SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1884. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 



As we go to press the British association 

 for the advancement of science is opening its 

 first meeting on this side of the Atlantic. 

 Although the acceptance of the urgent invi- 

 tation to the British -association by the Cana- 

 dians was tardy, and at first reluctant, the 

 English have responded at last with hearty 

 good will ; and the flood which entered Mon- 

 treal on the early days of this week put the 

 elasticity of the hotels, and the generosity of 

 the people, of Montreal to the severest test. 

 Though some of the scientific men, best known 

 to fame and the American public through their 

 former personal visits, or their writings of a 

 general interest, — men like Tyndall and Hux- 

 ley, Hooker and Lubbock, — have not come to 

 the meeting, there are present on the opening 

 day a sufficient number of the leaders of science 

 to insure a notable gathering, and to well re- 

 pay such of their American brethren as have 

 taken long journeys to meet them. Many of 

 our own countrymen are in attendance, glad to 

 be among the first to welcome their colleagues ; 

 and many more would doubtless have come, 

 did they not fear the}' would infringe too much 

 on hospitalities intended for the honor of trans- 

 atlantic friends. It is estimated that about 

 eight hundred have crossed the Atlantic to 

 attend the meeting, as members or associates, 

 and that at least six hundred more have been 

 enrolled from Canada and the United States, 

 including the fellows of the American associ- 

 ation who have accepted honorary member- 

 ship. 



The arrangements of the local committee 

 have been as thorough and careful as could be 

 expected. The rooms devoted to the use of 

 the association leave, indeed, something to be 

 desired, as many of them are far too small for 



No. 82. — 1884. 



convenience ; but they have generally the ad- 

 vantage, not only of close proximity to each 

 other, but of an airy situation on the upper 

 edge of the city, which may be welcome before 

 the week is out. But, in the halls of McGill 

 college and its affiliated institutions, accom- 

 modation was not found for all ; and the sec- 

 tions of geography and statistics have been 

 assigned to rooms a quarter of a mile distant, 

 in the city proper. The local committee has 

 thoroughly canvassed the city, and printed a 

 list of places where lodgings may be had. 

 Each member is provided with a handbook of 

 the Dominion of Canada, — a generous volume, 

 accompanied by maps, containing all one could 

 desire, excepting an index, and a plan of Mon- 

 treal. The latter, however, is printed most 

 conveniently on the back of the large, folding 

 members' tickets. Evening soirees and gar- 

 den-parties, with excursions in abundance, are 

 planned at various times during the meeting ; 

 but the sessions are unbroken \>y any ' lunch,' 

 except such as individuals may obtain at any 

 time for a pittance, in a tent on the university 

 2f rounds. 



The sections meet daily at eleven, and con- 

 tinue in session for five hours without inter- 

 mission. One sees the association here as he 

 sees it in England, holding its traditions un- 

 tarnished. In one matter, however, the}' have 

 given way to Canadian solicitation by permit- 

 ting the meeting of the association to be 

 opened in American fashion, by addresses of 

 welcome from the city of Montreal, holding a 

 special session for the purpose. One point in 

 which the association meetings differ notably 

 from our own, is in limiting the attendance at 

 all meetings, addresses, and lectures, as well 

 as at all festivities, to members of one class or 

 another. Such a restriction in our own asso- 

 ciation would doubtless be an additional incen- 

 tive to membership in places where it holds its 

 meetings, and it could certainlv Drove no bar 



