The meeting of the British Association at Plymouth ter- minated
on Wednesday. It has been the dullest ever held. The scientific men have " sat upon" the half-scien- tific men with ponderous energy, the reporters have either been bored into inattention or have been too perplexed to report, and scarcely a single paper has attracted national attention. The scientific men say that is all right, that they meet to advance science, and not to tickle the public ear ; but in that case, why hold the meeting at all ? Why not publish their " Transactions," and be content ? In depriving such meet- ings of their attractiveness, they deprive them of their meaning. There seems, in addition to the suppression of the half.scientific lecturers, to have been this year an access of dryness to the true savants themselves, for many of them have been too technical to be understood. We trust Mr. Spottiswoode, who has been appointed President for next year—an excellent selection—will remember that in the intellectual world fog does not help to transmit sound.
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