730 Meeting of the British Association, [Oct., 



believe this omission in the President's Address to have been un- 

 intentional, for we know he is the first to recognize true merit and 

 give his aid to rising talent and faithful labour in whatever sphere of 

 society it is to be found. His year of office has fortunately but just 

 commenced ; and we trust that he will remember that if there has 

 been but little of novelty of late in pure and experimental science, a 

 great effort is just now being made to impart practical instruction to 

 the masses by a number of disinterested (chiefly young) men, who will 

 assuredly at no distant period be the mainstays of scientific truth. 



The President's Address is couched in most beautiful language, 

 and presents an example of what may be produced by one who has 

 enjoyed an academical as well as a scientific training, and we cannot 

 do him greater justice than by borrowing his opening remarks as a 

 conclusion to this brief commentary ; feeling assured that they have 

 been, or will be heartily assented to by the devotees of Science in 

 every land., 



" Assembled," he says, " for the third time in this busy centre of 

 industrious England, amid the roar of engines and the clang of 

 hammers, where the strongest powers of nature are trained to work 

 in the fairy chains of art, how softly falls upon the ear the accent of 

 Science, the friend of that art, and the guide of that industry ! Here, 

 where Priestley analyzed the air, and Watt obtained the mastery over 

 steam, it well becomes the students of nature to gather round the 

 standard which they carried so far into the fields of knowledge. And 

 when, on other occasions, we meet in quiet colleges and Academic 

 halls, how gladly welcome is the union of fresh discoveries and 

 new inventions with the solid and venerable truths which are there 

 treasured and taught. Long may such union last ; the fair alliance 

 of cultivated thought and practical skill ; for by it labour is dignified 

 and science fertilized, and the condition of human society exalted ! " 



Physical Science. (Section A.) 



The proceedings of this Section were opened on Thursday, Sept. 8th, 

 by an able address from the President, W. Spottiswoode, F.R.S., 

 in which the various discoveries and advances made in Physical and 

 Mathematical Science during the year were passed in review. The 

 President commenced by remarking that the great range of subjects 

 comprised in this Section, and the multiplicity of papers submitted to 

 it, have doubtless contributed to deter his predecessors in this chair 

 from preparing addresses so elaborate and comprehensive as those 

 delivered to other Sections. The custom, however, of prefacing the 

 business proper by a short summary of subjects which have engaged 

 the attention of philosophers during the past year, and which may 

 therefore be expected to come before them during the present sittings, 

 appears to be sanctioned by the wishes of the members, and might 

 perhaps be followed without materially departing from that brevity 

 which is here both customary and desirable. 



