THE ORIGIN,
DEVELOPMENT AND
AIMS
OF OUR
SCIENTIFIC
SOCIETIES.
Address at the Opening Meeting of the
itfth Session of the Society of Arts ,
November 21, igoo.
BY
SIR JOHN EVANS, k.c.b.. f.r.s.
Vice-President and Chairman of the Council.
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LONDON : X.®n don, w
Printed by W. Trounce, io, Gough-square, Fleet-st., E.C.
1
THE ORIGIN,
DEVELOPMENT AND
AIMS
OF OUR
SCIENTIFIC
SOCIETIES.
Address at the Opening Meeting of the
i/gjth Session of the Society of Arts,
November 21, 1900.
SIR JOHN EVANS, k.c.b., f.r.s.
Vice-President and Chairman of the Council.
LONDON :
Printed by W. Trounce, io, Gough-square, Fleet-st., E.C.
1900,
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2019 with funding from
Wellcome Library
https://archive.org/details/b30597559
THE
ORIGIN, DEVELOPMENT, AND AIMS
OF OUR
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES,
In taking the chair at this the opening
meeting of the Session of the Society of Arts,
I have in the first place to express my thanks
to the Council for the honour that they have
bestowed upon me in electing me their Chair¬
man. I must, however, confess that though
in the course of my life I have had much to do
with manufactures and commerce and some
little to do with the arts, and that though I
have been for forty years a member of this
Society, my acquaintance with the working
both of the Council and the Society is less
intimate than I could wish it to be. I may,
therefore, from time to time have to claim the
indulgence of those with whom I am here
associated. Of this indulgence, so far as
the Council is concerned, my short experi¬
ence as a member of their body assures me,
and I trust that the Society at large will
extend to me the same degree of leniency.
It is my duty on the present occasion, in
accordance with the rules of the Society, to
offer to you an address. Before, however,
proceeding to do so, I must say a few words
4
with regard to some of the losses by death that
the Society has sustained during the course of
the last twelve months.
The sad and unexpected decease of H.R.H.
Prince Alfred Ernest Albert, Reigning Duke
of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, but even better
known in this country as Duke of Edinburgh,
cast a gloom over the whole empire. The
Council have tendered to the President, H.R.H.
the Prince of Wales, and through him to Her
Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, the assur¬
ance of their dutiful and loyal sympathy. The
late Duke had since 1872 been one of the
Vice-Presidents of this Society, and always
took a warm interest in its welfare.
In Sir John Bennet Lawes we have lost not
only a distinguished member, but one of the
greatest benefactors to agriculture that this
century has seen. The son of a country gentle¬
man, he took possession of the family estate
at Rothamsted, near St. Albans, in 1834, and
from that time constantly inaugurated and
carried on experiments in practical and
scientific farming. In 1843, he called to his
aid Dr. (now Sir) Joseph Henry Gilbert, who
became his lifelong friend and coadjutor, and
the Rothamsted experiments, carried on
through their joint labours, have a world-wide
reputation. With the view of continuing these
experiments, and when thought desirable of
extending their scope, Sir John Lawes, with
almost unparalleled liberality, founded, in 1889,
the Lawes Agricultural Trust, and while
5
placing the laboratory and the experimental
land at Rothamsted under the control of the
Trust for a period of 99 years, made over to
the Trustees a capital sum of no less than
^100,000 for the initiation, prosecution, deve¬
lopment, and continuance of investigations in
connection with the advancement of the
science of agriculture.
His membership of this Society dated from
1854, and in 1877 he received the silver medal
for a paper communicated to it ; in 1893, how¬
ever, the Albert medal was awarded to Sir
John Bennet Lawes, Bart., F.R.S., and a like
medal to Sir Joseph Henry Gilbert, Ph.D.,
F.R.S., “for their joint services to scientific
agriculture, and notably for their researches
which through a period of fifty years have been
carried on by them at the Experimental Farm,
Rothamsted.” The jubilee of the experiments
was celebrated on July 29th, 1893, by a dis¬
tinguished and representative meeting at the
laboratory, and a granite memorial then un¬
veiled will preserve the date to posterity.
Sir John Lawes passed away after a short
illness on August 31st last in his 86th year.
He preserved his vigour and his keen intellect
to the last, and his loss will be widely and
deeply felt. To myself, as Chairman of the
Lawes Agricultural Committee, as one of his
trustees, and, as a neighbour, I can only
describe it as irreparable.
