LONDON.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3685, 26 November 1873, Page 3

LONDON.

(from otjr own correspondent.)

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION'S MEETING,

October 3rd.

: Bradford has been ere /efe._ I cannot, say that it was gay, for that is impossible, with its smoky atmosphere and its inclement climate. Wet and murky and- raw seems its normal condition, and its streets are execrable, if its buildings are fine. The British Association has been in session, holding its forty-third annual meeting. Last year the meeting of this Association, was held at Brighton, and Stanley, the discoverer of Livingstone, attended there. The aquarium, the promenades, and the sea breezes ail helped to make last year's meeting an attractive one. The Bradford, people did their best to make their visitors' stay agreeable this year. A shilling guide-book to the town, was offered gratis to every stranger, and the local committee presented an essay on Bradford and its worsted manufactures to every member and associate. On the first evening that the Association met, Dr Carpenter in resigning his office, introduced the new President for the ensuing year —Professor Williamson — as Professor Joule has been compelled to resign through illness. A soiree was held on the 18fch September. On the 19th, in the department of Anatomy and Physiology, Professor Ferrier, of King's College, delivered a remarkable address on

the "Localisation of the Functions of the Brain." The place was thronged, and the immense crush was endured with the utmost patience, hardly a score retiring even from the most inconvenient standing ground that was to be procured during the whole of the three hours that the address, and the; remarks that it elicited, lasted. The Professor's experiments made on the inferior animals point conclusively to the localisation of the faculties of the brain, and although, in reference tn some parts of the brain, no phenomena have been observed by the ingenious enquirer which could be definitely laid hold of, the proofs actually obtained are amply sufficient to sustain the theory. Professor Ferrier has explored the convolutions of the brain far more fully than the German experimenters. He has very carefully mapped out in the dog, cat, &c, the various centres in the convolutions of the cerebrum which, are concerned in the production of movements in the muscles of the eyelids, face, mouth, tongue, ear, neck, fore and hind feet, and tail. He has also found that, m the case of the higher brain of the monkey, there is what is not found in the dog or cat, to wit, a portion in the front part of the brain where stimulation produces no muscular movement, "What may be the function of this partwhether or not it specially ministers to intel. lectual operations, remain to "be seen. The researches of Fritscb, Hitzig, Jackson, and, most of all, those of Professor Ferrier, mark the commencement of a new era in our knowledge of brain function. A new system of phrenology will be founded upon them, m which the various mental faculties will be assigned to definite territories of the brain, as Gall and Spurzheim long a gomaintamed, only their geography of the brain was erroneous. The close attention given to Professor Ferrier by the distinguished co-workers in physiology who surrounded him on the platform was a high tribute to the importance of his paper ; and praise fell from the lips of the ex-President of the Association m no stinted measure. The Professor told his story with the most charming clearness and simplicity, and without the aid of a single note. In spite of the necessarily elaborate nature of his exposition, he did not seem to miss one point that was necessary to the complete understanding of it by the unprofessional hearer. In the Geographical Section an interesting paper was read on the distribution of coal in China, the ; coa formation in that country being said to be most extensive.

MrForster, on the 20th, delivered his address as President of the Economic Science and Statistics Section, Instead of a masterly treatment of one branch of his subject, or a central idea running thrmigh and connecting a series of illustrations drawn from many branches, he gave a medley of short unconnected discourses on most points of economic science that happen to have an immediate pressing interest. In,speaking of Free Trade, he considered that if M. Thiers had not offended the commercial interests of the Bonr<jeoi«ie on this point, he: might still have been presiding over them. The development of Japan, and the visit of*the Shah, were quoted as symbols of the advancement of Free Trade principles-among eastern nation 3. He' asserted the necessity of extending the principles of Free Trade in the' direction; of land and labour, and objected to exceptional legislation of any kind, either in favour of or against workmen. Mr Forster closed his discursive address with a hearty panegyric on Mr Mill, whose death he declared to be an irreparable loss to economic science! >

On Sunday, tha 21st, the Archbishop, of York said, in his admirable sermon on the relations of religion and science—"There is nothing ascertainable in what you call spiritual things. The Poet Laureate, who best interprets this age, tells you the best you can come to on that line of thought:—

" And falling with'my -weight of cares Upon the world's altar stairs, That slope through darkness up to God; Stretch the lame hands of faith, and grope And gather dust and chaff, and call To what I feel is Lord of all, And faintly trust the larger hope." " 'Leave, then,1 the man of science goes on to say, ' the certain for the uncertain. Accept the fact that we have no organs for explaining the world above." This sermon was preached in the parish church of Bradford, and much amusement was created by a number of contretemps which befel the Archbishop. The plan of the pulpit had been regulated for a much smaller body of divinity than His Grace, and on entering the pulpit he stood so much above his manuscript that he proceeded to lower himself by flinging out a ponderous cushion that lay at his feet. This, however, did not suffice, for the Archbishop had to summon an anxious verger; to take away some boarding. In order that this might be effected, His Grace had to get out of the pulpit, and wait in the chancel.' While proceeding ■in his sermon he grew hoarse, and requested a glass of water kto be brought. One of the choristers attempted to comply with this request, but when he got up to the pulpit door, he found it so firmly fastened that he could not get in, and he was too diminutive to put the glass over to the desk. Retracing his steps be got the organisb to carry the water. Finally, when the Archbishop had completed his work, and the-ser-vice was at an end, he found it impossible to let himself out of the pulpit, so firmly was it secured, and it required the most violent exertions of two men to liberate the imprisoned Primate, who, it-is needless to say, bore the serieß of grotesque incidents with an equanimity becoming a philosopher. On the 22nd, the proceedings of the Association were of great interest,. but popular attention was centred in the Geographical Section. In the Geological Section, the grand featnru of the day wa< a report by Mr L. C. Miall, one of the local secretaries, on the " Structure of the Labyrinthodonts, amphibious aaimals now extinct, and apparently akin to the. Crocodile " A meeting was held in the evening, at which Lord Houghton presided, and made an interesting ipeech'on what he called "The Woman's Question." , At the meeting of the General Committee it was decided that the meeting of the Association for 1874 should be held at Bristol. Professor Tyndall was elected President for the meeting next year.