THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION'S VISIT TO MONTREAL, 1884.
LETTERS
BY CLARA LADY RAYLEIGH,
Printed for Private Circulation.
INTRODUCTION.
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.
(Reprinted from The Times, 1884)
It seems early to begin to speak of the arrangements for the next
meeting of the British Association, but it is a far cry to Montreal, and
a proportionately long start must be made before the final leap is
taken. So heartily have the Dominion Government and the Canadian
_savants_ entered into the preparations that everything is ready;
all the presidents, vice-presidents and secretaries of sections have
been selected; all arrangements made with steamship companies and
American railways; all excursions have been planned, and all possible
routes provided for; instructions of the most detailed kind have been
drawn up for the guidance of members; nothing has been left, indeed,
except what depends on contingencies of time and place, so that
Professor Bonney and his legion of officials may at any moment take up
their portmanteaus and walk on shipboard. All this forwardness and
completeness are largely due to the zeal of the High Commissioner, Sir
Charles Tupper, and his energetic and obliging secretary, Mr. Colmer.
When the decision was come to at Southampton to hold the meeting of 1884
in Canada there was widely expressed disapproval of the step, and doubt
as to its legitimacy; but the prospect of entertaining the upper
thousand of English science has evidently so greatly gratified our
Canadian brothers that even the most stiff-necked opponent of the
migration must be compelled to give in if he has a shred of good nature
and brotherly feeling left. There are doubtless a few grumblers who will
maintain that the Montreal assembly will not be a meeting of the
_British_ Association; but after all this Imperial Parliament of
Science could not be better occupied than in doing something to promote
science in one of the most important sections of the British dominions.
Indeed, since some maintain that so far as this country is concerned it
has almost ceased to have a _raison d'etre_, might it not extend
its functions and endeavour to exercise the same effective influence on
the promotion of science in other parts of the Empire as it has
undoubtedly done in the past in the Mother Country? It can scarcely hope
ever to hold a meeting either in Australia or India, nor even, we fear,
in South Africa; but there are other means Which it might adopt more
appropriately than any other body to encourage the progress of science
in these parts of the Empire, and make accessible to the public
interested in it the good work which is being done, at least in some of
the Australian colonies. In Canada itself there are several important
scientific societies; but so far as we know, they have no common bond of
union. Seeing that there is already an efficient American Association,
we should not advocate the formation of a separate Canadian body; but
possibly the Montreal meeting might be able to do something to
federalise the separate Canadian societies.
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