Sir Saul Samuel, Bart., late Agent-General
for the Colony of New South Wales, died on
6
August 29th in his eightieth year. He had been
a member of this Society since 1884, and was a
frequent attendant at our meetings He more¬
over served several times on the Council, and
had been a Vice-President from 1893 to 1898.
More recently we have sustained a severe
loss through the death of Mr. William Luson
Thomas, who took a hearty interest in the
prosperity of the Society, and who for the last
three years has served upon our Council. A
born artist, he studied both in Paris and in
Rome, and after being articled to the well-
known wood engraver, Mr. W. J. Linton, he
embarked in business on his own account. He
was an active member of the Royal Institute
of Painters in Water Colours, and occasionally
exhibited his works. Mr.* Thomas, however,
had more than one side to his character, he
was not merely an artist, but a man of business,
with enlarged and far-seeing intelligence. As
an engraver he was long associated with the
first English illustrated weekly paper — The
Illustrated London News ; but as a young
man he had assisted in launching two news¬
papers — one of them the ‘‘Picture Gallery”
in New York. In 1869 he became convinced that
there was room for more than one illustrated
paper in this country, and boldly started the
Graphic, to be followed twenty-one years later
by the Daily Graphic. Of the manner in
which these papers have been conducted, both
from the artistic and literary point of view, it
is difficult to speak too highly, but both the
7
art and the moral tone have been in the main
due to the personal influence of Mr. Thomas.
A fuller sketch of his career has already ap¬
peared in the Journal.
So lately as the 25th of October we have lost
by death one of those most intimately con¬
nected with the daily work of the Society, Mr.
Howard Henry Room. For thirty-nine years he
had served the Society in an official capacity,
and for the last twenty-five years had been our
Accountant. In addition to holding this office
he performed a great amount of the detail work
involved in the Society’s Examinations. In all
that he did he was most accurate and attentive ;
he exhibited a warm zeal for the interests of
the Society, and at the same time he won the
kindly appreciation of all those with whom he
was associated, by whom his loss is sincerely
deplored.
Of late years it has been not infrequently the
custom for those who have occupied the position
which I this day hold to address the Society on
some practical subject, and all here present
will gratefully remember the extremely valuable
and suggestive addresses of Sir John Wolfe
Barry, on the means of intercommunication
in London, a matter which we all agree with
him in regarding as highly important and
urgent.
On the present occasion I propose to say a
few words on a subject of less practical im¬
portance, so far as the needs of every-day life
are concerned, but still not without some general
8
interest, and not without a direct bearing
on the history of the advancement of human
knowledge — the “ Origin, Development, and
Aims of our Scientific Societies.’ ’ The subject
is a large one, and it will be impossible to
enter into details with regard to its almost
innumerable ramifications. In justification of
a considerable degree of limitation, I may in¬
cidentally mention that the “ Official Year¬
book of the Scientific and Learned Societies
of Great Britain and Ireland,” for the year
1900, extends over upwards of 290 octavo
pages.
The principle of collective action was at an
early date recognised among the Greeks and
Romans, and associations for the purposes of
finance, trade, religion, and politics, known as
collegia , were of great importance in Roman
civil life. In those days three persons sufficed
to form a “ college,” whereas now seven are re¬
quired to constitute a “ Limited Liability Com¬
pany.” I will not enter into the relations be¬
tween the collegia and the Universitas of7
classical times, but may call attention to the
fact that the modern university with its colleges
derives its name from the ancient institution,
though its scope has been most materially
modified.
The Academia at Athens and the Museum,
founded in B.C. 280 by Ptolemy Philadelphus
at Alexandria, with botanical and zoological
gardens as well as a lecture-room attached,
were much of the nature of modern scientific
9
societies, though more of an exclusively educa¬
tional character.
The principle of collective action was main¬
tained by the guilds of Saxon times, and the
livery companies of London and other great
cities, some of which date back to the 12th
and 13th centuries. These associations for
the purposes of trade and commerce, the mem¬
bers of which met at stated intervals for the
discussion of matters of common interest,
offered an example which those engaged in
the advancement of different branches of
knowledge could readily follow, and academies
are said to have been founded in some con¬
tinental cities in the 13th, 14th, and 15th cen¬
turies, while many more can authentically be
dated back to the 16th and the beginning of
the 17th century.
