(1) That the Council of the Association be requested to give their full support to the efforts being made to induce the Government to send out a fullyequipped expedition for the exploration of the Antarctic and Southern Seas. In reference to this resolution, the Secretaries received the following communication from Mr. Clements R. Markham, President of the Royal Geographical Society : 'I have the honour to bring to the notice of the Council of the British Association the steps that have been taken, within the last year, with a view to the renewal of Antarctic research. 'On November 27, 1893, a very important and interesting paper was read to a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society by Dr. John Murray, of the "Challenger " Expedition, a copy of which is enclosed. The arguments and the detailed information contained in Dr. Murray's paper appeared to my Council to place the importance of renewing Antarctic research in such a convincing light that they resolved to take action in the matter. I, therefore, appointed a Committee of experts to report upon the points bearing on the renewal of Antarctic research, and on the despatch of an expedition. The 'On the receipt of the Report of this Society's Antarctic Committee, a copy of which I enclose, the Secretary of the Royal Society was addressed with a view to the matter receiving the consideration of the Council of that influential body. It was referred to a very strong Committee, which made its report last May, a copy of which is enclosed. Report of this Committee of the Royal Society dwells chiefly on the requirements of magnetism, and shows the necessity for despatching an Antarctic Expedition for the completion of magnetic observations, which are both of scientific and practical importance. The Committee also points out that many other branches of science besides magnetism will be largely advanced by such an expedition; and, referring to the present condition of the ice in the southern circumpolar region, it considers that the despatch of an expedition may assume a character of urgency. 'It is very encouraging to find that the President and Council of the Royal Society, as I am informed in a letter from the Secretary, a copy of which is enclosed, fully indorse the views of the Committee as regards the great scientific importance of the results of Antarctic research. 'The Council of the Royal Society, however, considered it their duty to raise the subject of expense, and in a private interview at the Admiralty a Deputation was informed that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as then advised, could only confirm a doubt that had been raised whether the Imperial finances could bear the expense of the proposed expedition. At the present juncture the question of the cost of the expedition is irrelevant. An exaggerated estimate may have been made by those who are unacquainted with the arrangement of heads of account and other details, and who have not taken various collateral points into consideration. It will be for the members of the Deputation eventually selected by the united scientific and other bodies to ascertain the actual cost, and to place themselves in a position to answer all questions of expense, when the proper time comes for the subject of Antarctic research being brought before Her Majesty's Government for favourable consideration. They will, I believe, be able to show that the trifling expense bears no comparison with the gain to science, to the Navy, and to Imperial interests. 'Meanwhile the time has come for the leading scientific bodies of the Empire to declare, as regards their various departments, that they concur in the view already expressed by the Royal Society, the Royal Geographical Society, and the British Association, that a renewal of Antarctic research is of great importance to science. The Council of the British Association for the Advancement of Science was the body through whose influential representations the memorable expedition led by Sir James Ross was despatched to the Antarctic regions. True to its excellent traditions, your Council has invariably given its support to similar proposals, and I therefore feel confident that the British Association will retain its place in the front rank of those who seek to promote the advancement of science by Antarctic research. "The President and the Council of the Royal Geographical Society now request that you will once more bring the question of the results of Antarctic discovery to the notice of your Council for serious consideration, with a view to co-operation and to the undertaking being unanimously advocated by the scientific societies of Great Britain and Ireland.' The Council resolved to express their sympathy with, and approval of, the effort which is being made by the Royal Geographical Society to organise an expedition for the exploration of the Antarctic Sea, but did not consider that any further action could usefully be taken by them at present. (2) That the Council be requested to call the attention of the Civil Service Commissioners to the Report of a Committee of Section F on the Methods of Economic Training, and especially to the recommendations (contained on page 2) with regard to the position of Economics in the Civil Service Examinations. The following are the passages referred to in the Resolution :— 'In most Continental countries Economics occupies a place more or less prominent in the courses of training and in the examinations through which candidates for the legal profession or the Civil Service have to pass. 'The two studies are cognate, and according to the view of your Committee not only would the institution of an examination in Economics at some stage of legal degrees and qualifications be advantageous professionally, but the work of those who had enjoyed a legal training would react favourably on the advance of the science. In addition, Economics should receive a much more important place in the Civil Service Examinations, and should, if possible, be made compulsory on those entering the higher branches.' The Council, after considering this question, referred it to a Committee, consisting of the President and Officers, with Professors H. Sidgwick, Foxwell, and Edgeworth. The report of the Committee was as follows: 'Legal studies and qualifications for the position of Barrister-at-Law depend entirely on the Inns of Court, and they believe that the Civil Service Commissioners have no influence over the legal examinations. 