The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-20 00:00:00

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.
LIVERPOOL, MONDAY.
The chief interest of to-day's proceedings centred in the
meeting of the general committee, when the all important
questions of the choice of a president for the coming year
and the selection of a place of meeting for the next and
the subsequent meetings were discussed and settled. This
took place at three o'clock, under the presidency of Pro-
fessor Hu,. ley, with the result which appears below.
The various sections were amply occupied throttgh.
out the morning, and, indeed, the number of
papers relegated to some of them was so
large that there was a great slaughter of the innocents.
In the Economic, Science, and Statistic Department there
was a happy combination of subjects of an abstruse and
of a popular and social character. Thus, papers were pre-
sented on the uses and abuses of tobacco. on intemperance
in Liverpool, on emigration and immigration, on the metric
system of weights, measures, and coins, and on a pro-
posed rearrangement of the registration districts of England
and Wales for the purpose of facilitating scientific inquiry.
The paper on this latter subject was by Mr. Alfred
Fairland and it urged that the artificial system adopted
in defining the boundaries of the registration districts had
nothing whatever to recommend its continuance—on the
contrary it was the fruitful source of repeated alterations
and would continue to be so whilst it was perse-
vered in. On the other hand the author chewed
that were a natural system substituted for the
present one and our country divided into districts
regulated by its watershed and river system we should
then have in every district a focus of scientific inquiry
whether it be as to the rainfall temperature, prevalence
or strength of winds, agricultural statistics, the produce
of our fields, our mines, or our rivers, or for the purpose
of registering the occupations, the diseases, or the deaths
of the people. Moreover such a system would form the best
basis map for every future census, and being once established
upon a well-considered and natural plan, would do away
with the necessity of those eternal alterations which are
now year by year going on to the utter confusion of the
scientific student. In France, the Watershed system is
adopted in defining and naming the departments ;
it is vastly superior to our Own, and although
its deficiencies are numerous, yet they will
act as beacons to us. The author was well aware
that such a revolution could not be accomplished
under ten years. Therefore he urged the necessity of
commencing it at once. Should the natural system be
adopted before 1881 it would be ready for the census of
that year, by which, tinie the Registrar-General would
have completed two more decades Of mortuary records
under the present system, and these with the one (1851-60)
which Mr.Haviland had geographised, would form a most
important foundation for all future inquiry. Mr. Havi-
land proposed that a committee should be formed
to take the whole matter into consideration
and report thereon ; first, to the British Asso-
ciation, and then to Her Majesty's Government,
Sir Roderick Murchison presided over a large gathering in
the Geography section, the popularity of which, especially
amongst the lady associates, remains unabated. Perhaps
it was increased to-day by the anncuncement that
Viscount Milton would have something to say
on the subject of railway routes across North America
and the physical aspects of the country. His lordship has
lately visited North America, and appears to have been
an observant traveller' and to have brought home some
interesting and important Reins of hif ca illation. He in-
sisted with much earnestness upon the infinite value of a
railway route across North America being con-
structed for British traffic, and by means of a
map pointed out the comparatively small difficulties that
would have to be surmounted for the schemes that had been
suggested to be effected. From this branch of his subjec the
passed on to notice the extraordinary fertility exhibited in
the district of the Red River. One proof which he cited
was that of a field he had seen which had borne a
crop. of corn sixteen years successively without having
received any dressing whatever. When at the end
of this time it produced a less extensive yield than for-
merly, the owner went in great trouble to consult a
friend, as he felt sure the land must be bewitched. Of
the honesty of the lied River men Viscount Milton spoke
highly; in all his journeyings he had never been robbed
of any, even the most trifling, thing by the natives, though
he had lost much at the hands of his own attendants.
The country abounded in timber, and he had himself seen
a coal bed, with the coal 15 feet in thickness, through
which a river had washed its way. These, and a hundred
facts, were adduced as so many proofs of the natural
facilities that would be afforded in the construction of
railways.—ln this section also Dr. Forr brought forward
the subject of the metric system of weights and mea-
sures. He said that a committee of the House of Com-
mons, a Royal Commission, and a committee of thisassoci-
ation, had fully considered the question, and it was now time
that some definite action should be taken upon it. Having
given a resume of what had been and might yet be done
with a view to the adoption of the metric
system, he concluded by moving that the
Council of the Association be requested to urge on
her Majesty's. Government the extreme expediency
of proposing to the Legislature a measure to ensure the
introduction of the metric system of weights and mea-