In England no learned society received a
Royal Charter before 1662, when the Royal
Society was incorporated by Charles II. It
had, however, been instituted in 1660. So
early, moreover, as 1645 the lovers of experi¬
mental philosophy formed a society which met
weekly in London on a certain day to treat
and discourse of philosophical affairs, and
many of its members became subsequently the
first Fellows of the Royal Society. About the
year 1648-1649, this little band of students was
divided into two — one part remaining in
London and the other migrating to Oxford,
where a Philosophical Society of Oxford was
established, that subsequently for some time
B
10
worked in concert with the Royal Society, and
did not finally cease to exist until 1690.
We shall have to return in the course of my
remarks to the early days of the Royal Society ;
but it will be well to dwell now for a short
time on the origin of the .Society of Anti¬
quaries, which, in its unchartered form, can
claim a considerably higher degree of anti¬
quity. About the year 1572, “ divers gentle¬
men of London, studious in antiquities, formed
themselves into a College or Society of Anti¬
quaries.’ ’ The honour of this foundation is
“entirely due to that munificent patron of
letters and learned man, Archbishop Parker.
The members met near 20 years at the house
of Sir Robert Cotton, and, in 1589, resolved
to apply to the Queen for a charter of in¬
corporation, and for some public building,
where they might assemble and have a library.”
A petition was prepared for presentation to Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth praying for the in¬
corporation of “ An Academy for the Studye
of Antiquity and History,” the meetings of
which were to be held in the Savoy, or the
dissolved Priory of St. John of Jerusalem, or
elsewhere. It is uncertain whether this
petition was ever presented, but the Queen
seems to have given the society her coun¬
tenance, and under the presidency of Arch¬
bishops Parker and Whitgift successively it
flourished, and a list of thirty-eight of its
members, comprising such well-known names
as Camden, Cotton, Erdeswicke, Lambarde,
and Stow, is still extant. For some cause or
other Elizabeth’s successor, James I., thought
fit to dissolve the society in 1604, and though
attempts were made to revive it in 1617, and
though there was an Antiquaries’ feast on
July 2nd, 1659, the society remained in a
dormant condition until 1707. It then held
weekly meetings at the “ Bear Tavern ” in the
Strand, and afterwards at the “ Young Devil
Tavern ” in Fleet-street, subsequently moving
to the ‘‘Fountain Tavern.” In 1718 the
society was reconstituted, and in 1751 a
Charter of Incorporation was granted to it by
George II., who declared himself the founder
and patron of the Society of Antiquaries of
London.
In the meantime, the Societies for Pro¬
moting Christian Knowledge and for the Pro¬
pagation of the Gospel had been founded,
the one in 1698 and the other in 1701. These
societies, however, being of a religious and
not a scientific character, lie outside my pro¬
vince.
Having traced the inception of the two oldest
of our learned societies, which in their early
stages partook more of the nature of clubs
than of what are now known as societies, I
propose, before considering their further de¬
velopments to say something as to the pro¬
per aims and objects of a learned society,
and the means usually adopted for carry
ing them into effect. Such a society is an
association of persons united together by
12
common tastes and anxious to improve or
extend some particular branch of knowledge,
or even the whole range of scientific inquiry.
With this object in view' it becomes neces¬
sary to hold periodical meetings for the
discussion of subjects in which the society
is interested, and for taking such action
in respect of them as may seem desirable.
The holding of such meetings involves an
organisation and the appointment of pre¬
sidents to take the chair at meetings,
of secretaries to summon them, and of
a treasurer to receive those subscriptions
without which an association of the kind
cannot exist. Moreover, for the determination
of questions of policy and finance, espe¬
cially when the society issues publications, a
council of some kind becomes a necessity.
It is on this organisation that the success or
failure of a society mainly depends, and the
questions as to the length of period that
presidents and others should remain in office,
what proportion of new blood should be infused
into the council each year, and how far those
in power are carrying out the views of the
bulk of the members of the Society, have
frequently been discussed with more or less
warmth. In some instances the too conserva¬
tive apathy of the council has led to disruption
and the foundation of new societies, or to the
society under their charge being reduced to
a state of inanimate slumber, while on the
other hand too rapid revolutionary measures
13
have led to diminutions in numbers, if not to
absolute rebellion. Much, of course, of the
welfare of a society depends upon the character
of its publications being kept at a high level,
and on their being brought out with scrupulous
regularity.
