REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1911-1912.

I. SIR WILLIAM H. WHITE, K.C.B., F.R.S., has been unanimously nominated by the Council to fill the office of President of the Association for 1913 (Birmingham Meeting).

II. The Association was represented at the funeral of Lord Lister by Sir William Ramsay (President), Professor J. Perry (General Treasurer), and Major P. A. MacMahon (General Secretary).

A letter was received from the Board of Education expressing regret at the death of Lord Lister, and enclosing copy of a letter from the German Ambassador, conveying condolences to the official departments interested, and in particular to the institutions of which the deceased. man of science was President.'

By invitation of the Presidents of the Royal Society and the Royal College of Surgeons, the Council has nominated Prof. E. A. Schäfer, President-elect, to serve upon a Committee to consider and take steps for the creation of a Memorial to Lord Lister.

Sir William Ramsay has been appointed to represent the Association at the International Congress of Applied Chemistry in Washington, September 4, 1912.

III. The following Address has been presented

TO THE PRESIDENT AND COUNCIL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

We, the President and Council of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, offer our cordial congratulations to the Royal Society on the occasion of the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the Society.

The British Association, since its birth in 1831, has been constantly in close relations with the Society. The great majority, not only of those who took the leading parts in the foundation of the Association, but of those who have filled its presidential chair, besides many others to whose earnest co-operation the success of its annual meetings has been due, have been Fellows of the Society.

We would express the hope that the Society may continue to prosper, and may always maintain that pre-eminent position which is the fitting reward of its labours."

Signed, on behalf of the Council,

WILLIAM RAMSAY,

President.

IV. The Council has received from the Secretary of State for the Colonies a full reply to the representations made by the Association in regard to the preservation of antiquities in Cyprus. The Council has expressed to him the thanks of the Association for the interest which he has shown in this matter, and its hope that the measures of preservation announced in his communication may have the desired effect.

V. A RESOLUTION has been received

From the Committee of Recommendations.

That the Council be requested to consider the present practice of reckoning unspent balances of grants as part of the funds available for redistribution, and to report if any alteration in the practice is advisable.'

It was reported to the Council that certain Research Committees had found it a hardship to be expected to return unspent balances of grants early in the summer following their first appointment.

The Council therefore resolved to propose :·

(a) To set aside the Standing Order passed at the Dublin Meeting in 1908, under which any balance of a grant remaining unexpended at the time of the Annual Meeting next after that at which the grant was made, must be regarded as having reverted to the funds of the Association.

(b) To amend Rule 6, chap. iv., as follows, viz. :—

To omit these words:

The Chairman must then either return the balance of the grant, if any, which remains unexpended, or, if further expenditure be contemplated, apply for leave to retain the balance.

and to substitute:

The Chairman must then return the balance of the grant, if any, which remains unexpended; provided that a Research Committee may, in the first year of its appointment only, apply for leave to retain an unexpended balance when or before its report is presented, due reason being given for such application.

VI. A Resolution, referred to the Council by the General Committee at Portsmouth, has been received.

From Sections D and H.

That the Council be approached with the view of requesting His Majesty's Government to equip a vessel for the purpose of making a biological and anthropological exploration in Oceania at the close of the meeting of the British Association in Australia in 1914.'

The Council appointed the following Committee to report on any necessary steps in this connection: The President and General Officers, Professor G. C. Bourne, and Dr. A. C. Haddon. On the report of this Committee, it was resolved that no immediate action be taken, but that the Committee be allowed to remain in being, with a view to advising the Council as occasion might arise in the future.

VII. A Resolution, referred to the Council by the General Committee at Portsmouth, has been received

From Section H.

That this Association co-operate with the Royal Anthropological Institute in urging upon His Majesty's Government the desirability of instituting an Imperial Bureau of Anthropology, and that the General Officers be empowered to take such action as may be necessary for this purpose."

It was reported to the Council that a letter had been received from the Royal Anthropological Institute, intimating the intention of the Council of the Institute to issue a memorial on the above subject to Cabinet Ministers, and to include therein the substance of the above recommendation. The Council of the Association were invited to appoint a representative on a deputation to wait on the Colonial Secretary, and perhaps also on the Prime Minister. Sir William Ramsay (President) was accordingly appointed to serve on such deputation if arranged.

VIII. A Resolution, referred to the Council by the General Committee at Portsmouth, has been received

From Section I.

With reference to Dr. A. D. Waller's paper on the Claim of Sir Charles Bell to the Discovery of Motor and Sensory Nerve Channels:

(1) The author of this paper has called the attention of the Sectional Committee to the fact that his communication conveys a serious charge relating to the republication by Bell, in 1824 and subsequently, of papers originally published in the "Phil. Trans." of the Royal Society in 1821.

(2) In view of the importance attaching to the real authorship of the discovery of the distinction between motor and sensory nerves we have examined the printed documents quoted at pp. 12, 13, and verified the accuracy of the quotations given by Dr. Waller of the original passages of 1821 and of the republished passages of 1824.

(3) In our opinion it will be necessary to reconsider carefully the claim first put forward by Bell in 1824 to the discovery of the distinction between motor and sensory nerves.

(4) Dr. Waller's paper on the subject contains sufficient grounds. for the revision of the conclusion published in the Report of the British Association for 1833, and we recommend that it be published in extenso in the Report of the present year.

'(5) In view of the importance of the historical claim of Bell, we recommend that a Committee be appointed to consider the case fully, and report upon it.

'(6) In spite of the fact that many years have elapsed since November 12, 1824, we are of opinion that a formal communication should be made to the Royal Society, calling its attention to the existence of a spurious version of papers received by the Royal Society and published on its authority on July 12, 1821.

(7) The Sectional Committee recommends that the text of the foregoing resolutions be printed as an Appendix to Dr. Waller's paper.' The Council resolved to take no further action.