47 8 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Meeting Room of the Royal Society in Burlington House. 



The second address, given in 1903, re- 

 viewed the relation of the Royal So- 

 ciety to the special scientific societies. 

 The increase of knowledge and the 

 necessary differentiation of the sci- 

 ences led to the foundation of the 

 Linnean Society for natural history in 

 1788 and to the establishment of the 

 Geological Society in 1807, and there 

 are now in London and elsewhere in 

 Great Britain numerous societies de- 

 voted to the special sciences. Sir 

 William does not discuss the relations 

 of the Royal Society to the British 

 Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, nor to the British Academy 

 for philosophy, history and philology, 

 which was established during his presi- 

 dency, after long discussion as to 

 whether the subjects that it covers 

 should be included in the scope of the 

 Royal Society. It appears that ef- 

 forts were made some ten years ago to 

 form a more or less close affiliation of 

 the principle special societies with the 

 Royal Society, but the plan did not 

 prove feasible. Sir William favors 

 publishing the papers read before the 

 Royal Society both in its transactions 



and in the publications of the special 

 society, and such a plan is in operation 

 in the case of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society. It is not, however, clear just 

 what is gained by this plan for sci- 

 ence, though it might for the time lead 

 scientific men to present their papers 

 before the Royal Society. This dis- 

 cussion has led to the publication of 

 the transactions in two parts, one for 

 the natural sciences and the other for 

 the exact sciences, but it is difficult to 

 see the advantages of publishing, even 

 in two series, papers scarcely one 

 tenth of which would be of interest to 

 any one student. It does not seem 

 that meetings at which papers in all 

 the sciences are read have a useful 

 function at the present time, and this 

 appears to be clearly indicated by the 

 programs and attendance at the ordi- 

 nary meetings of the Royal Society and 

 of our own National Academy of Sci- 

 ences. 



The third address discusses the rela- 

 tion of the Royal Society to the state 

 and its responsible public duties. The 

 society is not supported by the state, 

 although it administers a government 