There is one condition in the life of a
scientific society which is entirely beyond its
control or that of its council, and this condition
may be superinduced by the activity of the
society itself. As researches proceed and
knowledge extends, new branches of inquiry
are opened, which can only be investigated by
those who apply themselves specially to the
subject. New publications are required,
particular days have to be set apart for the
discussion of the new subject, and eventually
it is found desirable either to establish a sepa¬
rate branch of the old society, or to constitute
a new one. The latter course is the one that
has been most often adopted, especially in the
case of biological science ; and not infre¬
quently the new society finds a home in the
apartments of the parent society, and under its
fostering care.
This is of course a reason and a legitimate
reason for the multiplication of societies having
closely cognate but not identical objects in
view ; but the fact that in all the centres of
population and intelligence throughout the
United Kingdom, there are devotees of science
no less able and energetic than Those __who
reside in and around the metropolis will account
for the reduplication of societies on precisely
the same lines as the parent societies in London
throughout the whole kingdom. Were new
soeieties not to come into existence, and wrere
the older societies to attempt to adjust them¬
selves to all the requirements of modern science,
they would soon collapse under the burden
thrown upon them.
Let us now go back to the period immedi¬
ately succeeding the Restoration, or to the
year 1663, in which Charles II. granted his
second Charter to the Royal Society of London
for improving natural knowledge. At that
time, as has already been observed, the
Society of Antiquaries was in abeyance, so
that the Royal Society was practically the
only institution of the kind in Britain, and
its aims were naturally wide. On the 20th
November, 1663, the Society* “ consisted of
13 1 Fellows, of whom 18 were noblemen,
22 baronets and knights, 47 esquires, 32
doctors, 2 bachelors of divinity, 2 masters of
arts, and 8 strangers or foreign members.”
With the exception of the large proportion of
physicians or doctors, it will be observed that
the Society in the main was composed of noble¬
men and gentlemen of independent position,
and that the professional element was to a very
great extent wanting. Great attention was
paid to experimental methods ; but “what the
learned and inquisitive are doing, or have
* ^VeW’s Hist, of the Royal Society, I., p. 145,
15
done in physick, mathematicks, mechanicks,
opticks, astronomy, medicine, chymistry,
anatomy, both abroad and at home ” were sub¬
jects on which they were solicitous. Many of
the branches of science diligently pursued at
the present day were either unknown or in
their infancy. The variation of the com¬
pass had been observed, but magnetism and
electricity presented almost untrodden fields ;
the steam engine was in an embryonic
stage ; visions of space with four or
more dimensions had not visited the poeti¬
cal mathematical brain ; microscopes and
telescopes were in their infancy ; the family
of the planets was no more numerous than of
old ; the circulation of the blood had not
met with universal acceptance, and the exist¬
ence of bacilli was but dimly conceived ;
chemistry was of the crudest, and the elements
were earth, air, fire and water ; anatomy had
already made notable advances, but Dermato¬
logical, Laryngological, and Odontological
societies were not even dreamt of ; Geology
was unborn, and Palaeontology did not exist,
except in connection with Noah’s Deluge.
One of the results of this very wide scope
of the Royal Society was, that at its meet¬
ings the variety of subjects brought forward
for discussion was great ; and the early
volumes of the Philosophical Transactions
contain a large amount of miscellaneous
reading. I am not sure that, as a means of
whiling away a spare half-hour, one of the
16
first twenty volumes of the Transactions would
not by most persons be found more attractive
and amusing than the volume say of Series A
for the year 1900.
To turn to the other societies which
were in existence early in the 18th cen¬
tury. At the beginning of that period life
again returned to the Society of Antiquaries,
which resumed its regular meetings in 1707,
and by 1717 was in active existence, though its
numbers were limited to one hundred. As
before stated it received its charter of incor¬
poration in 1751 and in 1780, through the
the liberality of George III. it had apartments
granted to it in Somerset House.
The Society for the Encouragement of Arts,
Manufactures, and Commerce was founded
in 1754, but not incorporated until 1847, and
this Society together with the two already
mentioned form the trio from which nearly all
the numerous learned societies of the present
day have sprung by what may be regarded as
a natural process of evolution.
Let us now consider the order of develop¬
ment in which some of the principal scientific
and learned societies of the present day have
been derived either directly or indirectly
from the three parent societies which we have
had under consideration. The dates assigned
are those of the foundation of the societies,
and not of their charters. Indeed, some scientific
societies still remain unchartered.
