there are now magnetic observatories, "supplied with the Kew instruments, and using the same methods of observation and reduction." The Kew Observatory itself has added another item to its list of useful labours : "This is the fortieth year," the President remarked, "since Mr. Schwabe began at Dessau his series of observations on the solar spots, which he has continued without intermission from 1826 to the present time. Impressed with the extreme desirableness of continuing beyond the limits of a single life a series already so valuable, the Committee of the Kew Observatory concerted with Mr. Schwabe for the commencement last year at Kew of a series which should run parallel with his for a time, and which afterwards, when the identity or proximate identity of the two should have been established, might, it was hoped, be prolonged indefinitely through future years. Mr. Schwabe's observations and those at Kew have accordingly been proceeding contemporaneously, and the comparison between their results during the ten months from January to October, 1866, inclusive, gives reason to believe that the object will be satisfactorily attained." In his Address, delivered in 1865, the President, as our readers will remember, announced that a great reflecting telescope had been ordered by the Legislature of Victoria, to be set up at Melbourne. The Royal Society cordially gave their advice and assistance to the enterprising colonists, and the work progressed rapidly. Concerning this, General Sabine said :— "We selected for the task one of our Fellows, Mr. Grubb, of Dublin, whose well-known optical and mechanical talents gave sure promise of success, and we obtained for him the advantage and assistance of a Superintending Committee, consisting of our late President the Earl of Rosse, Dr. Robinson, and Mr. Warren De la Rue. The contract for the work was signed on the 19th of January; the progress has been rapid, and I have great pleasure in informing you that, according to all appearance, the instrument will be ready for trial in the spring of 1867. All the large parts of it are ready for mounting, and the rest considerably advanced. The lattice-tube, the appearance of which is known to many of us from the photographs, is put together. It is made of ribs of steel to combine lightness and strength; they are rolled taper to effect this in the highest degree. The equilibrated systems of levers which support the great speculum, with their boxes, are of the same material and are also completed. Three specula have been cast, on a plan differing from that of Lord Rosse only by such modifications as were made necessary by their having central apertures. The first speculum came out sound from the annealing furnace, but had two blemishes on its surface which would have required a month to grind out, and Mr. Grubb broke it up without hesitation, though not many years ago such a disk would have been almost inestimable. The second cast has been successfully ground, and its surface is faultless. The third, a duplicate speculum, was cast on the 24th of October. The grinding has been performed by the polishing machine and steam engine which belong to the telescope, and will accompany it to Melbourne." Mr. Albert Le Sueur, a Wrangler of Cambridge, has been appointed Observer, and is to go out to Melbourne. As a further proof of the scientific ardour of the Victorians, the President stated that the Colony has remitted to this country a sum of money for the purchase of a set of self-recording magnetical instruments on the model of those at the Kew Observatory. The Copley Medal was awarded to Professor Julius Plücker, Foreign Member of the Royal Society, for his researches in Analytical Geometry, Magnetism, and Spectral Analysis. In the absence of Professor Plücker, the medal was handed to Professor Miller for transmission to him. The President, in presenting the medal, gave an outline of Professor Plücker's scientific investigations, which are of too recondite a nature to be minutely described here. It will be sufficient to state that Professor Plücker is not one of those who stand still and are content to know what has been known before. Both in Mathematics and in Natural Science he has for many years been a man of progress; and, although his studies are too abstruse for the general reader even to comprehend their meaning, they will conduct perhaps, sooner or later, to practical results which will be useful and intelligible to the world at large. One of the Royal Medals was awarded to Mr. Huggins, for his Researches on the Spectra of some of the Chemical Elements, and on the Spectra of certain of the Heavenly Bodies; and especially for his Researches on the Spectra of the Nebulæ, published in the " Philosophical Transactions." It is impossible to calculate the future scientific consequences of the wonderful power recently discovered, which enables us, by mere ocular observation, and without dialysis of component particles, to ascertain what are the elementary substances which are held in combination in a given object. In this novel and interesting branch of research Mr. Huggins and Dr. Miller are perhaps the foremost men we have; and they appear, in their Investigations of the Spectra of Heavenly Bodies, to have succeeded completely where other eminent observers have failed. The other Royal Medal was awarded to Mr. W. K. Parker, for his Researches in Comparative Osteology, and more especially on the Anatomy of the Skull, as contained in papers published in the "Transactions of the Zoological Society," and in the "Philosophical Transactions." In presenting the medal, the President reminded the Society of Mr. Parker's important investigations among the Foraminifera, but stated that the award of the medal was more especially due to the merit of certain papers on the Osteology of Balaniceps Rex, on the Osteology of the Gallinaceous Birds and Tinamous, and on the Skull of the Ostrich Tribe, respecting which he said : "In these elaborate and beautifully illustrated memoirs, Mr. Parker has not only displayed an extraordinary acquaintance with the details of Osteology, but has shown powers of anatomical investigation of a high order, and has made