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BODLEIAN

$3.4-1900

LIBRARY

It is now thirty years since the British Association for the Advancement of Science held its first meeting in the city of York. Like most great and meritorious enterprises, it had a comparatively humble beginning; but its originators were brave, earnest men, who unflinchingly adhered, in good report and in evil report, to their noble scheme, which was designed "to give a stronger impulse and a more systematic direction to scientific inquiry,-to promote the intercourse of those who cultivate science in different parts of the British Empire with one another, and with foreign philosophers,—and to obtain a more general attention to the objects of science, and a removal of any disadvantages of a public kind which impede its progress.' It is not too much to say that, ever since 1831, the Association has steadily applied itself to the fulfilment of this useful mission, that its history up to the present time is a record of progressive success in the objects it contemplates,—and that in each successive year, it has acquired additional power and influence. As we have stated, the first session of this distinguished body was held at York, in 1831; Lord Fitzwilliam, President.

MEETING AND PLACE.

The 2nd was held at Oxford

The 3rd at Cambridge...

The 4th at Edinburgh

The 5th at Dublin

The 6th at Bristol...

The 7th at Liverpool.

The 8th at Newcastle-on-Tyne

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PRESIDENT.
Dr. Buckland.
Professor Sedgwick.
Sir T. M. Brisbane.
Dr. Lloyd.
..Lord Lansdowne.
.Lord Burlington.
.The Duke of North-
umberland.

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Cambridge has been selected for the meeting of next year, the Presidential chair to be occupied by Professor Willis.

In 1831, as appears from the official records, the Association commenced a system of grants

of money, for scientific purposes. The sum paid in that year in this way, was a very modest one, £20. Next year, it was £167; in 1836, it mounted up to £434. 14s.

L S. d.

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s. d,

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While, in the year 1860-61, the outlay for scientific purposes was upwards of £1,100. This gives the large total of more than £20,000, expended under the direction of a body necessarily better fitted than any other in this country to suggest and control investigations in the interest of science.

The Manchester meeting of 1861 has been a marked success. Taking the average of thirty years, the number of members at each annual gathering may be set down at 1,600, and the receipts at something under £2,000. The present meeting, however, boasts upwards of 3,000 members, and receipts to the amount of £3,920. In 1842, when the Association first honoured Manchester with a visit, the number of members was 1,316, and the amount of the receipts £2,161. Looking, therefore, at attendance and revenue, the Association and Manchester must be congratulated upon the results of the meeting just brought to a close; and it is only necessary to scan the contents of this little volume to find satisfactory evidence of the high value of the papers which have been read, and of the discussions which have taken place, in the various sections.

SEPTEMBER, 1861.

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BRITISH ASSOCIATION

FOR THE

ADVANCEMENT OF

SCIENCE.

MEETING IN MANCHESTER, FROM 4TH TO 11TH SEPT., 1861

WEDNESDAY,

The first general meeting was held in the evening, in the Free-trade Hall; there being fully 2,000 members, associates, and ladies present.

Lord Wrottesley, the president of the past year, and William Fairbairn, Esq. LL.D. F.R.S. the president elect, came upon the platform about eight o'clock, at which time the hall was crowded.

Lord WROTTESLEY took the chair amidst applause. He said: In retiring from the office which I have the honour to hold, it is a great pleasure to me to know that I am to be succeeded by one who is so well worthy of your support. We may derive important instruction from the career of Mr. Fairbairn, whether we view him as a successful engineer or as a distinguished man of science. In the former capacity he is one who, by perseverance, combined with talent, has risen from small beginnings to the summit of his profession; and he forms one of that noble class of men, the Stephensons, the Brunels, the Whitworths, and the Armstrongs, who have conferred such important services upon their country; and some of whom, unfortunately for that country, have perished, alas! too soon, exhausted by their arduous toils. Mr. Fairbairn, therefore, is one of the many examples of what can be done in England, by a man who resolves, undaunted by the difficulties and obstructions that beset his path, to struggle gallantly on until success crowns his efforts. Again, if we look to Mr. Fairbairn's claims to scientific distinction, they read to us an important lesson; for they show what can be done by zeal and energy, exercised by a strong and resolute will, fully determined to carry out an object in which the public is deeply interested. It is extraordinary that any one should have been able, during the few hours snatched from an important and engrossing business, to accomplish for science what Mr. Fairbairn has done. (Applause.) Not only has he been a most successful contributor to mechanical science, but his liberality has been unbounded in placing all his great mechanical resources at the disposal of his fellow-labourers in the same field. Well and truly was it said, when the royal medal was conferred upon Mr. Fairbairn for his researches-(applause)-well and truly was it said that perhaps there is scarcely a single individual living who has made so many and so careful experimental inquiries on subjects of primary importance to the commercial and manufacturing interests of the country, and who has so liberally contributed them to the world at large. (Applause.) Such are men whom we should all delight to honour; and to such a man I resign, with great satisfaction, the chair which I now vacate.-(Applause.)