As might have been expected, Scotland was
17
not long in following the example set by
England, and the Medical Society of Edin¬
burgh was instituted in 1734, to be followed by
the somewhat kindred Harveian Society in
1752. In the meantime, the Royal Society of
Edinburgh, or as it was originally called, the
Philosophical Society, was established in 1739.
The “ Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh,”
exclusively devoted to “ Natural History and
the Physical Sciences,” was founded in 1771,
and by 1813 had absorbed no less than six
other societies, which became incorporated in
it.
In Ireland, the Royal Irish Academy for
“the study of Science, Polite Literature, and
Antiquities,” was founded in 1785, and may
be regarded as combining the attributes of
the three parent societies in London.
Among the off-shoots of the Royal Society
of London, the first perhaps is the Medical
Society, founded in 1773, which, even at the
present day, comprises a large number of
Fellows. The Linnean Society, for the cultiva¬
tion of natural history in all its branches, was
founded in 1788, and has from 700 to 800
Fellows. These are the only two London
societies coming under this category that
date from the last century.
During the century now drawing to its close
the vast advances in science, and the in¬
numerable aspects that it assumes, has led to
the foundation of numerous scientific societies,
each with a more or less limited scope. In
c
1 8
natural history we have the Horticultural
(1804), the Zoological (1826), the Entomological
(1833), the Ornithological (1837), the Royal
Botanic (1839), the Ray Society (1844), the
Palseontographical (1847), and others that it
would be tedious to mention.
Geology as a new science had a society
founded for its study in 1807, tlie Geologists’
Association followed in 1858, and at a later
date the Mineralogical Society (1876). The
Royal Astronomical Society (1820) has been
supplemented by the British Astronomical
Association. Mathematics and Physics have
also their own societies, as have also Statistics,
a subject which has a mathematical side as
well as one in the direction of commerce and
the affairs of ordinary life. Engineering is
represented not only by the Institution of Civil
Engineers (1818), but by the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers (1847), of Mining En¬
gineers (1851), the Iron and Steel Institute
(1869) and that of Electrical Engineers (1871).
Geography has had its own Royal Society since
1830, Microscopy its society since 1839, an(l
Meteorology since 1850. For medicine, phar¬
maceutics, pathology, neurology, anatomy,
and some other branches of medical inquiry,
special societies have been founded in London.
The Victoria Institute or Philosophical Society
of Great Britain was founded in 1865, its
primary object being the attempt to reconcile
apparent discrepancies between Christianity
and science.
In Edinburgh and Dublin scientific societies
have multiplied, though not to a similar extent ;
and throughout the United Kingdom there are
numerous literary and philosophical societies,
that of Manchester dating back to 1781. There
are also several provincial geological societies,
and almost every county has its natural history
society or club.
Moreover, the British Association for the
Advancement of Science, founded in 1831, con¬
tinues to hold its annual meetings at different
centres in the empire, and helps to maintain
the general interest in the advancement of
knowledge and to kindle or keep alive local
zeal.
The offshoots from the Society of Anti¬
quaries have not been so numerous or im¬
portant as those from the Royal Society, the
field of archaeology being much more restricted
than the wide domain of more purely “ natural
knowledge.” The Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland dates, however, from 1780, and that
of Newcastle-on-Tyne from 1813, while the
Literary and Antiquarian Society of Perth
goes back to 1784. Several branches of anti¬
quarian study have now their own societies.
The Numismatic Society was founded in
1836, the Royal Historical Society in 1868,
the Society of Biblical Archaeology in 1871,
the Palaeographical in 1873, and that for
Hellenic studies in 1879. There are also
special societies for the exploration of Pales¬
tine and Egypt as well as the important Royal
20
Asiatic Society with its different branches.
The peripatetic habits of the Royal Archaeo¬
logical Institute and of the British Archaeo¬
logical Association (both 1843) help to main¬
tain the warmth of local interests and to dis¬
seminate a certain amount of archaeological
information.
Anthropology and Ethnology have made
great advances since the foundation of the
Ethnological Society in 1843, and of the
Anthropological in 1863. The two merged in
1871 to form the Anthropological Institute,
which has rendered signal services to science.
A minor branch of anthropology — Folk Lore —
has had its own society at work since 1878.
