September 5, 1884.] 



SCIENCE. 



203 



can be no need, before this audience, to plead the 

 higher rank of the intellectual, aesthetic, and moral 

 life above the material, or to argue that the pabulum 

 of the mind is worth as much as food for the body. 

 Now, it is unquestionable, that, in the investiga- 

 tion and discovery of the secrets and mysteries of 

 the heavens, the human intellect finds most invig- 

 orating exercise, and most nourishing and growth- 

 making aliment. What other scientific facts and 

 conceptions are more effective in producing a mod- 

 est, sober, truthful, and ennobling estimate of man's 



place in nature, both of his puny insignificance, 

 regarded as a physical object, and his towering spirit, 

 in some sense comprehending the universe itself, and 

 so akin to the divine ? 



A nation oppressed by poverty, and near to starv- 

 ing, needs first, most certainly, the trades and occupa- 

 tions that will feed and clothe it. When bodily com- 

 fort has been achieved, then higher needs and wants 

 appear; and then science, for truth's own sake, comes 

 to be loved and honored along with poetry and art, 

 leading men into a larger, higher, and nobler life. 



BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



SOME DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF 

 THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



The general plan of organization of the 

 British and American associations for the ad- 

 vancement of science is the same. The Eng- 

 lish body has a ; council ' corresponding closely 

 to our standing committee, and a ' general com- 

 mittee ' corresponding to our body of fellows. 

 There are, however, many points of difference 

 which it is well worth while to study with a 

 view of seeing what suggestions of value we 

 may derive for our own guidance. The first 

 of these is, that the British association has 

 long since given up the practice of meeting and 

 transacting business as an organized body. 

 The general meetings are held only to hear 

 such papers as the president's annual address, 

 and not to transact business of any kind. The 

 transaction of all business by the several com- 

 mittees saves much time which the American 

 association spends in the work of organizing 

 the meeting, and electing new members ; and 

 we may expect, that, as our numbers increase, 

 this work will become so cumbrous that we 

 shall finally adopt some plan of putting it en- 

 tirely into the hands of committees. 



The organization and conduct of the scien- 

 tific proceedings are so like those adopted by 

 ourselves as to call for little remark. The 

 division into sections is substantially the same 

 as with us ; and the main difference between 

 the sectional programmes is that no estimated 

 length of a paper is given by our neighbors, 

 thus avoiding one source of deception which 

 frequently annoys intended listeners. Per- 

 haps it was owing to the peculiar circum- 

 stances of the meeting, that the papers and 

 discussions were of a qualhVy superior to what 

 we are wont to expect in a semi-popular as- 

 semblage. Only men who had some serious 

 object could undertake so long a journey ; and 



the result has been, that what such men have 

 had to say was heard without any admixture 

 of the crude and ignorant speculations so often 

 interjected into the discussions, and even form- 

 ing the subject of the papers. The one sub- 

 ject in which English thought has always been 

 pre-eminent is the theories of physics, and the 

 discussion on the seat of electromotive forces 

 was all the more creditable from the barren- 

 ness of the subject. This discussion well illus- 

 trated the comparative state of science in the 

 two countries ; which may be expressed by 

 saying, that, while a few men of the highest 

 genius stand on the same level, foreign coun- 

 tries are greatly superior to us in the number 

 of trained men, thoroughly grounded in first 

 principles, which they are able to bring for- 

 ward. The lucid statement by Professor Wil- 

 lard G-ibbs of New Haven, of the principles 

 involved, was the feature of the discussion ; 

 yet it would have been hard for the speaker to 

 collect in his owm country .so appreciative an 

 audience as that which greeted him from be- 

 yond the ocean. 



The most valuable work of the British asso- 

 ciation has been the reports and investigations 

 undertaken by committees of its appointment. 

 Occasionally these reports have comprised 

 synopses of the progress of science in special 

 branches made by individual members, and 

 presented to the society. The greater number 

 have, however, been accounts of special re- 

 searches, the funds for prosecuting which have 

 been supplied by the association. A splendid 

 example of such work, which must ever re- 

 dound to the credit of the body which under- 

 took it, is the system of electrical units now 

 universally adopted, the basis for which was 

 furnished b}- a committee of the British asso- 

 ciation. It can hardly be too much to say, 

 that no one work of recent times has done 

 more for the progress and diffusion of electrical 



