The Express.
London, England, 1848-08-11 00:00:00

BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT SWANSEA.

The annual meeting of this association commenced
on Wednesday, at Swansea. The general committee held ifs
tint meeting in the theatre of the Bola Institution, which
was mete numerously attended than the general eon :mitten
have bara for the last three toe four years.
Colonel SABINE (the secretary) read the report of the
council, which stated that, with reference to the sub-
jects on which the council won requested by the ge-
neral committee, assembled at Oxford, to make applica-
tions to the government and to the court of directors
of the East India Company, the council had to report
that, similar resolutions to there of the general committee
having been passed by the council of the Royal Society, appli-
cations M acoordanca with them were made by the president
of that society and of the British Association, acing con-
jointly, and were favourably received. On the subject
of the first resalution the council understood, from
Lord Auckland's reply, that the Board of Admiralty would
appropriate a suitable vessel for the purpose of an investiga-
tion into the phenomen I of the tides, as soon as the most
advisable plan for her eniployruea. should have been deter
mined upon. With respect to the secoad resolution, the
Court of Directors of the Bast India Company had issued
orders for carrying into regular and continued operation the
tide observations on the coasts of Western India and Scinde;
and with respect to the third resoba'ion, the Court of
Directors had placed the standard bar and scales of the
Indian arc of meridian at the disposal of Mr. Struve, a- d
had permitted him to take it with him to R. oasis, in order
that it might be there compared with similar instruments
which had been employed in the measurement of the Rus-
sian arc of the meridian. The council had been informed
that a deputation from the Philosophical Society of Birming-
ham had been appointed to present at this meeting an invita-
tion to, as theme:lves and other public bodies these, for the
British Agent iation to hold their next meeting at Birmingham.
The report also announced that the following names had
been addeei to tie list of correrponeline members of' the ass-o-
ci oion ;—Mr. Struve, of St. Petersburg; Mr. Le Vernier. of
Paris; Ch Am Bonaparte, Prince of C enino ; the Chevalier
Bunsen; Professor Neilsen, of Sweden ; Professor Remark,
of Criateana ; Dr. Van der Hoven, of Leyden; and Dr. J.
blylne Billiard., of Paris. The re; ort concluded by an al-
lusion to the valuable aid to science rendered by the Kew
Observatory, upon which subject a special report was then
read. The report having been adopted, the treasurer (J.
Ti.ylor, F.R.S.) read the audited account, which showed the
receipts of the past year to have amounted to 1,715/. 10e 6.1.;
and the dishurs meets, among oth, r items, were : Printing,
&c., for the Ooterd meeting, 448/ Is. Id. ; the balance of
printing fifteenth r.•port, till. Is. 74.; printing sixteenth re-
port, 5081. Ss 211.; salaries, 37.11. ; grans, &a, for scientific
pure 4M, 1031. ss. 9d.
The first general meeting of the essociation was held in the
eve nine, a the Trinity Chapel, in Pariestrett.
Sir R. Inoue, M.P., having taken the chaii, addressed
the meeting at great length upon the transactions of the
association during the past year; and, on concluding,
resigned, according to form, the prerideney, and inducted
the Marquis of Northampton, the president elect, into the
chair.
The Marquis of NORTHAMPTON said that in addressing them
he could not but feel the disadvantageous positioi in which
he was pieced as compared to his friend Sir R. Inglis, who
had just N ielded to him the hontmrahle position of their pre-
sident. lie was not, as Sir R. Inglis had Men lust year,
addressing them from an encient and venerable seat of
academia discipline, where the very aspect of the sur-
rounding Welke, proclaimed the lona residence of
learned leisure and elegant fate—where, during the
lope of many centuries, science end learning had taken
up, their abode, and where red:Rion lead consecrated
their union. There, in that Oxford which had sent
forth so many labourers for the cultivation of know-
ledge, where the divine, the statesman, and the philo-
sopher had taken their early lessons in those arts which
wero to make their names household words among their
countrymen— there, where this royal society had its
cradle, the British Association might well anticipate a
generous welcome, and more than that, an audience fit,
though not few, sod not only favour, but sequence, in its
pursuits. The British Association had now arrived at a part
of the sovereign's dominions where it could not enjoy
similar advantages. Remote from the metropolis, remote
from the chief seat of English learning, remote also from
those great highways of communication by which modern
ingenuity had almost accomplished the extravagant wish of
annihilating apace and time, Swansea could not, he thought.
reironably expect a meeting as numerous as the meetings at
York, and Cambridge, and Oxford, and still lees like those
that had con:regated at Liverpool end Glasgow. Swansea
still, however, possessed i s attractions. Unless the institu-
tion had come to Swansea, or to some other place in South
Wales, South Wales would have remained unvisited,
and a large geographical portion of the island would
hate been unkn wa to the association, Again, Wales
