The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-09 00:00:00

rHE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 9, 1865.

Meeting of the British Association.

BIRMINGHAM, Sept. 7.
The conversazione in the Town Hall last night brought
together more than 2,000 members, associates, and ladies.
Thore was a rather heavy collection of works of manufac-
turing ingenuity, models of the original steam-engine of
Watt, and several cases of quartz and rare metals. Pho-
tographing by the magnesium light, and the consequent
production of that class of miniatures called pistolgrams,
was a source of some amusement, and attracted large
groups around the place of operations. The hall was well
lighted and ventilated ; and although it required the exer-
cise of considerable tact to thread a way through the
assemblage in any given direction, the crowding was not
excessive. A large room in the basement was fitted up in
excellent taste with refreshment comptoirs, and in this, as
in all the other arrangements under the direction of the
corporation of Birmingham, the soiree was worthy of the
town and of the association.
The weather this morning was extremely warm.- In
Section A there was a good attendance to hear the reports
to be given by Mr. Glaisher and Mr. Birt on the progress
of lunar science. The moon has been mapped into four
quarters, and the situations of hills, plains, and vales have
been definitively fixed and sketched. Professor Phillips,
after congratulating the section on the advance made in
their knowledge of the moon, took occasion to recommend
telescopes of six inches in diameter for lunar observations.
This would give a magnifying power of 400, which would
be quite sufficient to define a place like Birmingham, were
such a place existing on the moon. The remainder of the
papers brought before this section were of more scientific
than general interest.
Dr. Angus Smith showed to the Chemical Section the
apparatus and method invented by himself for estimating
carbonic acid in the air. By dissolving pyrites and com-
pressing air, and by the employment of an indiarubber
bulb, a precipitate of carbonic acid is obtained, and the
apparatus has been used as a means of showing the state of
the atmosphere in crowded rooms and in coal mines,
Mr. Parkes gave a description of a new substance in-
vented by himself, and called Parkesine. It may be used
for the same purposes as gutta-percha, and experiments
testing its capabilities for the insulation of electric
telegraph wires are contemplated. A paper was given by
Mr. F. G. Finch on the utilisation of the slag from blast
furnaces. It is thought that this, which is at present waste,
may be material used for pavements.
There was a very large meeting in the Friends' School-
room, where several interesting papers on various branches
of mechanical science were to be read. Mr. Henry Besse-
mer gave an elaborate and complete history cf the Bessemer
process of manufacturing steel. This consists in the burn-
ing away from molton iron those impurities with which it
is invariably impregnated ; and the work is accomplished
by the forcing of air into vessels of a peculiar description,
into which the molten iron has been drawn from the fur-
naces. Several specimens of the steel were displayed for
the purpose of showing the improvements that had been
made since the process was first discussed at the Chelten-
ham meeting, and also to show the permanency of the
metal under exposure to atmospheric influences and
the wear and tear of use. A long and well-sustained
discussion, chiefly by practical ironmasters, followed ;
and it was recommended that the paper be printed
in extenso in the transactions of the association. Dr.
Fairbairn, in a paper on submarine cables sug-
gested that the attempt to grapple for the Atlantic cable
should be made about five miles from where the end was
lost. His opinion was, however, that the attempt would
not be successful. Three series of experiments that had
been made upon cables with regard to permeability, ab-
sorption, and insulation, had left on his mind the impres-
sion that the question as to which were the best materials
for their construction had not yet been solved. Papers on
kindred subjects were contributed by Mr. Siemens, Mr.
Hooper, and Mr. Holmes.
Although political discussions are contrary to the avowed
objects of the association, the facts contributed to eco-
nomic science and statistics necessarily border on the
forbidden ground. The piece de resistance in that section
this morning was a paper by Professor Leone Levi, giving
statistical data in relation to the representation of the
people. At the last census the population of England and
Wales was 20,066,259, of whom .9,776,259 were -males and
10,289,965 females. Excluding the gentler sex as not
competent to vote, and all males under age and all imbe-
ciles there were about £5,000,000 left. Of 100 men married
in 1861 only 75 wrote their names. Here, therefore, were
1,250,000 men who aid not come up to the lowest standard
of intelligence. In 1864 there were 69,000 persons appre-
hended by the police ; there were 900,000 paupers, 40,000
civil servants, 100,000 men in the army and navy, and
100,000 domestic servants. Making these deductions
under the most liberal electoral law, there would be less
than 3,000,000 voters. According to the census, there
were 3,739,505 houses inhabited, at an average rental of
£l5 ss. Of these 3,219,514 houses were rented at under
£2O, giving an average of £l9 ss. ; subdividing these, there
were 459,693 from £l5 to £2O ; 822,149 from £lO to £l5 ;
1,277,956 from £6 to £lO ; and 659,724 from £3 to £5.
The reduction of the franchise to £6 in boroughs and £lO
in counties, with a certain lateral extension to lodgers
and professional men, would add 1,000,000 to the suffrage,
making, with the million now on the register, 2,000,000.
Professor Levi was in favour of such extension, accompa-
nied with the provision that every voter should be able to
record his vote in writing. In the discussion which followed
a desire was evinced for official inquiry into the subject.
Interesting reports on the progress of local industries,
and especially on the effect of schools of art, as shown in the
manufacture of toys, were brought before this section.
The geologists had a remarkably successful day, their
meeting in the lending library being one of the best of the
eight divisions of the association. Mr.W. M. Williams, in an
interesting paper on vegetable deposits in the Achensee,
North America, gave his opinion that coal was not in all
cases formed in the manner now generally credited. He
believed that, in some cases, trees and vegetable matter were
transported from the land by great rivers and estuaries. Sir
R. Murchison concurred, and had no doubt that the snags
now brought down the Mississippi were deposited in the
bed of the ocean, and were forming incipient beds of coal,
Sir Charles Lyell believed that there were exceptional
cases of this kind, but he was of opinion that all, or nearly
all, of the ancient coal fields were formed according to the
generalisation first brought before English geologists by
Sir Wm. Logan. A report was presented by a committee
of the association who had been appointed to explore
Kent's Cavern, near Torquay. This cave has been known
from time immemorial, but it did not attract the attention
of scientific inquirers until 1824. Some remains were then
found ; and, quite recently, the British Association ap-
pointed this Committee to make a complete exploration of
the place. They found in the earliest strata objects of
human art, and along with them were the bones of the
mammoth, the cave bear, and other extinct animals. They
had no doubt that upon further examination they would
discover more valuable relics.