important contributions towards the establishment of the true theory of the vertebrate skull." The Rumford Medal was awarded to M. A. H. L. Fizeau, for his Optical Researches, and especially for his Investigations into the Effect of Heat on the Refractive Power of Transparent Bodies. In handing the medal to Professor Miller (who took charge of it in the absence of M. Fizeau), the President made some brief but interesting observations on the works and experiments of the learned foreigner, whose devotion for many years to the investigation of the phenomena of light and heat has been most consistent and remarkable. The Royal Astronomical Society held its Annual General Meeting in February, when Mr. A. Brewin and Mr. A. Finch were elected Fellows. The President, Mr. Warren De la Rue, presented to Professor J. C. Adams, Director of the Cambridge Observatory (the joint discoverer, with M. Le Verrier, of the planet Neptune), the Gold Medal awarded to him by the Council for his contributions to the development of the Lunar Theory. The Meeting then proceeded to elect the Officers and Council for the ensuing year. The gentleman elected to fill the office of President was the Rev. Charles Pritchard, a Cambridge Wrangler of high mathematical distinction, who was for many years the head master of a large school at Clapham, but has retired for some time, and now devotes himself exclusively to scientific pursuits. Mr. De la Rue, the outgoing President, was elected a Vice-President. The Royal Geographical Society held its Anniversary Meeting on the 28th of May, when the Officers of the Society for the ensuing year were elected. Sir R. I. Murchison was once more re-elected President. Mr. C. R. Markham retains his post as one of the Secretaries, and Mr. R. H. Major is his new coadjutor, in the place of Mr. L. Oliphant, M.P., who, on relinquishing the Secretaryship, was elected one of the Council. The discoverer of Lake Albert N'yanza, Mr. S. W. Baker (now Sir S. W. Baker), to whom a Gold Medal was awarded in his absence in 1865, was also placed on the Council. The Founder's Gold Medal was given to Dr. T. Thomson for his labours in the Western Himalayas and Thibet, and the Patron's, or Victoria, Gold Medal, to Mr. W. Chandless, for his exploration of the Purus river, a tributary of the Amazon. The Society also presented 100 guineas as a testimonial to M. P. B. Du Chaillu, so well known by his narratives of African travel; and a watch, value 25 guineas, to Moola Abdul Medjid, for his journey over the Panier Steppe, in Central Asia. The Archæological Institute, which has been wont to assemble in provincial towns, has at length conferred a benefit on the learned by meeting in the metropolis, and devoting itself, to a great extent, to the curiosities of antiquity to be found in London and its vicinity. The Congress took place in July, and many interesting papers were read on the origin of London, the origin of Westminster, and the like. Among these, perhaps, there was no more important contribution than that of Mr. W. Hepworth Dixon, "On the Tower of London." Mr. Dixon's literary ability and experience enable him to place in an attractive form that which, in the hands of a dry antiquary, might degenerate into a mere mass of statistics. Accordingly, his observations on the most ancient structure of London were heard with unusual interest, as placing before the world, in a concise historical narrative, all that is most worthy of recollection respecting that timehonoured monument, successively a royal abode, a fortress, and a state prison. The town of Nottingham was selected as the place of meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Although Nottingham is probably somewhat rougher and less accustomed to receive distinguished visitors than most of the appointed places of meeting within the last few years, yet the result showed that the choice was not injudicious, and that the Association had done well in putting a favourable construction on the invitation of the civic authorities. The Presidents of Sections were : A. Mathematical and Physical Science B. Chemical Science C. Geology D. Biology Department of Physiology Department of Anthropology E. Geography and Ethnology F. Economic Science and Statistics Prof. Wheatstone. Dr. H. Bence Jones. A. R. Wallace, Esq. Prof. Rogers. T. Hawksley, Esq. The proceedings commenced, as usual, with the Report of the Treasurer, W. Spottiswoode, Esq. Mr. Spottiswoode is a distinguished Mathematician, having obtained a place in the first class in the University of Oxford many years ago. He holds the lucrative appointment of Queen's Printer; but in spite of the great expenditure of time and labour that his duties in that capacity must necessarily involve, he is still able to keep up his studies, and hold an honourable position in the scientific world. In 1865 he was President of Section A., and we still see him, in 1866, occupying the position of Treasurer of the Association, though another gentleman, in the usual course, takes his place in the Section. The balance declared by Mr. Spottiswoode on this occasion was not quite so large as that of the former year; but still, it was perfectly satisfactory, as there was a clear surplus of 5037. 10s. 2d. This balance is arrived at by subtracting the payments and liabilities from the receipts and assets, commencing the account from the opening of the meeting at Birmingham, September 6, 1865, and bringing it down to August 22, 1866, when the meeting at Nottingham commenced. The next feature in the proceedings was (as it had been in previous years) the reading of the Report of the Kew Committee. The expenses of that Committee are not large, considering the extent of its labours. The total expenditure of the year was 7321. 6s. 4d. The balance in hand was 221. 