session - 1900-1901. 
XIX 
being vested in the authors of the papers. It follows that if any 
part of our Transactions were to go out of print, the Society could 
not legally reprint it without the permission of the author of every 
paper in such part. In the Bill which will shortly he brought 
before Parliament it is proposed to make the insertion of abstracts 
of foreign scientific papers a breach of copyright. This is a retro¬ 
grade step which would retard the progress of knowledge, and 
would weigh heavily on several scientific Societies which publish 
such abstracts to the great benefit of their members. 
The following resolution was carried unanimously :—“ That the 
matter of the proposed Copyright Bill be referred, through the 
Committee of Becommendations, to the General Committee, so far 
as it affects (1) the copyright of scientific Societies in their 
Transactions, and (2) the publication of abstracts of scientific 
papers ; and that they be requested to take such action as will 
protect scientific Societies.” 
Second Meeting. 
Dew-Ponds .—Professor L. C. Miall read a very interesting paper 
on the dew-ponds which abound in Sussex and Hampshire, and are 
not uncommon on the Chalk hills of Berkshire and Wiltshire, 
while there are few or none to be found on the Chalk hills of 
Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire, or Yorkshire. This, he 
thought, might be connected with the distance from the sea in 
a H.E.-S.W. line, for the south-west winds, which bring the chief 
part of our atmospheric moisture, can reach the South Downs 
almost direct from the sea, while they can only reach the Chalk 
hills of the Midlands and the North of England after traversing 
a great extent of country and crossing many ranges of hills. 
Professor Miall favoured the view that dew-ponds are to some 
extent replenished by dew, and not entirely by rain and mists. 
The paper, which is published in extenso in the ‘Deport of the 
British Association for 1900,’ gave rise to a long discussion in 
which twelve Delegates joined. It transpired from the remarks 
of Mr. Clement Beid that dew-ponds which best withstand a long 
drought have trees growing on their margin, and this appeared to 
be owing to dew forming on the trees and trickling down into the 
ponds, thus showing that such ponds are really to some extent 
fed by dew. 
Your Delegate gave the result of some of his observations on the 
dew-ponds of the South Downs, favouring the view that they are 
almost entirely fed by rain or mist, pointing out how greatly the 
margin contributes to their replenishment, the receiving area being 
so much larger than the evaporating area, and stating that the 
level of the water in them was not nearly so constant as seemed to 
be supposed. This was shortly afterwards confirmed in the course 
of a cycle ride from Watford to Lyme Begis, when several dew- 
ponds were observed to be nearly dry, and none were seen with 
a less margin than the width of the surface of water, that is, without 
having at least nine times as much receiving as evaporating area. 
