ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 599, 30 August 1909, Page 7

ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

1 _ THE BEITISH ASSOCIATION. ' , On two previous occaeio'ns has the British Association for the Advancement of Science ' assembled in Canada—in' 1881 at Montreal and ■in 1897 in Toronto. r This year the meeting is now being held at Winnipeg, the gateway city of the Canadian North-West. i The" London "Times" of July 5 contained a ) • Taluable forecast of ,thc papers which will be read by the leading scientists who are attending the Vfinnipeg meeting.— i Evolution. ' "The president of the Geology Section, Dr. E. Smith Woodward, will discuss in his inaugural ■.address the general features in the evolution of back-boned animals as revealed by fossils. He will emphasise the. fact that the evolution has not been regular and gindual, but rhythmic, periods of great progicsa alternating'with times'of comparative stagnation.. He .will also, put forth the view-/that variation has alwa'ys been, in certain.. defimto«dlrections, , " not lndetetminatej'and'thdt'the'oldliden that races may.hav© a definite life-period, just aj individuals have,; receives some justification from t tho, latest studies, of fossils. <. ■ ~ fi >/< V t "V . -'- •■, The Fauna. < t The address of Dr. A. E., Shipley, president *. of Section D (Zoology), will consider the rapidly, disappearing fauna of the world, and will discuss ,what measures could be taken, if not to protect the vanishing species, at least to monograph them before they arc gone. Industrial Improvements, s Prof. S. J. Chapman, president of Section 1 F'(Economio''Science and Statistics), will traco the, effects of industrial improvements on the I length of the working day, and'in genoial the bearing of progress on the working day. .The enift. system will'also be examined end the dogree in which competition'may be expeoted to bring about the boet results. '' f Engineering end Empire Building. Jh iH 8b W. H. White ,mil deal with the, important influence whioh engineering has had upon the foundation and development of the colonies and Dominions be?S. m Mi lA' Patellar reference to Canada. Hβ will discuss at some length the questions of economy, in the\cost of over-sea transport and of moroase in the speed and dimensions of ships. An endeavour will also be *raade to illustrate the'intimate connection between a powerful war-fleet and the development of mercantile .shipping and commerce, as well as the necessity for treating,tho Royal Navras an Imperial concern to wh'ich all the self-governing colonies shall in some way conAnthropology. P m?*' h-h ¥? ers, ° f Iwerpool, will take as,the subject of his address "Tho Influence of Anthropology, on the Course of Political Science." % will point out tha sucSe groat advances in political thought haY«been associated with, "and can be slown to W been influenced by, advances of anthropological LTi P ; "j h6^ ases upon ihis " Plea for systematio and publio encouragement of an- . topological inquiry, particularly in regard to tfie remains of the native population within the Empire, and to the effects of their new nomes on the European colonists.

Agriculture. In the _ section f or ' agriculture,' Major P. Uj Craigie wiU examine . the broad factors influencing agricultural development with special reference to the relativo growth of nomination and production. Id this connection he ■wiii..sno\v the-need of a closer study and a systematic improvement of the available statistical data on which trustworthy conclu--1 eions'may be founded, illustrating this by reference to the actual course of wheat production in tho-world as a. whole since the date of,. Sir W. Cropkes's note* of alarm in 1890/ Major Craigie will point out how the excep,ti6nal arrest of wheat growing then indicated has been followed by a period of much greater activity, and will urge tho importance of in- _ qujry as to■ the reliability or otherwise of tho vagtie estimates of future capacity or impending, restrictions of output in particular areas. Education. • In the section dealing with educational ""once. Dr. H. B. Gray, the Warden of Brad-fit-ld Collego, will take as the subject of his inaugural address "The Educational Factors of Imperialism." He will point out that the ■ two remarkable movements' which have marked i • the end of the nineteenth and Iho beginning of the twentieth centuries have been in the direction of fl) the sphere of education, and (2) ihe,sphere of Imperial sentiment. He will disouss; what Teforms in "education would best be adapted to' enhance and consolidate Imperial sentiment, and will urge the immedi- , ate necessity of university reform, In rtho of secondary schools. ' The s|>idy of, the two dead languages must ■ be relegated to a subordinate place, and the claims of scientific, English, mathematical, and modern linguistic training must make them'celve3 felf. MfttmM training must be an'lntegral part of the school course, and the connection between eye, hand, and brain must , be'moro scientifically co-ordinated. Dr. Gray , will emphasise in particular the importanoe' i of historical' geography as a subject of 'mod- ' trn eduoation. Abovo all, hidebound Stator«RUlntod education must be avoided; the ■ ' curse of examinations must bo destroyed, and "intercommunion" between Mother Country »ne] colony or dominion must bo' encouraged, ■while we must look to the new universities rather than to toe old for light and leading in these and other directions.