The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-20 00:00:00

THE BRITISH. ASSOCIATION.

EXETER, THURSDAY.
The members of the Association settled down to work
in the various sections this morning, and from eleven
o'clock to three o'clock the Reception•room, which was

inconveniently crowded yesterday, was comparatively
leserted. But prior to tackling questions of science and
philosophy, a pleasant hour was spent in discussing the
President's address, delivered in the Victoria Hall last
night, and in recalling the incidents of what was a very
pleasant rCunion, rendered none the less so because the
absurd rumours which had been circulated about the

insecurity of the building in which it was held turned
)ut to have no foundation. Of the way in
which Professor Stokes acquitted himself au

opinion generally favourable was expressed. It
was admitted that, though there was nothing that
was new about the address, and though it was less
bsil-
liaut than the efforts of some former presidents. it was
practical and scholarly. It has been remarked by more
than one that as an elocutionist the President has the pull
of many of his predecessors, for without any undue effort
he was able to make himself heard—a result which is of

some importance when, as last night, some fifteen bun-
fired people came together for the express purpose of
listening. Takcn altogether, the members of the Associa-
tion are in a self-congratulatory condition, and believe

;hat they have not often been more fortunate in the selec.
ion of a President. _ _

The members of the Association are promised a rare
treat on Monday afternoon, when, after evensong, Pro.
fessor Willis, of Cambridge University, and Archdeaccn
Woollcombe will conduct them round the cathedral, and
the former will deliver a conversational discourse upon the
%rchitectural and antiquarian features of interest with
which the building abounds. Nor is this all that the
cathedral authorities will do to add to the attractions of
the Association's visit. Through the courtesy of the

Canons, the original MS. of Domesday Book of the
Western Counties, Bishop Lacy's MS. Missal, Bisl.op
Grandisson's Lectionary. and an ancient copy of Euclid
are open for inspection in the Chapter House every after-
loon.
To-night the Mayor receives the members of the ASEO.
elation in the Albert Memorial Museum, which will bo
thrown open to the public for the first time in its com-
pleted state. The soiree will be something more than a
mere social gathering, for in one of the wings of the build-
;ng there have been brought together a most comfilete
and interesting collection of the mineral products,
metallic ores, building stones, marbles, rocks,
and fossils of the two counties of Vevon and

Cornwall. There are also various productions manu-
factured from terracotta, found at Watcombe St. Mary
Church, near Torquay, consisting of bricks, crucibles,
pipes, Etruscan vases, busts of the Queen, the Prince
Consort, and the Royal family, Lord Palmerston,
Shakspere, and Cobden ; articles of pottery, architecture!
moulding, pigments for painting, and stained paper. A
large block of copper ore, weighing Cans., found in the
West Wheal SetOn Mine, Camborne, next attracts atten-
tion, and then comes a model of an ingenious washing and
jigging machine, used in mining operations, from the New
Dampfylde Mine, near Northmolton. In the centre of
the Lower Museum arc placed two tables, divided into
compartments, in which are shewn specimens of building
stone, for construction and ornament found in Devon and
Cornwall. One consists of granites, elvans, traps, sandstone,
conglomerate, freestone, limestones, ane slates ; another of
...senbles, serpentines, and porphyries. 'The upper museum
smtains, ranged along the sides of the room, a series of glass
,_-_ses filled with fossils and minerals of Devon and Corn-
Tall. In the middle is a table, on which are exhibited
ires of Devon and Ccrnwall. On the wails are hung plans
and sections of the famous Bottallack Tin Mine, and of
several other mines in the two counties. On the cornice,
running round the room, in an antique lettering, appear
some of the names Devon has furnished to the list of those
llustrious in science and art. In a number of cases
placed against the walls are antiquities of Devon
and Cornwall, flint, stone implements and flakes,
and specimens illustrating the blue clay deposit,
and the submerged forest of Bideford Bay. In the
latter is a fine antler of a deer. Another case con-
tains teeth and bones of extinct mammels from the cele-
brated Kent's Cavern, Torquay. There are also speci-
mens illustrating the pebble bed at Budleigh Salterton,
and several examples of Devonian fossils of the two western
counties, ores of copper, iron, lead, tin, and manganese.
After inspecting these mineral treasures, the visitors will
proceed into the elementary class-room of the School of
Art, which will be used by the Chemical Section of the
Association, where will be exhibited specimens of the
work of the pupils of the school, and returning to the
south wing, they will enter a kind of miniature picture
gallery, the walls being hung with the en=
gravings presented to the Albert Memorial Mu-
seum by Cousins, the engraver. There is to
be no formal ceremony observed in the reception of the
visitors by the• Mayor, a fact which will not render the
soirée less enjoyable.
Miss Becker, looking as vigorous as ever to achieve the
rights of women, has attended several of the sections
to-day.
Most of the sectional Presidents delivered opening
addresses to their respective sections to-day. Sir Bartle
Frere, chairman of the Geographical Section, touched
briefly on the principal subjects to be brought forward for
discussion. Ardongst the most interesting would be
those papers treating of the comparatively unknown
regions lying between the northern frontier of our Indian
Empire and the southern limit of the Russian possessions
in Asia, and of new routes for commercial enterprise in
in Thibet and the eastern, portion of Chinese
Tartary. The general geography of the Hima-
layan range would be dealt with in a
paper containing a record of the discoveries made by
Captain Montgomery, assisted by the pundits who had
done so much towards the exploration of those mountains.'
One of these pundits has sent Isis son to the London
University preparatory to the Bar. Interesting facts would
be communicated about the Suez Canal, South America,
and the West Coast of Africa. Referring to Dr. Living-
st-me, Sir Bartle Frere expressed his confidence in his
safety.
A paper was then read by Dr. Mann, narrating the
discovery by Erskine of the mouth of the Limpopo, a
river which rises north of the Transvaal country, in South
Africa, and falls into the sea between Sofala and Delagoa
Bay.

Mr. Stirling described a visit to Fez, the Holy City of
Morocco.
In the Chemical Section the President, Dr. Debus,
delivered an address so entirely technical as to be irate•
resting only to the initiated. Its plan was to direct
attention to the general ideas which guide the
researches of chemists, and the objects they
seek to attain, and to indicate the direction
of scientific thought at the present day. Dr.
Debus paid a high tribute to his predecessor as President
(Professor Tyndall), whose experiments in decomposing
gaseous substances by means of light would furnish
valuable additions to our knowledge of chemical
dynamics.

The new Metropolitan of Cl.nada, the Right Rev.
Dr. Oxenden, recently consecrated Bishop of Montreal, in
Bight Rev. Dr. Fulton], deceased, sailed
succession to the
yesterday for his new diocese. Ho will bo formally en-
throned in Montreal Cathedral on arriving there.
At the Central Criminal Court yesterday, be-
fore the Lord Chief Baron, a man named Church, a clothier,
was sentenced to 12 montl.s' imprisonment for obtaining on
Credit large quantities of goods within three months after
his adjudication as a bankrupt with intent to defraud, and
for unlawfully disposing of sucb goods otherwise than in
the ordinary course of trade. The prisoner, within a few
months of his bankruptcy, had obtained goods of tho value
of £2,000, which ho sold at fairs on the " Cheap Jack"
system, considerably under cost price. Another man, called
Aldworth, received six months' imprisonment for aidipg wad
abetting Chub.