The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-24 00:00:00

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATIOY.

EXETER, MoND kr.

One of the massy advantages afforded to the visitors of
the British Association is the close proximity to this city
of several pleasant little watering-places, notably Dawlish
and Exmouth, to which they can escape for a few hours'
recreation after the daily sittings of the sections. Many,
indeed, have preferred to stay at these lovely west country
townlets rather than in Exeter, and they have not been
the least wise of their generation. A dip in the sea and a
good hour or two's walk along the shore in an air bracing
as compared with that of the city form by no means a had
preparation for the labours of a scientific field day. Nor
are they less useful as restoratives to human nature
exhausted by a plethora of philosophical disquisitions.
There yet remains much to be done, though the day after
to-morrow, will sec the close of the present meeting. The
papers that have been read so far have not been as a
whole of a character so exciting as those of some
past years ; but they have—at all events, the
major portion of theme dealt with subjects of
great practical importance, au-I have raised discussions
ss Inch have been of sufficient interest to give zest and
tone to the sections. Dulness has pervaded the Geology
Section as far as the great bulk of the members and asso-
ciates is concerned. Those, however, who are devotees
of the science have had ample chances of learning much
that they did not know and communicating what they
did. The opportunity of examining the antiquities of the
cathedral, under the guidance of Professor Willis, referred
to a few days since, was largely embraced by many of the
visitors this afternoon. To-night Mr. Norman Lockyer
delivers a lecture on the sun, to-morrow there will be a
second soirée, and the Mayor has issued invitations for a
luncheon, to be given in the Reception Room after the
final general meeting.
In the Mathematical Section Mr. Glaisher related some
experiments which he had made in the Captive Balloon at
Chelsea. He stated that at every hundred feet up to
a thousand he had been entirely confirmed in
his previous observations on the temperature near the
earth. In consequence of the steadiness of the " Captive,"
he had been able to deal snore successfully with his experi-
ments than in a free balloon, the latter being attended
with considerable uncertainty.
A committee appointed last year at Norwich to inquire
into the rapid increase of boiler explosions presented an
important report, which was read in the section devoted
to Mechanical Science. They stated that since the last
meeing of the Asscciation no fewer than forty-six boiler
explosions had occurred, causing the death of seventy-
eight persons, whilst 114 more were injured. The com-
mittee had come to the conclusion that the lamentable loss
of life annually caused through these accidents urgently
calls for public attention ; that explosions, as a rule, are
accidental, but may to a great degree be prevented by
exercising common knowledge and common care; that
the investigations as at present conducted by
coroners with regard to these special accidents are
eminently unsatisfactory; and that therefore coroners
should be instructed to avail themselves of competent
engineering advice. The committee entertain a sanguine
hope that this course alone would do much towards the
prevention of these constantly-recurring catastrophes,
without the aid of further governmental action.
In the same section a paper was read by
Mr. Lavington Fletcher, of Manchester, on
"Government action with regard to boiler explosions."
He dwelt on three-propositions which are now before the
public, the first being that all boilers should he
under the control of the Government ; the second
suggested that the executive power should not
undertake inspections itself, but leave them to a duly
authorised association, rendering it, however, compulsory
that the owner or user should avail himself of the oppor
tunity of testing whether his boiler was in a fit state for
use. The third plan was said to go on the principle
of believing that every man is innocent before he is
proved guilty, and of punishing offenders in the hope that
by so doing a repetition of the offence by others would to
a great extent be prevented.
The Biology Section was densely crowded in anticipation
of hearing a paper from Sir John Lubbock on " The Primi-
tive Condition of Man." Sir John's address was chiefly
an answer to an essay which recently appeared from the
pen of the Duke of Argyll in Cord Words, entitled
"Speculations on Primeval Man." In this essay the
Duke bad criticised a paper read by Sir
John Lubbock at the meeting of the British
Association at Dundee, in which the latter had
dealt with Archbishop Whately's views on the primitive
condition of man. His Grace had to some extent up-
held some of the Archbishop's opinions in opposition to
those advanced by Sir John Lubbock ; the hon. baronet
had, however, since convinced the Duke of the incorrect-
ness of some of the tenets which he had recently defended.
To-day Sir John specially combatted the belief of his op-
ponent, that no necessary connection existed between
childlike knowledge and barbarism in its strict sense.
ire expressed regret that Dr. Hunt, the noted anthropo-
logist, bad been compelled to return to London, being in
a critical state of health. The paper gave rise to a
vigorous discussion, and the pre-historic theories of the
author were much criticised.