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SEPT. 4.

of so much distinction and responsibility. And when I call to mind the illustrious men who have preceded me in this chair, and see around me so many persons much better qualified for the office than myself, I feel the novelty of my position and unfeigned embarrassment in addressing you. I should, however, very imperfectly discharge the duties which devolve upon me, as the successor of the distinguished nobleman who presided over the meetings of last year, if I neglected to thank you for the honourable position in which you have placed me, and to express, at the outset, my gratitude to those valued friends with whom I have been united for many years in the labours of the sections of this Association, and from whom I have invariably received every mark of esteem.

A careful perusal of the history of this Association will demonstrate that it was the first and for a long time the only institution, which brought together for a common object the learned professors of our universities, and the workers in practical science. These periodical reunions have been of incalculable benefit, in giving to practice that soundness of principle and certainty of progressive improvement which can only be obtained by the accurate study of science and its application to the arts. On the other hand, the men of actual practice have reciprocated the benefits thus received from theory, in testing by actual experiment deductions which were doubtful, and rectifying those which were erroneous. Guided by an extended experience, and exercising a sound and disciplined judgment, they have often corrected theories apparently accurate, but nevertheless founded on incomplete data, or on false assumptions inadvertently introduced. If the British Association had effected nothing more than the removal of the anomalous separation of theory and practice, it would have gained imperishable renown in the benefit thus conferred. Were I to enlarge on the relation of the achievements of science to the comforts and enjoyments of man, I should have to refer to the present epech as one of the most important in the history of the world. At no former period did science contribute so much to the uses of life and the wants of society. And in doing this it has only been fulfilling that mission which Bacon, the great father of modern science, appointed for it, when he wrote that "the legitimate goal of the sciences is the endowment of human life with new inventions and riches," and when he sought for a natural philosophy which, not spending its energy on barren disquisitions," should be operative for the benefit and endowment of mankind."

Looking, then, to the fact that, whilst in our time all the sciences have yielded this fruit, engineering science, with which I have been most intimately connected, has pre-eminently advanced the power, the wealth, and the comforts of mankind, I shall probably best discharge the duties of the Ever since my election to the high office I now occupy, office I have the honour to fill, by stating as briefly as posI have been deeply sensible of my own unfitness for a postsible the more recent scientific discoveries which have so

WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN, Esq. LL.D. F.R.S. on taking the chair, was received with hearty applause. On its ceasing, he proceeded to deliver the following address:

influenced the relations of social life. I shall, therefore, not dwell so much on the progress of abstract science, important as that is, but shall rather endeavour briefly to examine the application of science to the useful arts, and the results which have followed, and are likely to follow, in the improvement of the condition of society. The history of man throughout the gradations and changes which he undergoes in advancing from a primitive barbarism to a state of civilisation, shows that he has been chiefly stimulated to the cultivation of science and the development of his inventive powers, by the urgent necessity of providing for his wants and securing his safety. There is no nation, however barbarous, which does not inherit the germs of civilisation, and there is scarcely any which has not done something towards applying the rudiments of science to the purposes of daily life, Amongst the South Sea Islanders, when discovered by Cook, the applied sciences-if I may use the term-were not entirely unknown. They had observed something of the motions of the heavenly bodies, and watched with interest their revolutions, in order to apply this knowledge to the division of time. They were not entirely deficient in the construction of instruments of husbandry, of war, and of music. They had made themselves acquainted with the rudiments of shipbuilding and navigation, in the construction and management of their canoes. Cut off from the influence of European civilisation, and deprived of intercourse with higher grades of mind, we still find the inherent principle of progression exhibiting itself, and the inventive and reasoning powers developed in the attempt to secure the means of subsistence. Again, if we compare man as he exists in small communities with his condition where large numbers are congregated together, we find that densely-populated countries are the most prolific in inventions, and advance most rapidly in

ence.