comprehended an important and separate population of the
taland—a people to whom. at cue time, the whole of it
beleineed—s people speaking a differena a more ancient
tongue, civilised when the Saxon end Norman ancestors of
the London, and Oxford, and Cambridge of modern times
were heathens and berbarians—a people who had seen
among them a Julius Ca'ar and a Constantine. To the
mineralogist and geologist, the mineral riches of Wales, to
waich Englan.: was so much indebted for its manufacturing
prosperity and political importance, would be no small attrac-
tion. The chemist and the mechanician would, moreover.
he anxious to witness the ingenious processes by which iron.
and copper are here, on a s mantic scale, separated from their
ores. These reasons were sufficient to account for, and in-
deed to demand a visit (ran the association, without men-
tioning the worm invitation which they had received and the
kind hespitality which they bad been promtaed. The noble
president then alluded at censidereble length to several of
the subjects of ecientific investigation which at present oc-
cupy the literate. world. In the course of his remarks he
said: At our meeting at Souttampton, Sir J. Herschel,
first intimated, as I believe, to an English audience, the
temarkable astronomical discovery which he Fe soon
after announced to the whole world, and whOh added an un
known planet to our system. I had the honour, as President
of the Royal Society, to give to M. Le Vernier the medal
awarded to him by cur council ; my pre demur in this chair
had the satisfaction of receiving at Oxford bath M. de Verrier
and Mr. Mama, the two gentlemen'. ho had simultaneously,
though without concert, :pursued the same original and la-
borious investigation in search of the great celestial gl- be
that disturbed the course of Uranus. Of the two discoverers
of Neptune, I fear I cannot hope to see the illustrious
countryman of Lapin.; Mr Adams, perhaps, may honour
Swansea with a visit. Certain lam that you, gentlemen,
weuld delizht to honour the two philosopher. whose names
will now shine together like a twin star, as long a' astronomy
shall be considered the rublimest of sciences. I am sure,
gentlemen, that the members of the British Association
must have derived the Behest satisfaction from what I may
call one of the principal events in science that has occurred
since our last meeting. I mean the publication
by Sir John Herschel. of the results of his arduous
labours at the Cape of Good Hope. We cannot, indeed,
associate our body in any way with that great scientific en-
terprise. It was undereaken at no suestestim from tie or
from any other scientific society. Its author was influenced
alone by his own love of science, and by the desire to com-
plete the labour el his illustrious father, and I believe that in
truth the son had more to do with it than the philosopher,
and science will he proud that it was so. Though, however,
we cannot derive any gl it, to the British Association from
Sir John Herschel's brilliant Seetteei in the southern hemis-
phere, we may still be proud of him as one of our earliest
members, and as one to whom we bade adieu on the b nks
of the Cam at our third meeting, then welcomed again at our
fifteenth, as our president. Welcome indeed his presence
muss be, on whatever occasion he may come among us. Al-
though the British Association did not take any part in the
recommendation of the expedition sent out by the govern-
meet under Sir J. Franklin, and have therefore not the
same immediate interest in i's success that they had in air'
James Ross's expedit. in into the South Polar region, yet I
am sure that we must e ii feel the most anxious desire for the
safety of our gallant ct.sintrymen. 1 wish it was in my
power to give you any sat .sfactory information on this point.
Alas. I cannot do to. I t ennot do more than express the
boos that the same grscii.os providence that shielded Sir
James Reels amid the antailic icebergs, may stretch out its
arms and bring back again our brave navigators. You are
all, or moat of you, aware, that for mans. years our pecu-
niary funds were increasing. and that we made large grants
of money fur scientific purposes. You must, also, he
aware from whenc those funds arose; namely, from the
annual and life subscription" of our members. Our annual
subscriptions are now of a very limited amount, being almnet
entirely confined to those members who join us
in different localities, many of whom only pay in
a subscription for one year. It is true that we have funded
a portion of our life subscriptions, but a considerable part
of them has been applied to scientific greats ; more, perhaps,
than we were strictly justified in so applying. The conse-
quence has been, that for several years our expenditure has
exceeded our income. It would be vain to disurable, and
idle to deny the inevitable consequence of such a continued
excess. There is only one method, without deviating from
our accustomed mode of action, by which we can remedy
this serious evil. It is one, fortunate) ,that is consistent
with oar prosperity in other reopecte. We must !return to
some of those great seats of population and industry where
we have a fair prospect of a large temporary accession to our
members, and, through them, of a large addition to our
funds. lam happy to say that we have reason to anticipate
an invitation from at least one such place for the ensuing year.
Several other speakers addremed the meeting.

