The annual meeting of the British Association began last week
at Southampton. The range of subjects dealt with in the numerous sections is so vast that a fair summary is impossible. We have written elsewhere of Professor Horace Lamb's presidential address. The Association has been strikingly successful in gathering together the latest pioneers to address it on their recent discoveries, for instance the Canadian doctors who dis- covered the viitue of insulin, the English scientists who have caught the cancer germ, and the anthropologist who dug up the Galilee skull which was itself present. These matters of supreme topical interest were a seasoning thrown 'into the mass of admirable theorizing which as usual reached the standard that has made these meetings famous throughout the world. In the discussion of evolu- tion and anthropology Professor Flinders Petrie spoke of an African discovery of civilized human beings far more ancient than the Neanderthal man. Our self-importance is daily chastened by the history of the race and where the Universe is brought under review the works of man seem insignificant. Yet very wisely the Association takes count of every move in human progress.
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