OFFICERS OF SECTIONAL COMMITTEES PRESENT AT THE NOTTINGHAM MEETING. SECTION A.-MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS. President.-Professor Wheatstone, D.C.L., F.R.S., &c. Vice-Presidents.-J. P. Gassiot, F.R.S.; Rev. Charles Pritchard, F.R.S., Pres. R.A.S.; Professor Rankine, F.R.S.; W. Spottiswoode, M.A., F.R.S.; Professor Tyndall, F.R.S.; Lord Wrottesley, D.C.L., F.R.S. Secretaries.-Fleeming Jenkin, F.R.S.; Professor H. J. S. Smith, F.R.S.; Rev. S. K. Swann; J. M. Wilson, M.A. SECTION B.-CHEMISTRY AND MINERALOGY, INCLUDING THEIR APPLICATIONS TO AGRICULTURE AND THE ARTS. President.-H. Bence Jones, M.D., F.R.S. Vice-Presidents.-Professor Daubeny, M.D., F.R.S.; H. Debus, F.R.S.; W. A. Miller, M.D., V.P.R.S.; Lyon Playfair, C.B., F.R.S.; J. Stenhouse, LL.D., F.R.S.; A. W. Williamson, F.R.S. Secretaries.-J. H. Atherton, F.C.S.; Professor Liveing, M.A., F.C.S.; W. J. Russell, Ph.D.; Joseph White, F.R.C.S. SECTION C.-GEOLOGY. President.-Professor A. C. Ramsay, LL.D., F.R.S., V.P.G.S. Vice-Presidents.-Professor Daubeny, M.D., F.R.S.; Professor Harkness, F.R.S.; J. B. Jukes, F.R.S.; Sir R. I. Murchison, Bart., K.C.B., G.C.St.S., D.C.L., F.R.S.; Professor Phillips, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S. Secretaries.-R. Etheridge, F.G.S.; W. Pengelly, F.R.S.; T. Wilson, M.D.; G. H. Wright. SECTION D.-BIOLOGY. President.-Professor Huxley, LL.D, F.R.S. Vice-Presidents.-George Busk, F.R.S.; Dr. Davy, F.R.S.; Dr. J. D. Hooker, M.D., F.R.S.; Professor Humphry, F.R.S.; Sir J. Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S.; Dr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S.; Thomas Thomson, M.D., F.R.S.; A. R. Wallace, F.L.S. Secretaries.-J. Beddard, M.B.; W. Felkin, F.L.S.; Rev. H. B. Tristram, M.A., F.L.S.; W. Turner, M.B., F.R.S.E.; E. B. Tylor; E. Perceval Wright, M.D. DEPARTMENT OF PHYSIOLOGY. President.-Professor Humphry, F.R.S. Secretaries.-Dr. Spencer Cobbold, F.R.S.; J. Beddard, M.B. DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY. President.-Alfred R. Wallace, F.Z.S., F. Eth. S. SECTION E.-GEOGRAPHY AND ETHNOLOGY. President.-Sir Charles Nicholson, Bart., D.C.L., LL.D., &c. Vice-Presidents.--Sir R. I. Murchison, Bart., K.C.B., D.C.L., President of the Royal Geographical Society, &c.; Sir J. Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S.; John Crawfurd, F.R.S.; Major-General Sir A. S. Waugh, F.R.S., &c. Secretaries.-H. W. Bates, Esq., Assist. Sec. R.G.S.; Rev. F. T. Cusins, M.A.; R. H. Major, Sec. R.G.S.; Clements R. Markham, Sec. R.G.S.; D. W. Nash, F.S.A.; Thos. Wright, Esq., M.A. SECTION F.-ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS. President.-Professor Rogers, M.A. Vice-Presidents.-Lord Belper; Sir John Bowring, F.R.S.; William Farr, M.D., D.C.L., F.R.S.; William Felkin, F.L.S.; James Heywood, M.A., F.R.S.; Coloneĺ Sykes, M.P., F.R.S. Secretaries.-R. Birkin, jun.; Professor Leone Levi, F.S.A., F.S.S.; Edmund Macrory, M.A. SECTION G.-MECHANICAL SCIENCE. President. Thomas Hawksley, V.P. Inst. C.E., F.G.S. Vice-Presidents.-Sir W. G. Armstrong, C.B., F.R.S.; J. F. Bateman, F.R.S.; William Fairbairn, LL.D., F.R.S.; Capt. D. Galton, R.E., C.B., F.R.S.; John Hawkshaw, F.R.S.; James Oldham, C.E.; Charles Vignoles, F.R.S.; J. Whitworth, F.R.S. Secretaries.-P. Le Neve Foster, M.A.; J. F. Iselin, M.A.; Professor Pole, F.R.S.; M. O. Tarbottom. CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. Professor Agassiz, Cambridge, Massa- Professor Kiepert. chusetts. M. Babinet, Paris. Captain Belavenetz, R.I.N., Cronstadt. Mr. P. G. Bond, Cambridge, U.S. Professor Wilhelm Delffs, Heidelberg. Dr. J. Milne-Edwards, Paris. Professor Dumas, Paris. Professor Ehrenberg, Berlin. Dr. Eisenlohr, Carlsruhe. Dr. A. Erman, Berlin. Prof. A. Kölliker, Wurzburg. Professor P. Merian, Bále, Switzerland. Prof. B. Pierce, Cambridge, U.S. Professor Plücker, Bonn. M. Constant Prévost, Paris. M. Quetelet, Brussels. Professor W. B. Rogers, Boston, U.S. Professor A. Escher von der Linth, Professor F. Römer. Zurich, Switzerland. Professor Esmark, Christiania. Professor A. Favre, Geneva. Professor E. Fremy, Paris. Professor Asa Gray, Cambridge, U.S. M. E. Hébert, Paris. Professor Henry, Washington, U.S. Prof. Jessen, Med. et Phil. Dr., Griess- Professor Aug. Kekulé, Ghent, Belgium. Herman Schlagintweit, Berlin. Professor J. A. de Souza, University of Professor Adolph Steen, Copenhagen. Dr. Svanberg, Stockholm. M. Pierre Tchihatchef. Dr. Otto Torell, University of Lund. M. de Verneuil, Paris. Baron Sartorius von Waltershausen, Professor Wartmann, Geneva. Report