MALTA, Aro. 2.
The French steamer Osiris, from Alexandria,
brought us an account of the appearance of the cholera at
Cairo ; that the number of eases were as many as 140 daily,
with about 40 deaths. This, from letters I hare seen, appears
to be an exaggeration ; say one-third the number, and it
will be nearer the truth. Our board of health here imme-
diately held a council, and came to the following resolutions:
All vessels, without distinction, shall perform 16 days in the
quarantine harbour, when coming from Egypt, Syria, Con-
stantinople, Dardanelles, and other ports of the Ottoman
islands ; and shall be compelled to discharge all nemseepti-
ble goods into the lazaretto. Pamengen from the above
places obeli perform ten days quarantine in the lessretto.
Susceptible goads shall be landed in the lazaretto, and be
subject to a deputation of 20 days. If any teasel should
arrive with sick an board, it will be treated agreeably to the
orders of the communes of BthNoe., lea.

SECOND EDITION.

THIB NIGHT.

DOWNING-STREET, AUGUST 11.—The Queen has
bona pleased to appoint Colonel Sir Wu ism Macb. an
Gesm•
Colebrook', Kt., Companion of the Moot Honour-
ibis Drier of the Bath, to be Governor and Commander.in-
01dai It and over the islands of Barbados, Grenada, St.
Mutt, Tobago, and St. Luria, and their dependencies.

OFFICE OF ORDNANCE, Aroma. 11.
Corps of Royal Engineers.—Brevet Major H. Sandham to be bent,
col., vice Page, retired on ; Second Copt. W. C. Madden to to
captain, Ate Sandbam.
ADMIRALTY, Avarcr IL
Oorps of Royal /itarineL—dec. ILLeut. G. Gregory to be first Beat,
Mos W. B. liaberfieJd, deceased.

BANKRUPTCY ANNULLED.
ROBERT JOHNSTON, Savage-gardens, City, merchant and
ship owner, August 2.
BANKRUPTS,
JAMES Rein, Hanover.court, Long-acre, builder.
CHARLES Porrnecte, Banbury, Oxfordshire, tailor.
WILLIAM WILLIAMS, Colchester, Essex, bat maker.
HENRY COLBNUTT, Porten, baker.
Thomas Sastvet, Ds YEAR, Gravesend, Kent, currier.
PAUL OAF/BANAT!, Newman-street, Oxford-street, WTIr
and gilder.
WILLIAM PALMER, Birmingham, maltster.
CHARLES HALL, Hereford, linen draper.
lone Ciatarsebt., Wolverhampton, grocer.
ALEXANDER Rowe, Plymouth, grocer.
JAMES Auertx, Chat Honiton, Devonshire, builder.
THOMAS WILLIAMS, Llangefai, Anglesey, draper.
HENRY HILLIAR, jun., Birkenhead, innkeeper.
DAVID JONES, Liverpool, linen draper.
JOSEPH ABRAHAM MORRIS, Manchester, boot and abce
maker.