The subjects discussed by the zoologists and botanists
were chiefly remarkable for the hardness of their names.
The homologies of the lower jaw of the skull of the Ovipara
and the occurrence of Orcynus Alalonga all along the coast
of Devon are mild specimens of scientific nomenclature.
Notes on the voracity of Chiasmodus were read by Dr.
Dr. Carte. Chiasmodus was not an ancient Roman em-
peror, following the voracious practices of Vitellius and
others of equally high-sounding names ; but he is a little
fish six inches in length, living in four hundred fathoms of
water, and his voracity evinces itself in his devouring
fishes ten inches long. At least one of that length has
been found in the singularly elastic confines of Chiasmo-
due's stomach. A note appears at the end of the list of the
papers for this section in to-day's journal, requesting the
committee on zoological nomenclature to meet forthwith.
Dr. Cobbold gave to the physiologists in sub-section D
his opinion that beef and veal are more profitable sources
of entozoa than pork is, though the latter is a source of
entozoa.

Geology and Ethnology did not assemble quite so large
a meeting to-day as is usual with this section. In a con-
tribution by Mr. Baines, the Victoria Falls of the Zam-
besi were described in glowing colours.. The breadth
cf the river is from 1,800 to 2,000 feet, and in the wet
season one sheet of water falling over the edge is a
quarter of a mile wide. The Falls are said to exceed
in grandeur those of Niagara. Mr. Crawfurd, speak-
ing of the Occidental or Western negroes, expressed
his well-known opinions on the inferiority of that
portion of the African race. He pointed out that they had
no literature, and rarely acquired the letters of other nations;
but he admitted they were not so low in the human scale
as the Hottentot or the Australian aborigine.
Dr. Hunt, Mr. M. D. Conway, Mr. Carter Blake, and Mr.
Reddie combated the views of Mr. Crawford, which they
compared to those entertained with regard to astronomy
before the discoveries of Copernicus.
This evening a lecture will be delivered by Mr. Jukes
on the Midland coal-fields, and on the morrow there will
be excursions to various places in the district.

FiLlus PuLcHnioß.—At the last examination
for the Indian Civil Service there was, if a darkly-whis-
pered rumour be true, ono candidate who was no other
than the son of Calcraft the hangman. He was, moreover,
a successful candidate, though, as he had the prudence to
assume another name, the fact is not generally known.
Tt is a somewhat startling reflection that the son of the
public executioner may one day be Governor-General of
India. The father, we know, is fond of elevated situations,
but we scarcely expected to see the son rise to a height
compared to which Haman's gallows were but a sign-post.
—Correspondent of IVestern Morning News.

IMPORTANT TO MARINERS.—Captain Cathorn, of
P. M. Miller, of Nova Scotia, who arrived at
the Fal-
mouthhsi
Pon the 6th inst., from Rangoon, for orders, reported
to the agents for Lloyd's that, while crossing the Gulf of
Mataban, he distinctly saw a rock of some dimensions,
which he immediately laid down as in long. 93 40 E., and
lat. 11 N. He further reported that, while this rock is
mentioned correctly as to position in the Admiralty chart
of the Indian Ocean (eastern sheet, from Cape Comorin to
Australia), the book of directions not only omits it alto-
gether, but says "no existing dangers here"—an error
which should be immediately corrected.