126 proceedings: academy of sciences 



A notable speech was that of Mr. Asquith, Prime Minister of England. 

 It was historical in large part. One sentence which aroused laughter 

 was as follows: "When the universities were ingrossed in the din of 

 civil war, 'to the neglect/ as a contemporary writer says, 'of academical 

 studies,' science and philosophy took refuge in the comparative peace 

 and tranquility which the streets of the City of London could then afford." 

 Another pleasantry of the Prime Minister's was given in the following 

 words : "In the same roll with John Dryden is one of the chief victims of 

 his satire, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who, amid his various 

 qualifications for the chief office of state, was as we know 'chemist, 

 fiddler, statesman, and buffoon,' and I see from your records that his- 

 tory tells us that when this, perhaps the most original of the original 

 fellows of the Royal Society was committed to the tower, a special 

 laboratory was fitted up for him in order that he might practice chem- 

 istry; and, according to Bishop Burnet, he was 'nearly' successful in 

 discovering the philosopher's stone — an illustration which suggests that 

 some people might be more profitably employed at present than at 

 either Westminster or Whitehall." 



Characteristic of the address of the Prime Minister was the frank 

 acknowledgment of the benefits derived by government from the work 

 of men of science. The administration of the grants of the Royal Soci- 

 ety is not, he said, a benefit conferred on the Society by the State, but 

 a service conferred on the State by the Society. 



That distinguished scholar and late eminent politician. Lord Morley, 

 proposed the toast of universities at home and abroad, and his address 

 was a most scholarly and able production. 



The Archbishop of Canterbury proposed the toast of the learned 

 societies in the old and new world, and called attention to the signifi- 

 cance of the fact that this toast had been entrusted to an ecclesiastic. 

 He called attention to the fact that Smithfield and St. Paul's Cross were 

 very near to the Guild Hall, and he believed that the time might be 

 found when, if under that roof or under the roof which preceded it, they 

 had seen a great gathering of orthodox ecclesiastics together with a 

 gathering of adventurous students of science, they might have agreed 

 that they were on the way to Smithfield, that the one might see the 

 other suffer. 



One of the speakers at this historic dinner was a member of this Acad- 

 emy, Dr. R. S. Woodward, President of the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington. 



The morning of Wednesday, July 17, was devoted to visits to places 

 of interest in London, including the Zoological Gardens, the British 

 Museum, the Natural History Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, 

 Lambeth Palace, and Westminster Abbey. The most perfect arrange- 

 ments were made for the entertainment of the ladies accompanying 

 visiting delegates, and during this and the following mornings arrange- 

 ments had been made for small parties to see many of the famous private 

 houses of London, and a special reception was held in their honor. 