'The recommendations proposed with regard to the Civil Service is that Economics should, if possible, be made compulsory on those who enter the higher branches of the Service. This proposal, if carried out, would produce an entire revolution in the mode of appointing to the Civil Service; for, as a rule, examinations are restricted to the first entry, and are not imposed on persons proceeding from a lower grade to a higher. 'It is also worthy of mature consideration whether the present is a favourable juncture for pressing on the Government a more rigid demand for economic knowledge from its servants, when the science itself is the subject of keen contention, and two schools of thought, diametrically opposed to each other, have arisen, to some extent in this country, and to a much greater extent on the Continent. 'The Committee, in view of these considerations, recommend that any further action on this matter be postponed.' This report was adopted by the Council. The report of the Corresponding Societies Committee for the past year, consisting of the list of the Corresponding Societies, and the titles of the more important papers, and especially those referring to Local Scientific Investigations, published by those Societies during the year ending June 1, 1895, has been received. The account of the Conference of Delegates at Oxford has, in accordance with a resolution of the Council, been published in the Report for 1894. The Corresponding Societies Committee, consisting of Mr. Francis Galton, Professor R. Meldola, Sir Douglas Galton, Sir Rawson Rawson, Dr. J. G. Garson, Sir J. Evans, Mr. J. Hopkinson, Mr. W. Whitaker, Mr. G. J. Symons, Professor T. G. Bonney, Mr. T. V. Holmes, Professor E. B. Poulton, Mr. Cuthbert Peek, and the Rev. Canon Tristram, is hereby nominated for re-appointment by the General Committee. The Council nominate Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., Chairman, Dr. J. G. Garson Vice-Chairman, and Mr. T. V. Holmes, Secretary, to the Conference of Delegates of Corresponding Societies to be held during the meeting at Ipswich. In accordance with the regulations the retiring members of the Council will be : Professor E. Ray Lankester. Professor G. D. Liveing. Mr. W. H. Preece. Professor A. W. Reinold. Professor J. J. Thomson. The Council recommend the re-election of the other ordinary members of the Council, with the addition of the gentlemen whose names are distinguished by an asterisk in the following list : Anderson, Dr. W., F.R.S. Herdman, Professor W. A., F.R.S Meldola, Professor R., F.R.S. *Poulton, Professor E. B., F.R.S. Ramsay, Professor W., F.R.S. Reynolds, Professor J. Emerson, M.D., *Shaw, W. N., Esq., F.R.S. *Thiselton-Dyer, W. T., Esq., C.M.G., *Thomson, Professor J. M., F.R.S.E. Ward, Professor Marshall, F.R.S. COMMITTEES APPOINTED BY THE GENERAL COMMITTEE AT THE IPSWICH MEETING IN SEPTEMBER 1895. 1. Receiving Grants of Money. Subject for Investigation or Purpose Members of the Committee Grants Making Experiments for improving the Construction of Practical Standards for use in Electrical Measurements. [And the unexpended balance of last year's grant in the hands of the Chairman, 187. 14s. 6d.] The Application of Photography to the Elucidation of Meteorological Phenomena. For Calculating Tables of certain Mathematical Functions, and, if necessary, for taking steps to carry out the Calculations, and to publish the results in an accessible form. [The unexpended balance of last year's grant in the hands of the Chairman, 157.] Seismological Observations. Chairman.-Professor G. Carey Foster. Secretary.-Mr. R. T. Glazebrook. Lord Kelvin, Professors W. E. Ayrton. J. Perry, W. G. Adams, and Oliver J. Lodge, Lord Rayleigh, Dr. John Hopkinson, Dr. A. Muirhead, Messrs. W. H. Preece and Herbert Taylor, Professors J. D. Everett and A. Schuster, Dr. J. A. Fleming, Professors G. F. FitzGerald, G. Chrystal, and J. J. Thomson, Mr. W. N. Shaw, Dr. J. T. Bottomley, Rev. T. C. Fitzpatrick, Professor J. Viriamu Jones, Dr. G. Johnstone Stoney, Professor S. P. Thompson, Mr. G. Forbes, Mr. J. Rennie, and Mr. E. H. Griffiths. Chairman. Mr. G. J. Symons. Secretary.-Mr. A. W. Clayden. Professor R. Meldola and Mr. John Hopkinson. Chairman.-Lord Rayleigh. Secretary.-Professor A. Lodge. Lord Kelvin, Professor B. Price, Dr. J. W. L. Glaisher, Professor A. G. Greenhill, Professor W. M. Hicks, Major P. A. Macmahon, and Lieut.-Colonel Allan Cunningham. Chairman. Mr. G. J. Symons. 1. Receiving Grants of Money-continued. Subject for Investigation or Purpose Members of the Committee Grants To assist the Physical Society in bringing out Abstracts of Physical Papers. To co-operate with Professor Karl Pearson in the Calculation of | certain Integrals. [Last year's grant renewed.] To confer with British and Foreign Societies publishing Mathematical and Physical Papers as to the desirability of securing uniformity in the size of the pages of their Transactions and Pro ceedings. [Last year's grant renewed.] Considering the best Methods of Recording the Direct Intensity of Solar Radiation. Preparing a new Series of Wavelength Tables of the Spectra of the Elements. Chairman.-Sir G. G. Stokes. Chairman.-Sir H. E. Roscoe. The Action of Light upon Dyed Chairman.-Dr. T. E. Thorpe. The Electrolytic Methods of Quantitative Analysis. [Balance of last year's grant renewed.] Secretary.- Professor J. J. Hum- Dr. W. H. Perkin, Prof. W. J. The Carbohydrates of Barley Chairman.-Professor R. War- Publishing in pamphlet form the ington. Secretary.-Mr. Manning Prentice. 5 0 0 30 0 0 10 0 0 5 00 10 0 0 50 0 0 Papers on the Relation of Agri- | Secretary.-Professor R. Waring culture to Science, together with the discussion which fol lowed. ton. |