9s. 9d.; the receipts and assets amounting to 754l. 16s. 1d., of which no less than a sum of 6007. was contributed by the British Association through their General Treasurer. The President, Mr. Grove, Queen's Counsel, then commenced his Address, which is not one of the least remarkable that have been heard by the British Association during the last few years. We cannot attempt to give even a summary of this comprehensive speech, for, if we did, we should be obliged to use the space which we must reserve for other matters. We must therefore be content, on this occasion, to offer one or two extracts which seem most remarkable in thought and suggestion. After speaking of the serious and business-like position that has been attained by science, once merely a plaything (and a dangerous plaything too) in the hands of empirics, Mr. Grove said :-- "May we hope that the slight infiltration of scientific studies, now happily commenced, will extend till it occupies its fair space in the education of the young; and that those who may be able learnedly to discourse on the Eolic digamma will not be ashamed of knowing the principles of an air-pump, an electric machine, or a telescope, and will not, as Bacon complained of his contemporaries, despise such knowledge as something mean and mechanical. "To assert that the great departments of Government should encourage physical science may appear a truism, and yet it is but of late that it has been seriously done; now, the habit of consulting men of science on important questions of national interest is becoming a recognized practice, and, in a time which may seem long to individuals but is short in the history of a nation, a more definite sphere of usefulness for national purposes will, I have no doubt, be provided for those duly-qualified men who may be content to give up the more tempting study of abstract science for that of its practical application. In this respect, the Report of the Kew Committee for this year affords a subject of congratulation to those whom I have the honour to address. The Kew Observatory, the petted child of the British Association, may possibly become an important national establishment; and if so, while it will not, I trust, lose its character as a home for untrammelled physical research, it will have superadded the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade, with a staff of skilful and experienced observers." The idea of the connexion between heat and motion has become to some extent known to the world; and is probably quite familiar to all scientific men. Mr. Grove, with pardonable self-gratulation, reminded his audience that he had made an experiment at the London Institution no less than twenty-five years ago on the subject. "The experiment differed," said the learned President," from that of Rumford's cannon-boring and Davy's friction of ice, in showing that there was no heat while the motion was unresisted, but that the heat was in some way dependent on the motion being impeded or arrested. We have now become so accustomed to this view, that whenever we find motion resisted we look for heat, electricity, or some other force, as the necessary and inevitable result." What is to be the end of scientific investigation? The polished Greeks and Romans, as the basis of their science, were taught that there were four elements, fire, air, earth, and water, out of which all things were made. Even when we approach our own modern times, we find Lord Bacon recording as an important experiment, that water, if left alone, will disappear into the air, but that grease requires a hot iron and a piece of brown paper to suck it up; whence, the only conclusion arrived at by the father of modern philosophy (as some writers have called him) is, that water has an affinity for air, and grease has an affinity for heat. To compare this primitive kind of reasoning with the scientific speculations and discoveries of such men as Faraday or Arago, is to remind ourselves once more of the undoubted fact, that man, educated and civilized, is to man in his natural state as a giant to a child. The great advance of modern nations in natural science, and their comparative, or perhaps entire, lack of progress in matters of taste and elegance, are briefly contrasted in Mr. Grove's concluding words. "By this patient investigation how much have we already learnt which the most civilized of ancient human races ignored! While in ethics, in politics, in poetry, in sculpture, in painting, we have scarcely, if at all, advanced beyond the highest intellect of ancient Greece or Italy, how great are the steps we have made in physical science and its applications! "But how much more may we not expect to know? We, this evening assembled, Ephemera as we are, have learnt by transmitted labour to weigh, as in a balance, other worlds larger and heavier than our own, to know the length of their days and years, to measure their enormous distance from us and from each other, to detect and accurately ascertain the influence they have on the movements of our world and on each other, and to discover the substances of which they are composed; may we not fairly hope that similar methods of research to those which have taught us so much may give our race further information, until problems relating not only to remote worlds, but possibly to organic and sentient beings which may inhabit them,-problems which it might now seem wildly visionary to enunciate,-may be solved by progressive improvements in the modes of applying observation and experiment, induction and deduction ?" In the several Sections, the varied work of the Association was carried on with diligence. In Section A, after the Report of the Committee on Luminous Meteors, the Report of the "Lunar Committee for Mapping the Surface of the Moon" was read. Why luminous meteors and lunar geography should pertain especially to the section of Mathematical and Physical Science, we cannot exactly understand. We find, however, that the Committee are working hard on the moon question— by the aid of a photograph taken by Mr. De la Rue in 1865; and that, considering the difficulty of obtaining suitable photographs, they are of opinion that this. branch of investigation is going on quite as rapidly as could possibly be expected. Many important papers were read in this Section; but they varied so much in character that we think every well-wisher of the Association who has read them would prefer to see the "Mathematical and Physical" Section divided into two branches. That Mathematics and Physics aid one another, there can be no |