The Express.
London, England, 1865-09-06 00:00:00

,E 136, WEDpIESD4Y_ E '

ME.—CII4I9 .)
legifessat
--11ffairef thireali to be delve AlOthe
Town all, et Birmingham, this day,
with an allusion to the busy centre of in.
dustrions Eoglaad in which the Associstion has
assembled, end to the 1120401c1], reecho 14 tbe.
union of 'clones and art, the alliance of cultivated thought
and practical skill. After 'Laois' at t prows
which has been made in the listrusieste of cud t research,
the measure, of time and apace, and Locus and motion, the

'PRESIEiI
mural

ADDI

Learned ',readmit premeds to touoh apes • fen el the
striking tains in physisal astrosomy. The hhtary of sees
end planet§ is I. troth, he observes, the history of the effects
of light sail heat manifested fathom or seasnatieg fromthers.
By oaleuletionsofspending on the retool radiation of heat into
spew, the pastautiquity of the earth end the f atom direction
of sunshine bee. been expressed is thossende or Milli01)11 of
centuries. Prokseor Thomson assigns to the suit's heat,

supposing it to be maintained by tit; sppulas of masses of
matter, a limit of 309,000 yeah, and ths period of tooling of
the earth from uoiversal fusion to its nitwit stabs 98,000,000
years. These are the lowest estimates sanotioned by soy
mathematician. The latest results of spectral analysis of
stars and nebula ; the new power' of light for aiding re.
_ .

'torches into thecoadition of celestial bodies ; the benefit+

to menseilogy— of the electric telegraph ; chemical sad geo-
logioel progrees--ere each in tura made the subjectof Intel-
' mons though brief comment. '''rbe greater oar progress in
law atoll of the economy of nature, the more she unveils
herself as one vast whole ; one comprehensive plan ; one
_ _ . .

advenel rule, in yet 1111exhanstatt *ems of individual ye-
Sams fa the aspect of this moving, morkiifir,

Mg system of form and law ; snob it hu ever been, if
we rightly interpret the history of our own portion
of this rich inheritance of mind,' the history of
that earth from which we spring, with which so
many of oar thoughts are co-ordinated, and to

which ell but our thoughts and hopes will sgsiti return.
How should we prim* this history! sad exult kn

. _
the thought that in our own days, within our own
memories, the very foundations of the series of
strata, deposited in the beginning of time, have been
' explored by our living friends, our Murchison and
fiedgwick, while the higher and more complicated pasts of
the structure have been minutely examined by our Lye.
Forbes, and Prestwich. flow instructive the history
of that long series of inhabitants which received in
primeval times the gift of life, and fillet the land,
ass, and ale with rejeicin,g myriads, through in.
numerable revolutions of the planet, before in the
ruiners of time it pleased the Giver of all good to place
man upon the earth, nail bid him look up to heaven. Waye
succeeding wave, the forma of aneieet life sweep across
the iwerehangiag surface of the earth, revealing
to us the height of the land, the depth of
the see, the quality of the stir, the course of the
rivers, the extent of the forest, the system of life and
de•th—yes, the growth, away, and death of iodividnalv,
the beginning and ending of noes, of many successive
1.4:1111 of pleats and anima* in seas now dried, of sand
banks now raised into tamiataiss, on 000tincats now sunk
beneath the yaws. Mad that series • beginning? Was
the earth 13401 uninhabited, after it became • globe
Miming on its axis and revolving round the Ben! Was
there ever a period since land end sea were sepa-
rated—a period which we era trace—when the land
was sot shaded by plants, the ocean not alive with
animals? The answer, se it comes to U 4 from the
[ latest obesrmitloo, declares that in the lowest deposits
, of the meet ancient ilif4 in the stratified crust of the
globe, the niounmente of life remaie."

