THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



479 



fund for research and publication 

 amounting to £5,000 annually and oc- 

 cupies rooms provided by the govern- 

 ment. Sir William takes pride in the 

 fact that the society is a private body 

 of learned men for the promotion of | 

 natural knowledge at their own cost. 

 Certainly the British traditions have 

 been well maintained by the Royal So- j 

 ciety, Sir William himself being a 

 notable example. He has devoted his 

 life to astronomical research, has built 

 his observatory at his own cost and 

 has worked without a salary of any 

 kind. It is, however, somewhat doubt- 

 ful whether such traditions can be 

 maintained in the future. In any 

 case, they belong to an aristocracy 

 rather than to a democracy. It will 

 probably be found that even in Great 

 Britain the government will need to 



employ its scientific men, and will not 

 depend on the voluntary advice and as- 

 sistance of an independent society. 



The fourth address reviews the in- 

 fluence that science, represented by the 

 Royal Society, has had upon the life 

 and thought of the world. It is truly 

 remarkable what a large part of the 

 great scientific advances from Newton 

 to Darwin, and since Darwin, have had 

 their origin in the work of the fellows 

 of the Royal Society. 



THE YORK MEETING OF THE 

 BRITISH ASSOCIATION 

 The British Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science has celebrated its 

 foundation in York seventy-five years 

 ago by meeting this year in that city. 

 The attendance at the meeting was 

 1,959, which is fully as large as the 



The Principal Library of the Royal Society. 



