The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-08-01
BIG SCIENTIFIC EVENT.
THE TORONTO MEETING OF THE
BRITISH ASSOCIATION.
Remarkable Results Expected-Lord
Kelvin, VIM. Henry Preece, Prof.
Ayrton, Benjamin Baker, Sir Jo-
seph Lister, Lord Rayleigh and
Other Distinguished Guests.

The Toronto meeting of the British
association for the advancement of sci
ence. which convenes on the 16th.of this
month, will be one of the biggest scien-
life events Of the year. The eyes of the
scientific world are turned toward this
meeting, and great things are expected
Of 1t, for most of the leading lights of
science will be there. The association is
just six years older than the queen
reign. For just two-thirds of a century
1t has been IN existence, and during al
most that entire period has been the
largest purely scientific organization in
The English-speaking world. The his
tory Of its existence is one long tri
umphal course, because nearly every
notable scientific achievement of the
past 80 years has been performed by
member of the society.
CHANGING down the roll of its more re-
cent presidents, we find such names as
Lyell, Huxley, Tyndall, Lubbock, Pay
leigh, Playfair, Cation and Lister. If
here and there appears a name better
known in other than scientific fields,
like that of Lord Salisbury, it is always
the name of a real notable, never of a
mere figurehead, and always Of per-
son VINO has at least a broad general
knowledge of science and a warm inter
even though not professionally bound
to science, should occasionally be hon
ored with the presidency of the associa-
ton, is exactly in keeping with one
main object of the organization, which
has always been 10 keep technical sci
ence in touch with the practical needs
of the people-to pOpularize science in
the best sense, without subjectng it to
unwholesome diluuon.
TrOrr- TT,
The parent of the British association
was the Yorkshire philosophical society
which had been founded about 1926,
chiefly to study the wonderful fossils
of extinct tigers, hyenas and elephants,
that had just been discovered at Kirk
dale. It occurred to Sir David Brewster,
famous as a phusicist and as the editor
of the Edinburgh encyclopedia, after
ward known as the encyclopedia Brit
annica, that the society might advan-
tage0usly widen its scope and extend
the field of its usefulness. His sugges-
ton was actively seconded by four
other Scotchmen, including Sir Roderick
I. Murchison, who was then president
of the Geological society of London, and
afterward director of the geological
survey of Great Britain. At the instance
of these men, an invitation was sent
out by the Yorkshire society to all sim
science" in the kingdom. to attend a
meeting at York, Sep. y, 1881 More |
than 800 persons responded, and the re-
suit of the meeting was the organiza-
ton OF the British association for the |
advancement of science.
GAINED RECOGNITION.
At the very outset the ambitious So
ciety gained recognition. Its success
with The patricians of the inner circle
of science was pronounced, for the great |
DR.. Buckland, foremost English au-
thority on fossils had accepted the office
of president elect, with Dr. WhewelI,
the historian of the inductive sciences,
and Sir David Brewster. for vice pres
idents elect, while such men as Sir G.
3. Airy, afterward astronomer royal of
England. Professor James D. Forbes,
the great Scotch authority in physics,
Rev. w y. COybeare, The noted geolog-
ist and others of similar standing, had I
promised to furnish papers on the pro-
gress of their respective branches of
science for the next auunal meeting
To cap the climax. the university of
Oxford extended an invitation to the
association to hold its next meeting at
Oxford, in the university halls
HERSCHEL AND HAM
ILTON.
The membership was doubled. and
made to include the names of practi-
cally all the scientific notables in the
country, including Sir John Herschel.
the great astronomer, Sir W. Rowan
Hamilton. the phenomenal mathema-
Lician, and Michael Faraday, the great
est experimental physicist of any age.
The promised papers on the Present
State and Progress of Science" were
given and received with enthusiasm:
numerous voluntary scientific contribu-
tons We're made; and the social fea-
lures eclipsed those of the former year
Oxford university, besides giving shell
ter to the meetings. took occasion 10
Emphasize its hospitality by comforting ]