The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-12 00:00:00

vertical cells, as being a form capable of being propelled
horizontally through the air.
The economists and statisticians gave their full attention
to the subject of cotton and machinery, a paper on these
matters being introduced by Mr. David Morris.
Lord STANLEY, the president, said it would have been
better for all parties if there could have been an absolute
guarantee at tho commencement of war that no cotton
would come in from America for six years, because in that
case purchasers would have turned their attention to the
cultivation of cotton in those countries where it could and
would be produced. His lordship did not anticipate that
the supply of agricultural labour would be materially di-
minished by increased demand for hands in the cotton fac-
tories.

Mr. EDWARD VIVIAN, M.A., in a paper " On the Admis-
sion of Illegitimate Children into Workhouses as a Means
of Preventing Infanticide," suggested, first, that discre-
tionary power should be given to guardians to admit those
children without the mother, the costs to be paid by one or
both parents; and secondly, that it should be the duty of
relieving officers to do their utmost to find out the fathers
of the children and obtain orders of affiliation, so that the
expense might not fall exclusively on the mother or on
the union. This system, he thought, was intermediate
between foundling hospitals, with their temptations to im-
morality, and the cruelties which were practised by paid
nurses. With reference to recent cases, he had ascertained
that the woman Winsor was not, as had been represented,
a specimen of an industrious man's wife, but was the
keeper of a brothel, of which her own daughters wero in-
mates. Harris, although she had an illegitimate child, had
so far recovered her character as to be received into do-
mestic service.
In reply to Lord STANLEY, who inquired whether, in all
cases, the mothers of illegitimate children should be
allowed to send in their children while the mothers of legi-
timate children could only be received in some cases,
Mr. VIVIAN said the discretionary power should be
strictly exercised. •
• In the course of discussion a medical gentleman gave
it as the opinion of a considerable portion of his pro-
fession that there should be a change in social
views with respect to the disgrace of illegitimacy.
Public opinion, he said, should be more in accordance
with physiological laws. The offence in these cases was
really less than that of less excusable crimes. lie believed
the system proposed by Mr. Vivian would add to the
amount of illegitimacy. Another medical gentleman
present declined to endorse the social views of this gentle-
man as those of his profession.
Mr. WILLIAM WILSON said the real question was as to
whether or not this country was over-populated, and
hence life not so valuable as in more thinly-populated
lands. If this were the case, a system of nursery emigra-
tion for the children of those parents who did not acknow-
ledge them to countries where they would be more useful
and more happy might be considered.
The DEPUTY-CORONER of BATH spoke on the legal view
of infanticide, coinciding with the dictum of Mr. Justice
Willes.

Sir JOHN BOWRING spoke in terms of strong condemna-
tion of the receptacles for the bodies of toothless children
in China, and of the legal protection given to mothers who
murdered their offspring. He had often seen dogs devour-
ing the bodies of children in China. And yet in all the
large cities there wero orphan asylums.
Lord STANLEY said it was a question as to whether there
had really been an increase of the crime of infanticide, or
whether, owing to several recent cases, this was not one
of those periodical panics which, like garotting, sprang up
at intervals amongst the community. There had been in-
stances where the facilities afforded by burial clubs had
tended to increase this. He condemned foundling hospi-
tals, and remarked that, in the present state of the law, a
punishment of two year& imprisonment could be given for
concealment of birth.
There was also a discussion in this section on patents
and copyright, on a paper by Professor Rogers. It was
maintained during the debate that nearly all the manufac-
turers in Birmingham, if polled, would be found in favour
of laws on these questions.
The Geographical Section presented a very strong
paper, and attracted a largo meeting. North Polar expe-
ditions first came under notice, Mr. C. R. Markham advo-
cating the Smith's Sound route, and AdmiralE. Ommaney
the Spitzbergen route.
Admiral BELCHER supported the latter course, remark-
ing that for 22 years nothing new of any note had been
discovered in the Polar Regions.
The PRESIDENT observed that it was probably in conse-
quence of the difference of opinion that the Government
declined to do anything at present.
Mr. T. WRIGIIT, in discoursing on the true assignation
of the bronze weapons, &c., supposed to indicate a bronze
age in northern and western Europe, held that the division
of prehistoric time into stone, bronze, and iron ages, was
contraiicted by archaeological science.
Sir J. LUBBOCK defended the views contained in his book
on the subject, and pointed out data to show that there was
clearly a period when bronze was used almost to the exclu-
sion of iron. No doubt when a Koman found a bronze
sword he would prize it highly, and retain it as long as he
could; and ho thought It was an argumont against Mr.
Wright himself to show that a few bronze implements were
found in the iron age. All else that had been advanced
might be referred to the period of transition from bronze to I
iron.

Mr. EVANS supported the conclusionsof the hon. baronet.
Mr. BURKE advocated the importance of the services
rendered by.the northern archaeologists.
The name of Mr. Edward Whymper, the survivor of the
accident on the Matterhorn, appeared on the list as the
reader of a paper onAlpine subjects, but the paper was de-
ferred until to-morrow. It was privately rumoured that
Mr. Whymper was shaken by a railway accident on his
way to Birmingham yesterday.
Mr. F. BUCKLAND gave the zoologists a dissertation on
the culture of the oyster. The substances to which the
young spat were inclined to attach themselves were pre-
ferred in nearly the following order—the shell of a live
oyster, the shell of a dead oyster, shells of the mussel,
the periwinkle, whelks, and clams, pieces of crockery,
glass, tiles, tobacco pipes, iron, and wood. They accu-
mulated in large groups, of which the elder oysters were
the centre. It was important that the clutches of shells
should be kept clean, and free from mud and weeds. He
did not think facines were so attractive to the oyster
as they were said by the French to be. At present there
was great danger that the oyster beds of Britain would be
depleted, and that in a short time the oyster would be re-
garded as a curiosity, instead of being an ordinary market-
able commodity.

Dr. GIBB submitted to physiologists a refutation of the
view recently propounded, that the food comes into contact
with the vocal cords in deglutition.

Professor ROLLESTON read a paper on certain points in
the anatomy of two animals from the Mammoth Cave
Kentucky. One was a little fish, from which the abdominal
fin was absent, and the other a small crustacean, so pel-
lucid that the brain could be seen—a phenomenon which,
as the professor humorously observed,, if it occurred in
man would save the necessity for competitive examina-
tions.

The geologists were engaged nearly all day in discussing
features of Staffordshire.

The chemists were engaged on abstruse subjects, and
were up early. ,

After the rising of the sections, at three o'clock in the
afternoon, the mayor gave a banquet in tho Town Hall to
about 300 members of the Association.
It has been decided that the Association will hold its
meeting for 1866 at Nottingham.