sures into general use in the United Kingdom and its de-
pendencies within five or some definite number of
years.—Mr. J. T. Anson, in seconding the re-
solution, said he was glad Dr. Forr had
omitted coins, ',because that was the only matter upon
which there was much difference of opinion, they being
nearly all agreed as to the advantage of a metric system
as regards weights and measures.—Mr. Alder-
man Hubbock, the Mayor of Liverpool, gave
an interesting account of the variety of measures
in the corn and meal trades, which he said were as com-
plicated and puzzling as Bradshaw's Railway Guide, and
cordially supported the resolution.—Mr. Francis Bennock
urged the importance of some definite plan being
submitted to the Government, contending that there would
inevitably be great delay if the subject generally
was referred to them. Professor Henry, of the Smith-
sonian Institution, Washington, said that the Inter-
national Committee appointed by the French Government
met a month ago in Paris, but was not fully represented in
consequence of the war, and arrived at no definite con-
clusion, merely recommending that the subject should be
more fully considered. He said it was very difficult in
the United States to introduce a change by force of law,
and said it must chiefly be done by the efforts
of the educator. He added that the institution over
which he presided, had done much towards the adoption of
the French system, and offered his cordial assistance by a
compromise, or in any other way toharmonize the systems
of different countries with a view to bring about a general
agreement upon this subject.—Mr. Patterson, a member
of the Chamber of Commerce, and other gentlemen, spoke
on the resolution, which was ultimately adopted.
At the last meeting of the Association at Exeter a
committee was appointed to inquire into the treatment
and utilization of sewage; a report from this body, giving
a detailed account of its investigations was read
in the chemical section, and made the subject of
discussion in connection with a paper by Mr. David
Forbes on the same question, but with special reference
to the phosphate process. In the Mathematical and
Physical. Science section, the subjects discussed were
entirely removed from the region of popular
interest, nor except to the initiated in the study of
geology was there anything in the section devoted to that
science at all of an attractive nature. Stone implements
were as fascinating as they . always are, judging by the
numbers of members who invaded the Department of
Ethnology and Anthropology. In this section Sir John
Lubbock made some interesting remarks. On those
stone implements brought from Western Africa,
anatomy and physiology, and zoology and botany,
forming the subdivisions of the Biology department, were
as usual somewhat eclipsed by their foster child,
Ethnology. There was a sound of war in the Mechanical
Science department ; the whole of the papers,
above
after
the one on a narrow guage for railways given ,
dealt with rams and guns, and the defences
of Liverpool and other seaports. A paper on the
" History of the Shell that Won the Battle of Sedan," by
Mr. W. Hope, V.E., had, unfortunately, to be postponed.
During the afternoon a conference of Liverpool merchants
was held, attended by Sir John Lubbock, Sir Stafford
Northcote, and others, on the subject o E
f ngland's rela-
tions to her colonies. 'Amongst those at present in 's
and attending the association is Jefferson Davis.
The guage for the railways of the future was under dis-
cussion in the Mechanical Science section. A paper on
the subject was presented by Mr. Fairlie, which strongly
argued the advantages, economically and otherwise, of a
very narrow guage, on the ground that every inch added to
the width of a guage beyond what is absolutely necessary
for the traffic adds to the cost of construction, in-
creases the proportion of dead weight, increases the
cost of working a,nd, in consequence, increases the tariffs
to the public, and by so much reduces the useful effect
of the railway. Even if a 3ft. guage line would cost twice
as much to make as a sft. 6in. guage, in such a case the
difference in the cost of working each ton of goods would
be so enormous that the narrow guage would be by far
the cheapest of the two in the end.
To -night Professor Rankine lectured to a large audience
on stream lines and waves in connection with naval archi-
tecture. The professor's object was to give a brief sum-
mary of the results of some applications of the
mathematical theory of hydrodynamies, to questions
relating to the designing of the forms of ships
and to the mutual actions between a ship and the water
in which she floats, and this was done in a manner as
popular as was possible in dealing with such a subject.
The conference on the Colonial question was a lon and
important one. Viscount Milton, Lord Sandon, Sir John
Lubbock, Sir Stafford Northcote, Sir Henry Berkeley,
and others, took part in it. Eventually a resolution was
passed strongly in favour of the relations between the
mother country and her colonies being maintained and
improved.
The meeting of the General Committee, held this after-
noon in the lecture room of the Museum, presided over by
Professor Huxley, was very largely attended. The first
business was fixing the places of meeting of the Association
for 1871 and 1872, it having been decided at the last
meeting by the committee that they should select where
they should go to for two consecutive years. It was
evident that this will be a very convenient arrange-
ment. The President explained that the pro-
ceeding of selecting two places would never
be repeated, as in future years they would

