British Association News, 



The members of section C were photographed at DubHn, One of the 

 party, evidently a victim to the prevailing humorous epidemic, secured a 

 large label — ' Geological Specimens ' — from an adjoining door, and held 

 it above the members' heads, and it was duly ' taken.' Such a geological 

 collection is not often seen together at one time ! 



From the ' Dublin Mail ' we learn that Mr. H. Wager told the botanists 

 attending the British Association of a remarkable discovery, whereby 

 photographic lenses may be made from leaves of plants. The outer lavers 

 of many kinds of leaves, he said, are so constructed that the rays of light 

 are brought to focus in the interior of the leaf. The cells, in fact, behave 

 as convex lenses. The extraordinary part of the paper was the statement 

 that the author had actually taken photographs through these living lenses. 

 Some remarkably clear photographs were shewn upon the screen, taken 

 through the lenses of leaves — photographs of Huxley and Darwin, of the 

 author's niece, of landscapes, and so on. 



After the above we were quite prepared to see the following in one of 

 the dailies : — ' A scientist has been saying that plants can see. Well, 

 beanstalk ' ! 



From the ' Irish Times ' we learn that ' the long-expected meeting came 

 upon us suddenly at the last, and we were hardly prepared for the vigour 

 of its arrival. But the pimply outbreak of our streets into notice-boards 

 bearing arrows and figures in inextricable confusion, and the poster- 

 strewn aspect of our ancient University, which caused it to be besieged 

 by bewildered foreigners under the idea that it was announcing the closing 

 performances of the " Merry Widow," roused us to a sense of our respon- 

 sibilities.' 



In section ' C ' Tuesday morning was occupied by a discussion on 

 ' Mountain Building,' in which Prof. Joly, Prof. Lapworth, Prof. Sollas, 

 Prof. Cole and vSir Archibald Geikie took part. This alone was worth 

 a visit to Dublin. 



In his presidential address, iVIr. Francis Darwin pointed out that there 

 had not been a Botanical President of the British Association since the 

 Norwich Meeting forty years ago, when Sir Joseph Hooker was in the chair, 

 and in ' eloquent and felicitous words ' (to quote his father's letter) spoke 

 in defence of the doctrine of evolution. He was sure that every member 

 of this Association would be glad to be reminded that Sir Joseph Hooker 

 w^as, happily, still working at the subject that his lifelong labours have so 

 greatly advanced, and of which he has long been recognised as the honoured 

 chief and leader. 



A total of £1191 was granted for scientific purposes at the Dublin 

 meeting. This amount, however, included various unexpended balances 

 from the previous year. Amongst the items granted for 1910 we notice : — 

 Seismological Observations, £60 ; Fossiliferous Drift Deposits, £11 ; Fauna 

 and Flora of British Trias, ^8 ; Crystalline Rocks of Anglesey, £1 ; Faunal 

 Succession in the Carboniferous Limestone in British Isles, ;^io ; Erratic 

 Blocks, £12 ; Palaeozoic Rocks, £\^ ; Composition of Charnwood Rocks, 

 £2. ; Igneous and Associated Sedimentary Rocks of Glensaul, £20 ; Inves- 

 tigations at Briska, £^0 ; Index Animalium, £j^ ; Table at the Zoological 

 Station at Naples, ;^ioo ; Hereditary Experiments, £40 ; Feeding Habits 

 of British Birds, £=f ; Glastonbury Lake Village, £^ ; Excavations on 

 Roman Sites in Britain, £^ ; Age of Stone Circles, £^0 ; Anthropological 

 Notes and Queries, £4.0 ; Researches in Crete, £^0 ; Structure of Fossil 

 Plants, £^ ; Botanical Photographs, £10 ; Symbiosis between Turbellarian 

 Worms and Algae, £10 ; Survey of Clare Island, ^65. 



Mr. H. Brodrick read a paper to Section C, on the footprints from the 

 Yorkshire Oolites, which were illustrated in these columns recently. He 

 stated that he had since found a further slab upon which there were im- 

 pressions of several footprints. 



1908 October i 



