The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1883-10-02 00:00:00

Forget Conntti Expren.

8080 II ESTE R, OCTOBER 2nd, 1883.

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.

The meeting of the British kesomation is •
testimuay at once to the pr egrosa of science and the
Httienesa of human knowledge. Nothing can be more
conviu,ing .1 the fact tilt the neersta of nature Sr.
bonsai. Si or that inane iogenuity ie sure to find scope
for exercise fir sees yet to c one than the bits of
knowledge which are year after year vouchsafed to
the world by the repreeettativee of science at the
111111114 Parli sineet rderred to. It is step by step.
mail not by Italia and bound., that advance is made.
There is no sudden fd.od of light, but a gradual dawn
of information which in due time will lead to the
perfect day. Slight, however, as the gain has Imes,
It is only necessary ti look back • few years to be
aware I that the general atoit if 'scientific knowledge
Is vastly ',weer and a grit .leal more useful than it
was Young etude.t roust find it difficult to realise
the fact that 'di .c• one nf g,Ol gy to barely •
hundred years old. The ',rite douseath the grotr.d
we walk up in Is I exi-te I or ages. Fossils ,
varied and lot resting character had remained :
embedded for long, unnum ore I centuries. But
humsn curio-i, y r gar,hug thew won unexcited till
almost our own day. Gleams of ku ,iedulge there ha I
been even in the sixteenth neuturr, but leading to no
practical effect. ~I.gain, the antiquity of man hi quite
• modern idea, an-I elth.oigh w. ar.i even now 03
the threshold o .ly this int, resting en' ject, enourh
had I een diecover.ii t • scatter to the winds firmer
theories. Growin , nut,,fge.,l.gy.thiodtoouveYisalmlt
• pa. t of p ,ysiology, and is destined perhaps to lea
to 1111111 y thiog• flow undresine I of in .ose phi:o4ooy.
The th,oneit is un.voi !able how may things oven in
relati..n L.i our own r..ci and being there way piths 1 y
man to reveal I Wheu we feel dispos.d t smile
at the puny ruaulta of ..eaiatiou asalotiffig., we
should do vell to bear it, mina that it lets ban from
sparks struck out salt wee (I oui the anvil that fajt+l
have acoomula.ed, an.l mbdantial itrowledge hss
been gains I. Ti the rest ler—pernaps, also to the
Haines's—theories seem far-fetched if they do not
belong to the radius of irn.gination. There may I
poesibly he a maximal:ft of chaff to s minimum of grain. I
Yet that there is after • while • residuum of a moat
useful oharact 'V none could deny who compared our
present knowledge with that of the past. Love of
scientific research may be said to be one of the &id
features of our age. The somas of other a motets's
have perhaps excelled those of England in some pare
ticular branches of study, but we question if in ang
land there ars so many who devote attention to science
is all departments es in ours. We are turning the
knowledge gained, moreover, to very practical socount.
In addition to faoilitles of ciommunioation afforded by
electricity, this agency 14 now fast being subdued for
porpoises of domestic lighting, and the day, probably.
Is not far distant when it. power may be still farther
utilised its the direction of locomotive oonvenisnoe. If
any one mks with regard to the meetings of the British
Association, Cui bowl we wont I advise him to eon-
elder for • moment how this most marvellous of agents
has been bent to our will through the apparently
insignific sat discoveries of slew years ago. There can
be bat one wish, namely, that scientific men may con-
tinue their researobee in the face of discouragement,
and even of failure. It has been wen how small gain'
will lead to great results, and how amply patience and
perseverance hays been already rewarded.

" The rumour of Mr. Penton's r wassinatlon,"
writes a correspondent in London, " cowed
• greed sensation on Friday morning. In the railway
trains, and standing in groups in the streets, men
were talk:ng with solemn faoes on the supposed event.
Oonsternation was visible everywhere. I will give
Froglisemen this credit., that, so far at least as my
observation went, not one symptom of utisfec'ion wee
expressed not even a cynical jest wee uttered at the
suppos d •cou,.ence of an event which, however
untoward or huwe.er guilty in itself. Eni.det well be
regsrde I by 1.0111.1 EngliMmen a. a req:bution upon
the howl of a man who is ludirealy reeponsible for
much bloo baled, and more mischief of other kinds.
Throughout the day'. suspense there w no sign of
such malignity as scarcely concealed its &Attila lotion at
the murder of Lord Frederick Caren Hob, and which
openly rejoiced at the murder of Carey. The ooly
feeling we one of horror, that even Irish loyalty
should have taken to the national style of agitation
by bloodshed."

The Birmingham Ittdical Union sterns to have
come to an abrupt •ermination. Never was apolitical
aesociation more btd in Its programme, and more
prompt in its self. flaoement. Only • few days ego
Mr. Jesse Herbert was preparing to act the part of
Dr. Perkhuret to Birmingham Radicalism, ant pen-
ning smart rejoinders and rebutters to Mr. Collings'
attack in the press ; end now the Union has dieban led
itself. Mr. Herbert was first compelled to resign.
Hs foun I himself, owing to his clerk's suooeseful
roguery, some hundreds of pounds in debt, instead of
straight with the world and with £2,030 in the bank.
He is entirely a " self-made " man, and every one
sympathists with hie cruel loss, all the more ise it was
Incurred through over-creduloue good nature. But
obviou.ly his first duty wee to roc ,ver himself
finamially before dabbling in politic.. Joseoh Arch,
president f the "Union.' bas ale • retired, having
apparently chang ‘,l his mind as to tho expediency of
trying to uutbi I Mr. Chamberlain and Hr. Bright .n
the matter of thorough-paced democracy. The two
chiefs having thus cle.erted the Union, the rank and
file at once diappearei. There were not, it is **id,
very many rank an I file to disappear, and Mr.
Herbert and Mr. Arch have not to be commiserated
upon any very important amount of political self-
sacrifice.

Mr. nailed speech at Exeter Ilan created e pro-
lonnd impression. In spite id the obeirman's depreca-
tion of any °llama allusion ; in spite of Mr. shaw'e
own studi,ii no 1.1.-rsti.m of language, the narrative of
his wrings did uudoubte fly produce up di his
audience a fe-hag if intense indignation, which vented
iteelf in gr ,1111 and hi-set such as hare seldom be-n
heard in the great Evangelical meeting-place, and
which, amongst a Nonconformiat and pAssionately
peace-loving audience, betoken the pietibility of a
national exasperation each as it would behove our
neighbours to take note of. Toe Cla4 it, indeed, upon
indubitable teetimony very black against the French
official,; and the French Government must either dis-
own the flagrant barbarities of ita subordinates and
make ample compensation and apology. or it must
rest under the disgraceful imputation of adopting them.