270
THE CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES'
COMMITTEE OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION,
CARDIFF, 1920.
Report of the Club's Delegate, Joseph Wilson, F.R.M.S.
Presented 30th October, 1920.
THE British Association held its 88th Annual Meeting at
Cardiff on August 23rd-28th, 1920, when Professor W. A.
Herdman, F.R.S., was elected President for the year. He
delivered his Presidential Address on the evening of the 24th,
taking for his subject, "Life in the Ocean," although the various
Sections held their meetings from 9-30 in the morning of that
day. Hitherto, the President's address had been the first
official act in the programme, and much surprise was manifested
by members who arrived on the Tuesday when they found that
the Presidents of Sections had already delivered their respective
addresses in that forenoon. The first meeting of the Conference
of Delegates was held on Wednesday, August 25th, at 2 p.m.,
when the President of the Conference, Mr. T. Sheppard, M.Sc.,
of Hull, took the chair, Mr. T. W. Sowerbutts was elected Vice-
President, and Mr. W. Mark Webb, the Hon. Secretary.
Mr. Sheppard took as the subject of his address "The Evo-
lution of Topographical and Geological Maps," and he exhibited
a large selection of Maps on the walls of the Conference Hall.
Mr. Sheppard, being an experienced collector, had been asked
a few years ago by the Geological Society of London to prepare
a catalogue of British Geological Maps, a work on which he is
still engaged ; he thought therefore that the result of his col-
lecting would be a suitable subject for his address, and of interest
to the delegates.
The first map to which he referred was Moll's New Descrip-
tion of England and Wales, dated 1724 ; this was in 50 sheets,
10" x 71/2". The second map was by the same author, of the
Roads of the South Part of Great Britain, called England and
Wales, published about 1729. On the margins of the various
sections of these maps curios relating to the district are engraved,
evidence of changes due to coast erosion, and alterations of
river channels and lakes are noted, and the various mines—
copper, lead, "ancient mines," etc.—are recorded. Other maps
by earlier and later publishers were described, and Mr. Sheppard