The Society of Arts— to make use of its
shortened title — can claim nearly as numerous
an offspring as its elder sisters the Royal
Society and the Society of Antiquaries. Her
descendants, moreover, are fairly entitled to as
high, if not indeed a higher rank and import¬
ance. It is not merely the Royal Scottish
Society of Arts (1821) that she can claim as
an offshoot, but it was the Society of Arts that
first in England devoted attention to the all-
important objects of forestry and agriculture.
The Royal Agricultural Society originated not
earlier than 1838, though in Scotland a Society
of Improvers of Agriculture was instituted in
1723, a Dublin Agricultural Society in 1731,
the Bath and West of England Society in 1777,
and the Highland Society in 1784.
It would, moreover, be unfair not to credit
the Society of Arts as well as the Royal Society
with having laid the foundations on which the
Institution of Civil Engineers and the cognate
bodies havebeen erected. The Chemical Society
was established at a meeting held at the
rooms of the Society of Arts in 1841. From
this arose the Institute of Chemistry in 1877.
The Society of Chemical Industry (1881) to a
large extent grew out of the Chemical Section
of the Society of Arts, which dealt for some
years with the chemical industries, and was
dropped on the foundation of the Society.
The Sanitary Institute and the other sanitary
societies certainly owe their origin to the Con¬
ferences on the Health and Sewage of Towns
held by the Society of Arts in 1877, 1879, and
1880. The City and Guilds’ Institute also origi¬
nated in consequence of the action of the Society
in the matter of technical education. They took
up and carried on the technological examin¬
ations founded by the Society of Arts.
The Science and Art Department may be
said to have grown out of the 1851 exhibition,
which was organised by the Society of Arts.
Its examinations were based on the model of
the Society of Arts examinations, and, indeed,
it was to a very large extent a development of
the Society’s work by those who were already
connected with the Society of Arts.
It must never be forgotten that in its
earlier days inventions of all useful kinds, and
all that was new in machinery and manu¬
factures, came within the scope of the Society,
22
which in thirty years spent nearly as many
thousands of pounds in rewards and premiums
for useful inventions.
It took a very active part in all educational
movements and a warm interest in the welfare
of our colonies, and to its credit be it said that
the examinations of the Society of Arts still
rank among the most useful and thorough,
while the existence of our Indian Section still
evinces our interest in the prosperity of the
dependencies of the Empire.
What the Society has done for the advance¬
ment of art, it is difficult for us of the present
day fully to appreciate ; but it must be re¬
membered that one of the first, if not, indeed,
the first public exhibition of pictures, was that
held in this Society’s rooms in 1760, and that
from this exhibition sprang the Royal Academy,
the first exhibition of which, comprising 136
works only, was opened in 1769. We may,
therefore, here claim the Royal Academy as in
a certain sense an offshoot from our body.
The Royal Institute of British Architects,
founded in 1835, may also in some degree be
regarded as connected with the Royal Acad¬
emy, which admits architects among its mem¬
bers. The Photographic Society also grew
out of an exhibition of photographs, the first
of the kind, held in our rooms. The founda¬
tion of the Royal College of Music is likewise
due to the exertions of the Society of Arts.
I have dwelt at considerable, perhaps too
great, . length, on the various societies in the
United Kingdom that are more or less
intimately connected, so far as their origin is
concerned, with what I have termed our three
parent societies. It is needless to add that
analogous societies to those in the Mother
Country have sprung up in many of our
numerous colonies and dependencies, and even
in America before the Declaration of Inde¬
pendence. The American Philosophical
Society, with its headquarters in Philadelphia,
was founded by Franklin in 1743.
I venture to hope that from the historical
point of view, the sketch that I have attempted
to draw of the development of scientific
societies in these islands has not been entirely
devoid of interest. It testifies also to the
success that has attended the united action
which the societies were founded to foster.
It would indeed be difficult to say how far
the work done by any society would have been
accomplished by the individuals composing
that society, without combination or collective
organisation. A society of course is only a
collection of individuals, and the work of the
society is the work of the individuals com¬
posing it.
A society offers opportunities for discussion,
brings men of similar ideas together, and sub¬
stitutes collective and organised action for
isolated individual effort. It affords means of
publication, organises research, records dis¬
coveries, stimulates invention, and assists
students by providing a common meeting-
24
place and centre of action. Every scientific
discoverer desires immediate publication of
his work, both for his own reputation, and to
secure the assistance of his colleagues. Every
industrial inventor requires publication in order
that he may secure the natural profits of his
invention. A society systematises and arranges
the science or study which is its subject
matter.