only have at each gathering to add one more town to the
list. Invitations having been read by Mr. Griffith, the
assistant-secretary, from Edinburgh, Brighton, Bradford,
and Belfast, Professor Balfour and Sir Walter Elliott
were heard in favour of the Scottish capital, which, he
said, would give the Association a hearty welcome. The
deputation from Brighton said that their object was to
receive the Association in 1872. Bradford seemed to be
desirous of receiving the scientific• body in 1873, while
Belfast also put in it claim for that year,
but at any rate urged the committee to give
it an early visit. Sir Roderick Murchison moved
that the next meeting be held at Edinburgh, and Mr.
Cowan, the late representative of the city, supported the
proposition, which was unanimously carried. The selec-
tion of Brighton for 1872 was moved by Lord Houghton
and seconded by Mr. Gassiot. This resolution was also
adopted by acclamation. On the proposal of Professor
Stokes, Sir William Thomson, D.C.L„ F.R.S., and Pro-
fessor of Natural History of the University of Glasgow,
was appointed President elect at the Edinburgh meeting,
which, it was deCided, should be held in the middle of
August.
Subsequently, a discussion arose upon the ques-
tion of Vivisection, and whether the Associa-
tion, through Section D, could take any steps to dis-
courage it, and it was agreed that the committee of that
section should take the subject into their consideration
and report to the general committee of the Association.

GREAT MASS MEETING ON THE WAR,
One of the largest meetings that has ever been known
in Trafalgar-square was held last evening, for the purpose
of expressing the views of the working classes in
reference to the present war. The objects of
the committee were stated to be as follows
To assist Frenchmen to return to their country to
defend it; to aid the women and children left here
by those who are gone to fight for their country ; and to
form in Paris, in France generally, and in foreign countries
committees in connection with the one in London and
having the same object. Processions of French and
Italians had been formed in Leicester-square, and of
English in Clerkenwell-green, which moved towards
the appointed place accompanied by numerous bands.
and banners representing the colours of all nations. Mr.
Merriman, in the absence of Mr. Odger, who had
not returned from his mission at Paris, was unanimously
voted to the chair.

Resolutions congratulating the people of France on the
establishment of a Republican Government, protesting
against the continued slaughter of French and Prussians,
and expressing the determination of the meeting to call
on the English Government to recognise the French Re-
publican Government, were carried.
An address to the National Defence Government was
carried by acclamation.
It was resolved that the above address be signed by the
chairman and secretary on behalf of the meeting, and
that a copy be immediately forwarded to the Government
of France, the chairman intimating his intention to
forward a copy to the English Government. The greatest
order prevailed throughout the meeting.

OUR COTEMPORARIES—This norning