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Bradford is situated in the coal regions, and is an industrial center devoted especially to the manufacture of textiles. More attention was paid to local interests than is usual at the meetings of the American Association. An exhibit was arranged to show the development of the elaborate fabrics from the unwashed fleeces, and another consisting of a collection of carboniferous fossils found in the neighborhood. A joint discussion was arranged between the sections of zoölogy and botany on the conditions which existed during the growth of the forests which supplied material for the coal, and there were a number of papers devoted to the coal measures and the fossils which they contain. Another subject connected with the place of meeting was the report of the committee on the underground water system in the carboniferous limestone. By the use of chemicals the course of the underground waters has been traced, including their percolation through rock fissures, and excursions were made to the site of the experiments. The local industries received treatment from several sides. Among other discussions of more than usual interest was that on ‘Ions’ before the physical section and on ‘What is a Metal?’ before the chemical section. Features of popular interest were accounts of adventures in Asia, Africa and the Antarctic regions, by Captain Deasy, Captain George and Mr. Borchgrevinck, respectively, and Major Ross’s paper on ‘Malaria and Mosquitoes.’
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The French Association met at Paris in the month of August, with the numerous other congresses. General Sebert, in his presidential address, reviewed the progress of the mechanical industries during the century and devoted the last third of his time to a discussion of international bibliography, but without mentioning the International Catalogue which now seems to be an accomplished fact. The secretary of the Association, in his review of the year, devoted special attention to the joint meetings of the British and French associations last summer at Dover and Calais. The treasurer was able to make a report that the treasurers of other national associations will envy. The capital is over $250,000, and the income from all sources about $17,000, of which about $3,000 was awarded for the prosecution of research and to defray the cost of publication of scientific monographs. The national association for the advancement of science of Germany—the ‘Gesellschaft deutscher Naturforscher und Aerzte’—held its annual meeting at Aachen toward the middle of September. An account of the proceedings has not yet reached us, but the congresses are always largely attended and the combination of addresses of general interest, of special papers before the numerous sections and of social functions, is perhaps more effective than in any other society. It also appears to be a considerable advantage for medical men and scientific men to meet together.
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While from the scientific point of view the present century has been notable for the development of national associations for the advancement of science, its latter decades have witnessed a growth of international scientific meetings which may be expected to become dominant in the twentieth century. There are at least one hundred congresses, having more or less reference to science, meeting at Paris during the present summer. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these, from the point of view of the organization of science, is the International Association of Academies, which was established last year at a conference held at Wiesbaden. In this Association eighteen of the great academies of the world, including our own National Academy of Sciences, have been united to promote the interests of science. Literature is also included—of the eighteen academies, twelve include in their scope both science and literature, four are devoted to science only and two to literature only. It is planned to have a general meeting every three years, to which each academy will send as many delegates as it regards as desirable, though each academy will have but one vote. In the interval between the general meetings, the business of the Association is to be directed by a committee, on which each academy is represented. The object of the Association is to plan and promote scientific work of international interest which may be proposed by one of the constituent academies, and generally to promote scientific relations between different countries. The Royal Society has proposed the measurement, by international coöperation, of an extended arc of the meridian in the interior of Africa.
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The International Congress of Physics marked an advance owing to the fact that it met for the first time this year, and it appears that the proceedings were of unusual interest. This was in a large measure due to the arrangements of the French Physical Society, which did not simply make up a programme from a mass of heterogeneous researches, but secured some eighty reports on the present condition of physical science. These were prepared by many of the leading physicists of the world and when published—as they are about to be in three volumes—will set forth the condition of the science with completeness and authority. There were in all seven sections. In the first, which was concerned with measurement, in addition to numerous reports several propositions were brought forward in regard to units, which, being international in character, are specially fitted for discussion at such a congress. As the members, however, were not in most cases delegates from governments and scientific bodies, no definite action was taken, though some recommendations were made. The decimalization of time was not recommended, nor was the proposal to give a name to units of velocity and acceleration. It was, however, decided that the ‘Barrie’ be adopted as the unit of pressure. The other sections were for mechanical physics, for optics, for electricity, for magneto-optics and radio-activity, for cosmical physics and for biological physics. Among the reports and papers of commanding interest only two can be mentioned—the introductory address by M. Poincaré, discussing the relations between experimental and mathematical physics, and one by Lord Kelvin on the waves produced in an elastic solid traversed by a body acting on it by attraction or repulsion, in which, from a strictly mathematical point of view, he advanced the hypothesis of a movable atom surrounded by an immovable ether. In addition to various receptions, a session was held at the Sorbonne, where Messrs. Becquerel and Curie gave demonstrations with radio-active substances, and one at the Ecole Polytechnique, where President Cornu showed apparatus which had been used in the determination of the velocity of light. At the close of the congress the foreign secretaries placed a crown on the tomb of Fresnel.
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While a physical congress was meeting at Paris this year for the first time, the Geological Congress, which was one of the first international congresses to be organized, held its eighth session, beginning on August 16. America, in spite of the number and importance of the inventions it has given to the world, has not as yet done its share for the advancement of physical science, but in geology it occupies a foremost place. It was natural, therefore, that while American physicists were scarcely represented on the programme of the Physical Congress, they occupied a prominent place on the programme of geological papers. Among the three hundred members present, the representation from America included Messrs. Stevenson, Hague, Osborn, Ward, Willis, White, Cross, Scott, Todd, Kunz, Choquette, Adams, Mathew and Rice, and they presented a number of the more important papers. M. Karpinsky, the retiring president, gave the opening address, which was followed by an address of welcome by M. Gaudry, the president of the congress. A geological congress can offer special attractions in the way of excursions, and these were admirably arranged on the present occasion—both the shorter excursions to the classic horizons in the neighborhood of Paris and the more extended ones that followed the close of the meeting. The guide for the twenty long excursions and numerous shorter trips, prepared by the leading French geologists, was an elaborately illustrated volume representing the present condition of our knowledge of French geology. The ninth geological congress will be held at Vienna three years hence.