The present condition of science is certainly
due to the organised efforts of such societies
as the Royal Society and its subordinate
societies, in this and other countries. They
secure public recognition for science and those
who pursue it ; they prevent over-lapping ;
serve to deter different men from working on
the same lines ; and they bring influence to
bear on the public and on the Government.
Any individual is less powerful by himself than
when he is associated with others seeking the
same object. An active society is a corpora¬
tion with a perpetual succession, and it never
dies. The work carried on by an isolated
student ceases at his death, but the work done
by a number of students associated together
goes on and on. As one man drops out, another
takes his place.
An excellent example of the reciprocal in¬
fluence of scientific workers and of a scientific
institution upon each other is afforded by the
Royal Institution. Without Davy, Faraday, or
Tyndall, the Royal Institution would never have
become the important body it now is. But
25
without the Royal Institution neither Davy
nor Faraday would have had any opportunity
for carrying out their scientific work, and of
obtaining their scientific reputation, and per¬
haps the same may be said to a certain ex¬
tent of Dr. Tyndall.
The history that I have been tracing
comprises within it a record of the advance
in many directions of our acquaintance with
the secrets of nature, of our turning that
acquaintance to practical account, and of
the consequent progress of the nation in
material prosperity. It bears witness likewise
to that specialisation in science, which though
by no means an unmixed blessing, seems to be
of necessity associated with all advancement in
natural knowledge. The days are long since
past when any single individual could attempt
to cope with the whole encylopaedia of science,
but the question not infrequently arises at the
present day whether the position of the
specialist would not be more secure were the
foundations on which he builds extended over
a larger area, and were his scientific sym¬
pathies somewhat wider in their character.
Another question that may be asked is
whether there is any need for this multiciplicity
of societies. The answer from anyone who
in whatever manner believes in evolution
will be, that at the time of founding each
society, a necessity for it must at all
events have been thought to exist, and that
the analogous societies at that time in being
D
26
must have been either unable or unwilling- to
adjust or expand themselves, so as to include
the subject for the study of which the new
society was instituted. Many of the subjects,
for instance, that originally came within the
domain of the Royal Society, and indeed are
still included within it, have by degrees been
not absolutely banished from it, but relegated
in the main to other societies, founded more
especially for the study and illustration of such
subjects. The Linnean, the Astronomical,
the Chemical, and the Geological Societies,
afford instances in point, and any attempt to
suppress such societies, and to bring their
members all within the fold of the Royal
Society, would have a disastrous effect on the
advance of science, and would absolutely
overweight the powers of the Royal Society
itself. At the same time it must be re¬
membered that accounts of important dis¬
coveries in any of these branches of knowledge
are cordially welcomed by the Royal Society,
and that it is usually the case that the leading
Fellows of these special societies are also
Fellows of the P.oyal Society. The same in a
lesser degree holds good with the Society of
Antiquaries as archaeological discoveries, espe¬
cially when bearing on the early history of man,
are welcomed alike on both sides of the quad¬
rangle at Burlington-house.
In the case of local societies which in their
character are almost identical with those of the
metropolis, the geographical reasons for their
27
existence are in most cases undeniable. Their
isolation is, however, to some extent a draw¬
back, and a great step in advance has been
made by the Society of Antiquaries, which has
now brought into union with itself nearly the
whole of the archaeological societies through¬
out the kingdom — or, at all events, forty-five
of their number — which now hold an annual
congress in the apartments of the Society in
Burlington-house. The results have been most
satisfactory. Each society while retaining its
own individuality has co-operated with the
others in matters of common interest, and
among other fruits of collective action, an
annual classified and subject index of the
archaeological papers of each year is now pub¬
lished.
Of course, a certain number of Societies are
born to die ; but it is remarkable how few of
them have expired without having done some
good work. In some instances, two rival
Societies, neither of them in a flourishing con¬
dition, have coalesced, and the combined body
has acquired a degree of vitality and energy
that neither of its constituents ever possessed.
In the archaeological world, it is possible that
there are still two bodies in existence, the
amalgamation of which would probably result
in good.
An arrangement by which the subdivision
of a Society has been obviated, and which on
the whole has worked in a satisfactory manner,
has been adopted by the Society of Chemical
28
Industry, which has branches in centres of im¬
portance on both sides of the Atlantic. These
branches hold their own meetings, and dis¬
cussions and reports of them are published
in the Society’s Journal, together with those
of the meetings in London. This union of
the metropolis with capitals in the provinces
is further strengthened by the holding of the
annual meetings of the Society sometimes in
Liverpool or in some other important centre of
chemical industry.