of the Council of the British Association, presented to the General Committee, Wednesday, August 22, 1866. The Council have the honour to report as follows: The Council have received a Report from the Treasurer at each of their Meetings, and a Report for the year will be presented to the General Committee this day. The Report of the Parliamentary Committee has been received for presentation to the General Committee. The Kew Committee have presented to the Council a Report for the year 1865-66, which will be laid before the General Committee this day. The Council have added to the list of Corresponding Members the names of the following Foreign Men of Science who attended the Birmingham Meeting, viz. : The Council recommend that the names of Mr. J. Hind, F.R.S., and Mr. T. Close, be added to the list of Vice-Presidents of the Meeting. In consequence of the resignation of Mr. Hopkins as Joint General Secretary, announced last year, the Council appointed a Committee, consisting of the General Secretaries and the Gentlemen who had formerly filled that office, for the purpose of taking into consideration and reporting to the Council on the advisability of nominating a Joint General Secretary. The Council have received the following Report, viz.: "That Thomas Archer Hirst, Esq., Ph.D., F.R.S., Professor of Mathethematical Physics in University College, London, be recommended as highly qualified for Election as Joint General Secretary of the Association." The Council recommend that Mr. Hirst, F.R.S., be elected Joint General Secretary. The Council have been informed that invitations for future Meetings of the Association have been received from Dundee, Norwich, Plymouth, and Exeter. Report of the Kew Committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 1865-66. The Committee of the Kew Observatory submit to the Council of the British Association the following statement of their proceedings during the past year: A Unifilar and Dip Circle for Captain J. Belavenetz, of the Russian Navy, Director of the Compass Observatory at Cronstadt, have been verified at Kew Observatory and forwarded to Russia. Three Unifilars and three Dip Circles, ordered by Colonel Strange for the Indian Survey, have been verified. Dr. Kirk, who has gone out to Zanzibar on the African coast, has received instruction at Kew Observatory; and a Dip Circle, a Unifilar, and an Azimuth Compass have been verified for him, and await his directions. In consequence of a representation from Mr. C. Chambers, Acting Superintendent of the Observatory, Bombay, a correspondence has taken place between the Director of the India Store Department and the Chairman of 1866. C the Kew Committee, the result of which is that the Committee have superintended the construction of an Anemometer, a Dip Circle, and a Unifilar for the Bombay Observatory. These instruments have been verified, and are now in the hands of the India Board for transmission to their destination. The Admiralty have ordered a Unifilar and a Dip Circle for Captain Mayne, of Her Majesty's ship Nassau,' who is about to proceed to the Straits of Magellan; these instruments have been verified at Kew Observatory, where Captain Mayne and several of his officers have likewise received instruction in magnetism. Dr. Buys-Ballot has ordered a Declination Magnetograph, which has been constructed by Mr. Adie, and forwarded to Utrecht, where it has safely arrived. A set of Self-recording Magnetographs and also a Barograph have been ordered by the Stonyhurst Observatory; and the Rev. Walter Sidgreaves has been at the Observatory receiving instruction in magnetism. The Selfrecording Magnetographs for Stonyhurst have been verified and dispatched to their destination. The set of self-recording instruments ordered by Mr. Meldrum of the Mauritius Observatory, are at present at Kew; Mr. Meldrum intends to visit the Kew Observatory for the purpose of making himself further acquainted with the process of observing and deducing results previous to his return to the Mauritius. Mr. Ellery, of Melbourne Observatory, has likewise ordered a set of Selfrecording magnetographs. These have been constructed by Mr. Adie, and will be taken to Kew for verification when the set for Mauritius have been removed. Professor Smirnow (from Kasan) has received instruction in magnetism at the Observatory. The usual monthly absolute determinations of the magnetic elements continue to be made by Mr. Whipple, Magnetical Assistant, and the self-recording magnetographs are in constant operation as heretofore, also under