Abstract
BATH, Tuesday Evening. SO far as numbers are concerned, the Bath meeting has been below the average. The number of tickets sold has been about 50 less than 2000. This is a marked contrast to last year's meeting, which beat the record; and is even less by some hundreds than the former Bath meeting. But then it should be remembered that that meeting presented attractions of an unusual kind: the lion-hunters who form so large a section of these annual gatherings had such prey presented to them as Livingstone, Burton, and Speke. As will be seen, the diminished attendance has told to some extent on the grants, several of which have had unfortunately to be reduced below the sums originally proposed and approved of. All sorts of reasons have been put forward to account for the comparatively small attendance, and probably there is a little truth in each. Probably the excursions have had as much to do with it as anything else; those of Saturday presented few attractions, except that to the Severn Tunnel and the Barry Docks. Curiously enough, however, scarcely anyone entered for that excursion, and had the enterprising secretaries of Section G not taken it in hand, it would have fallen through. As it was, it turned out one of the most successful of Saturday's excursions. Small as the attendance has been, the accommodation of the town has been strained, and several of the guests of the Local Committee speak somewhat disrespectfully of their quarters. l>ut the Local Committee have done their best, and they have no reason to be dissatisfied with their success. The reception-room accommodation has certainly been limited, and members have missed the smoking-room, refreshment-rooms, and other amenities with which they were indulged at Manchester last year. Fortunately the weather has been, on the whole, good, so that people have not greatly felt the want of indoor accommodation. Notwithstanding the small attendance, the crush at the two soirées was excessive, mainly arising from the smallness of the Assembly Rooms. The Drill Hall has proved satisfactory for all the public lectures. Sir Frederick Bramwell's address was, as might have been expected, received with universal appreciation; while the public lectures were all well attended. Prof. Ayrton's address on the transmission of power was so highly appreciated that he has been asked to repeat it for the benefit of the working classes. Tickets for Sir John Lubbock's lecture to the “working classes” were so greatly in demand, that many of those for free distribution were being sold throughout the town at 2s. 6d. and 5s.
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The British Association . Nature 38, 469–485 (1888). https://doi.org/10.1038/038469a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/038469a0