It will have been observed that I have hitherto
been speaking of societies more or less inti¬
mately connected in their origin with what I
have termed the three parent societies, but
there is another category of studies which
these societies either do not represent at all
or do so in a very imperfect manner. They
have been termed the philosophico -historical
sciences as distinct from mathematical,
physical, and biological sciences. A certain
portion of them, such as language and history,
come within the province of societies cognate
with the Society of Antiquaries, while this latter
deals directly with antiquities. There remain
philosophy, psychology in its non-biological
aspects, economics, and probably some other
branches of study or speculation. Literature
is another somewhat outlying field, but there are
numerous literary associations, some of them
practically printing clubs, others of a more
social character, and others again which hold
regular stated meetings for the study and
2Q
discussion of the works of some well known
author — Dante, for instance.
The title “ Literary and Philosophical ” has
been adopted as a convenient one by many
local societies, probably on account of its great
comprehensiveness. Many are doing good
work, but the term “philosophical” is generally
used in the same sense as in the case of the
“ Philosophical Transactions ” of the Royal
Society, and the term “literary” is accepted as
covering all that cannot be regarded as philo¬
sophical.
Turning to the more purely philosophical
societies that have been established in London,
it would seem as if for some reason or other
the soil was not congenial for their growth or
longevity. The Dialectical Society, founded in
1865, was dissolved in 1888 ; the Psychological,
founded in 1875, ceased to exist in 1879, but
was resuscitated under the name of the Society
for Psychical Research in 1882. The Zetetical
Society, established in 1878, and the Aristo¬
telian in 1880, do not appear in Whitaker’s
List of Societies and Institutions, though the
latter, notwithstanding that its members are
few, is still in active operation. Altogether
the number of those interested in abstract
philosophy seems to bear no proportion to that
of the votaries of the study of nature in all its
phases and of those who devote themselves
to the application of science to the good of
mankind.
In the Institut de France , one of the
Academies is that of Sciences Morales ei
Politiques , which, however, is divided into
five sections. Of the eight places devoted
to philosophy, only six were filled at the
beginning of the present year, but this may have
been purely accidental. The mention of the
Institut suggests the question how far a
similar association of academies would meet
the requirements of this country. Such a
question is beyond the limits of the present
address, but in passing, I may say that the
necessary limitations of the Institut , the
payment for attendance, the method of
election of its members, and its close con¬
nection with the Government of the day
all present features which are hardly in ac¬
cordance with our insular traditions. In
Paris itself the Institut has had to be supple¬
mented by various important scientific societies,
such, for instance, as the Geological Society
and the Society of Antiquaries of France.
But to return to England. It has been sug¬
gested to me that it would be of some interest
were I to give a short account of the vicissi¬
tudes through which some of our principal
societies, including the three parent societies,
have passed. No doubt with all of them there
have been periods during which they may be
said to have vegetated rather than lived, but
to trace out the causes of their temporary
suspension of life, and the reasons which led
to the resumption of activity, would involve an
historical discussion of considerable length,
3i
and might also lead to invidious personal com¬
parisons. Paradoxical as it may appear, these
seasons of rest, or if it be preferred so to call it
torpor, have not in the long run impaired either
the utility or the prestige of the societies. A great
deal of regular and useful work may be done
without the machinery by which it is effected
making sufficient noise to attract the attention of
those not immediately interested in the work,
and the torpor may in fact have been apparent
rather than real. Under any circumstances
there can, I think, be but little doubt that it is
better for a society to carry on its work in a
thorough but unobtrusive manner, than to be
subject to paroxysms of fitful energy, and to
be always devising new ways, instead of
gradually improving the ©Id.
Even a real torpor is not always deadly.
There is a tradition in the Society of Anti¬
quaries that once, in days gone by, the Secre¬
tary was overheard to utter the pious aspiration,
“ Would to God there was nothing in this world
older than a new-laid egg!” And yet the
Society survives and is still carrying on use¬
ful and valuable work. May it long con¬
tinue to do so, and may the Society of Arts
and the Royal Society together with it long
survive as the parents of many societies which
have rendered and still will render indispens¬
able assistance in the wide diffusion of know¬
ledge.
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