The additive then refers to other sections of the Also.
eiation—those devoted to zoology, physiology, and
ethoology, especially in connection with the an-
tiquity of man and the proposition that the
forms of life are indefinitely variable with time
and circumstance. With regard to the latter, President
Phillips observes that the three propositions which were ever
present to the mini of Edward Forbes may bo suocessfully
maintained. " First, it may be admitted that elute and
spinals form many natural groups, the members of which
have several common characters, and are parted from
other groups by a real boudoir), line, or rather us.
occupied seam Next, that each of thole 4/troupe has
a limited distribution io space, often restrained by
high mountaies or deep seas, or parallels of temperstme,
within which it has beau brought into betas. Thirdly.
that each group has bees submitted to, or is now under-
going, the pressure of a general law, by which
its duration is limited in geological time ; the game group
Inver reappearing after being removed from the wise."
After a paragraph devoted to geographical discovery Pro-
fessor Phillips shows the part takes by the British Asso-
ciation in the inventions and discoveeies of the last 33
years, and concludes with the following passage :—" Whey,
move than thirty years ago, ibis parliament of mimeo
same into being, its first child•lasgaage was em.
pima to ask questions of Notate ; now, is riper years, it
founds on the simiure received further and more definite
inquiries directed to the same prolific source of useful know.
ledge. Of researches in educe compieted, io progress, or
in beginning, each of our annual volumes contains some
three hundred or more planing notices, or fall and per-
manent records. This digest and monument of our labours
la indeed in some respects incomplete, since it does sot
always costais the narrative or the result of undertakisge
which we started, or fostered, or sustained ; add I own to
having experienced on this account once or twice a feeling
of regret. Bat the regret wow soon tort is the grati-
fication of knowing, that other and equally beneficial
channels of publication bad been found ; nod that by
these examples it was proved how truly the association kept
to the real purpose of its fooodatioe, • the advancement of
science; and how heartily it rejoined in this dv►noement
without looking too closely to its own share in the triumph.
Nue, indeed, is the stronghold of the British Amotiation.
Wherever sad by whatever means sound learning
and useful knowledge are advanced, there to us are friends.
whoever a privileged to step beyond h;v fe'lows on the road
of scientific discovery, will receive our applause, and, if need
be, our help. Welcoming and joining io the labour of all,
we shell keep our place among those who elm the road.
and remove the obstailes from the piths of science ; and
whatever be our own recces in the rich fields which
lie before us, however little we may now know, we shall
prove, that In this our day we knew at least the value of
knowledge, and joined hearts and hands in the endeavour to
promote it."

The telegraph lately informed us that the
Empress of the French, at her way from Switzerlead to Fon-
tainebleau, accepted a dinner offered her by the wife of
the Sub-Prefect of Postarlier. Empregese do not habitu-
ally rest themselves at the hospitable board of mila-pr•-
feotreasse, and people were rather surprised; bet stiff
such cmodeocension was sot impassible, sod so the isoilsot
pawed unnoticed. It sow proves to have bees a We-
freebie mistake The Empress wee offered, sad graciously
accepted a bot squd. This the wires altered into banquet.
Tun Hos. Lime Wisorrinm.—The audience at
the Primo of Wales Theatre, Liverpool. was doomed to
disappointment on Monday night by the abseiree of the
Hoe. Lewis Wiegiield, whose dEbali as a comedian in
Liverpool had bees anticipated, but who had been obliged
to leave for Dieppe in consequence of the illness of his
mother, the Marelsiooess of Londonderry.
THE HERBERT MEMoEIAI.—Tbe foundation-stone
of the Home for Coeveleseents from the Salisbury Isar-
leery, to be erected at Bournemouth, in memory of the late
Lord Herbert of Lea, will be laid by the Earl of Pembroke
oe Saturday, the 16th inst. A special train will convey
the youthful earl and the subscribers from Wilton to Christ-
church, where carriages will be in waiting to take them on
to Bourosmouth. After the eeremoey they will be invited
to porta, of lunches*, to be provided at the expense of Mr.
Bother= Estcourt, the chairman of the committee.
LORD PALMIIRSTON'S VISIT TO BRISTOL.—The
mayor (Mr. W. Neigh) has received an autograph letter
from Lord Palmerston, of which the following in a copy !
"Bracket-hall, 3rd Sept., 1865. 84,-1 have many apolo-
gies to make to you for not having sooner acknowledged
your obliging invitation foe the 19th of this month, your
letter having by some %Worth:late accident been mislaid;
but I shall feel great pleasure in accepting your
Invitation for that day.—l am, sir, yours faith-
fully, Palmerston. The Mayor of Bristol.* His wor-
ship rewired a telegram from Mr. Berkeley on
Saturday night, Potifyieg that his lordship had accepted
the invitation. Oa Monday a trades' deputation waited
upon the mayor at the Council-house. to inquire whether,
on the occasion of Lord Palmerston's visit to Bristol, his
worship would recommend the day to be kept as is public
holiday. His worship, in reply, said he should sot le the
same miaow as be did a► the opening of the Suspension
Bridge, via., solicit his fellow-eitisoos to make the day a
pneral holiday. Hi thought there wss oo doubt alleles.,
would join together to give a very hearty welcome to such
a popular matemose se Lard Palmesetee.—Western Doily
Press.
The Zarl of Derby will be entertained by the
Marro of Liverpool at the Town-hall is that city on the
25th MIL

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