The South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies

Abstract

THE South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies held its twenty-first annual congress at Tunbridge Wells on May 24–27, with the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing in the presidential chair. Mr. Stebbing was president of the first congress held in the same town in 1896. Dr. Geo. Abbott, who was the chief founder of the union, was also present, and read a paper on “Some Remarkable Resemblances of Inorganic Forma tions to Organic.” The president's address, which was, as he said, full of “thoughts that burn,” took the unusual form of a comparison of Biblical records with scientific truth. Considerable feeling was elicited in discussion, and a proposal that the address should not be printed was defeated overwhelmingly. Mr. H. R. Knipe, in giving a paper on some extinct animals, showed a series of new slides made from remarkably lifelike drawings by Miss Alice M. Wood ward. Dr. Keeble's paper on “Prehistoric Man” was illustrated by models of a lake-village, beehive Neo lithic huts, etc., thus introducing an excellent method of educating an audience into the mysteries of human ancestry. Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell lectured on the “Youth of Animals,” and Mr. A. Archibald gave a valuable paper on the “Coinages and Mints of the South-Eastern District,” illustrated by the asphingo-scope.