system; Galileo, by the application of the telescope; and Kepler, by the discovery of the laws of the planetary motions, all assisted in advancing, by prodigious strides, towards a true knowledge of the constitution of the universe. It remained for Newton to introduce, at a later period, the idea of an attraction varying directly as the mass, and inversely as the square of the distance, and thus to reduce celestial phenomena to the greatest simplicity, by comprehending them under a single law. Without tracing the details of the history of this science, we may notice that in more recent times astronomical discoveries have been closely connected with high mechanical skill in the construction of instruments of precision. The telescope has enormously increased the catalogue of the fixed stars, or those "landmarks of the universe," as Sir John Herschel terms them," which never deceive the astronomer, navigator, or surveyor." The number of known planets and asteroids has also been greatly enlarged. The discovery of Uranus resulted immediately from the perfection attained by Sir William Herschel in the construction of his telescope. More recently, the structure of the nebula has been unfoided through the application to their study of the collosal telescope of Lord Rosse. In all these directions much has been done both by our present distinguished Astronomer Royal, and also by amateur observers in private observatories, all of whom, with Mr. Lassells at their head, are making rapid advances in this department of physical science. Our knowledge of the physical constitution of the central body of our system seems likely, at the present time, to be much increased. The spots on the sun's disc were noticed by Galileo and his contemporaries, and enabled them to ascertain the time of its rotation and the inclination of its axis. They also corsci-rectly inferred, from their appearance, the existence of a luminous envelope, in which funnel-shaped depressions revealed a solid and dark nucleus. Just a century ago, Alexander Wilson indicated the presence of a second and less luminous envelope beneath the outer stratum, and his discovery was confirmed by Sir William Herschel, who was led to assume the presence of a double stratum of clouds, the upper intensely luminous, the lower grey, and forming the penumbra of the spots. Observations during eclipses have rendered probable the supposition that a third and outermost stratum of imperfect transparency encloses concentrically the other envelopes. Still more recently, the remarkable discoveries of Kirchoff and Bunsen require us to believe that a solid or liquid photosphere is seen through an atmosphere containing iron, sodium, lithium, and other metals in a vaporous condition. We must still wait for the application of more perfect instruments, and especially our the careful registering of the appearances of the sun by the photoheliograph of Sir John Herschel, so ably employed by Mr. Warren de la Rue, Mr. Welsh, and others, before we can expect a solution of all the problems thus suggested. Guided by the same principles which have been so successful in astronomy, its sister science, magnetism, emerging from its infancy, has of late advanced rapidly in that stage of development which is marked by assiduous and systematic observation of the phenomena, by careful analysis and presentation of the facts which they disclose, and by the grouping of these in generalisations, which, when the basis on which they rest shall be more extended, will prepare the way for the conception of a general physical theory, in which all the phenomena shall be comprehended, whilst each shall receive its separate and satisfactory explanation. It is unnecessary to remind you of the deep interest which the British Association has at all times taken in the advancement of this branch of natural knowledge, or of the specific recommendations which, made in conjunction with the Royal Society, have been productive of such various and important results. To refer but to a single instance; we have seen those magnetic disturbances, so mysterious in their origin and so extensive in simultaneous prevalenceand which, less than twenty years ago, were designated by a term specially denoting that their laws were wholly unknown-traced to laws of periodical recurrence, revealing, without a doubt, their origin in the central body of our system, by inequalities which have for their respective periods, the solar day, the solar year, and still more re

Because the wants of the many are greater than those of the few, there is a more vigorous struggle against the natural limitations of supply, a more careful husbanding of resources, and there are more minds at work. This fact is strikingly exemplified in the history of Mexico and Peru, and its attestation is found in the numerous monuments of the past which are seen in Central America, where the remains of cities and temples, and vast public works, erected by a people endowed with high intellectual acquirements, can still be traced. There have been discovered a system of canals for irrigation; long mining galleries cut in the solid rock, in search of lead, tin, and cop er; pyramids not unlike those of Egypt; earthenware vases and cups, and manuscripts, containing the records of their history; all testifying to so high a degree of scientific culture and practical skill, that looking at the cruelties which attended the conquests of Cortes and Pizarro, we may well hesitate as to which had the stronger claims on our sympathy, the victors or the vanquished.

In attempting to notice those branches of science with which I am but imperfectly acquainted, I shall have to claim your indulgence. This Association, as you are aware, does not confine its discussions and investigations to any particular science; and one great advantage of this is, that it leads to the division of labour, whilst the attention which each department receives, and the harmony with which the plan has hitherto worked, afford the best guarantee of its wisdom and proof of its success.

In the early history of astronomy, how vague and unsatisfactory were the wild theories and conjectures which supplied the place of demonstrated physical truths and carefully observed laws? How immeasurably small, what a very speck does man appear, with all the wonders of his invention, when contrasted with the mighty works of the Creator; and how imperfect is our apprehension, even in the highest flights of poetic imagination, of the boundless depths of space? These reflections naturally suggest themselves in the contemplation of the works of an Almighty Power, and impress the mind with a reverential awe for the Great Author of our existence. The great revolution which laid the foundation of modern astronomy, and which, indeed, marks the birth of modern physical science, is chiefly due to three or four distinguished philosophers. Tycho Brahe, by his system of accurate measurement of the positions of the heavenly bodies; Copernicus, by his theory of the solar

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