Mr. Whipple, who has displayed his usual care and assiduity in the discharge of his duties. The photographic department connected with the self-recording instruments is under the charge of Mr. Page, who performs his duties very satisfactorily. A stoneware stove free from iron has been erected in the room containing the Kew magnetographs, and by its means this room has been heated through a range of 20° Fahr., in order to determine the temperature correction of the horizontal and vertical force magnetographs. The observations for this purpose are being reduced. The meteorological work of the Observatory continues in charge of Mr. Baker, who executes his duties very satisfactorily. Since the Birmingham Meeting 126 barometers have been verified. 395 thermometers have likewise been verified, and 8 standard thermometers constructed at the Observatory. The Self-recording Barograph continues in constant operation; and traces in duplicate are obtained, one set of which is regularly forwarded to the meteorological department of the Board of Trade. An arrangement for a Self-recording Thermograph has been devised by the Superintendent and by Mr. Beckley, and, as a preliminary experiment, gave a very satisfactory curve; the instrument is now being arranged in a suitable site. The instruments used by the late Mr. Appold for regulating the tempera ture and moisture of his apartments have been forwarded by the Royal Society to the Kew Observatory. The Indian pendulum observations are in active progress. Both Colonel Walker and Captain Basevi are in correspondence with the Observatory in discussing questions relating to this work. The Superintendent has received £100 from the Government Grant Committee of the Royal Society for preliminary observation with Captain Kater's pendulum. These preliminary observations are in progress under the charge of Mr. Loewy as observer, and have the following points in view : (1) To see by the general agreement or non-agreement of the observations with each other whether Captain Kater's pendulum is still in a state to justify its adoption as an instrument to give a correct determination of the length of the seconds' pendulum. (2) To determine the true temperature correction of the pendulum. (3) To use Kater's pendulum, and also the Royal Society's invariable pendulum No. 8, for the purpose of determining a curve of correction for atmospheric pressure, from inch to inch, at low pressures. The Superintendent has received £50 from the Government Grant Fund of the Royal Society, to pursue the experiments on a rotating disk. The Kew Heliograph, in charge of Mr. De la Rue, continues to be worked in a very satisfactory manner. During the past year 282 negatives have been taken on 158 days, and the usual number of positives have been printed from them. Since the last Meeting of the Association, the first set of the results obtained by this instrument have been published at the expense of Mr. De la Rue, under the following title:"Researches on Solar Physics, by Warren De la Rue, B. Stewart, and B. Loewy; first series; On the Nature of Sunspots." The present progress of the work of reduction will best be seen from the following letter, written by Mr. De la Rue, in answer to a request made through the Astronomer Royal by Padre Secchi, to know what was doing in this country in the subject of Heliography. "110 Bunhill Row, August 8th, 1866. "MY DEAR SIR,-In reference to the extract from Padre Secchi's letter, I beg to supply the following information. "The pictures taken by means of the Kew Heliograph are all measured by means of my Micrometer; the positions of the spots are then reduced to distances in terms (fractional parts) of the sun's radius, and the angles of position corrected for any error in the position of the wires. "Pictures of the Pagoda are taken from time to time, and the measurements of the various galleries of the Pagoda serve to determine the optical distortion of the Sun's image, and the corrections to be applied to the Sunpictures. "The heliocentric latitudes and longitudes of the spots are then calculated. "The areas of the spots and the penumbra are also measured, and the areas corrected for perspective are tabulated in terms (fractional parts) of the area of the sun's disk. "The areas of the spots &c. on all of Carrington's original pictures have recently been measured, and an account of these measurements will be shortly published. "Padre Secchi will be able to judge, from the foregoing statement, whether it will be worth while to undertake the work he proposes. |