The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-26 00:00:00

THE 132ITISIT ASSOCIATIOY:

EXETER, WEDN-EspAr•
.To-day brings to a close the visit of the British Associa-
tion to this hospitable city. The week spent here has been
a busy and a pleasant one, and if the hosts have been 5s
~
satisfied with their guests as the latter have been wit'
those who have catered for their comfort and in o°l
way studied their convenience, nothing but happy recollee'
tions will be mingled with the retrospect.
The second soiree, at the Alhcrt Memorial Museum, 1115
t
night, was as brilliant as the first, which it Close/Y
resembled in all its surroundings. To-morrow franY:(;!
the members intend to explore Kent's Cavern, ITI)'`;
others are off on excursions to different 'places of interest
to strangers on the Devonshire coast.
Only a few sections met this morning, and these were
occupied but a short time in clearing off the papers whicil
emained to be read. The attendances generally were
comparatively small, and the interest attached to the dis•
cussions appeared to be on the wane.
In the Biology Section two curious papers were read b 3;
Sir Duncan Gibbs. 'The first was to spew that a Pend9ilic
condition of the leaf.shaped cartilage at the ba
of the tongue, called the epiglottis, was fatal "-
longevity, because it interfered with breathing. Of sole
thousands of persons who were examined the el
r•
was found vertical in more than seve,llf-;
Pal;
merston, This was the case with Lords ";
merston, Campbell, Brougham, Lyndhurst, and otlmer
who had lived long. Sir Duncan, in his second Orel.'
endeavoured to prove that those Jews of peculiarlYeAu,i
guineo-oleaginous aspect had the epiglottis pendant, gill
never lived long. This was owing to the quantity of
used in cooking their food.
I'o
Among other papers read in the Biology Section
one on "The Natives of Vancouver's Island ;" another
" The Race and Elements of the Irish People Alcll,
third on " The Paces of Morocco." Various matherna';—.,"
botanical, and physiological subjects were discusseduil,„
the respective sections, but they possessed no pop

interest.
In the atbotnic Section a paper was read bY3)dir;
Dircks illustrating the policy of the patent laws. 11l ‘7,
discussion which followed, the general opinion of
section appeared to be that it was simply due to rove
that they should be protected. This view was 011Pesed:el
Ex-Professor Rogers, who urged the arguments advall—ni
by extreme political econtwists against the continua Pee"
the patent laws.
A paper on " The Frankincense Lands and Trees" ‘114.:
read by Mr. George Birdwood, Professor of Botany, 61f4list
Medical College, Bombay. The author treed at tr.ebio
length the use of frankincense as shewn by the 'l-to
and the ancient classic writers. Coming down
recent times, he mentioned that in the ,e3irfil
Part of the present century it was believed that -`11".,-,/
was the home of the frankincense. But between -I—of
and 1846 Commanders Cruttenden and liewpthoree't l
e
the Indian Navy, and Surgeon-Major Vaughan, ef o•
Bombay Medical Staff, proved that Arabia and the el Poe
site Somali coast produced the bulk of the frankilicei'D.
used in trade. In 1847 Mr. 11. J. Carter, F.E.B"
lished a description of the frankincense tree found I';10
in the Ifadramant. That plant has lately flowerre"olo
Bombay, and it is no doubt identical with the are
Madow plant of the Soumalis. Altogether there
three frankincense plants.