey Lloyde, D.D. ; Belfast, 1874, Professor J. Tyndall, 

 LL.D., F.R.S. j Dublin, 1878, W. Spottiswood, M.A., F.R.S. 

 The objects of the Association, as arranged at the first meet- 

 ing in York, 1831, are still the same, namely: — ''To give a 

 stronger impulse and a more systematic direction to scientific 

 inquiry; to promote the intercourse of those who cultivate 

 science in different parts of the British Empire, with one 

 another, and with foreign philosophers; to obtain a more 

 general attention to the objects of science, and a removal of 

 any disadvantages of a public kind which impede its progress." 

 Now, when we consider that during the week the meeting is 

 held the number of reports and papers submitted for discus- 

 sion on every question of scientific interest is between three 

 and four hundred, we can understand why it has been found 

 absolutely necessary to allocate them to separate Sections, 

 each Section having its own President, Vice-Presidents, and 

 Secretaries, thus enabling the Association '' to give a more 

 systematic direction to scientific inquiry." The following are 

 the Sections now in operation, with the respective dates and 



