PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 99 



Francis Bacon in his Nezu Atlantis, published in 1627, pic- 

 tures Solomon's House as an ideal academy of sciences. I have 

 already referred to the establishment of actual academies of sci- 

 ences in Italy during the sixteenth century. They were origi- 

 nally clubs of scientific men or men interested in science who 

 met together to discuss and perform experiments. Like the 

 early universities the academies were at first independent of the 

 state ; but they subsequently received charters and appropria- 

 tions of money. In the sixteenth and the first part of the 

 seventeenth century academies of sciences were founded through- 

 out Europe. The period was marked by extraordinary scientific 

 progress which was greatly stimulated by the interchange of 

 ideas made possible by the academies. The state of science 

 was such that each member could understand and take interest 

 in the work of all the others. Intellectual curiosity was wide- 

 spread, catholic and naive. 



The Royal Society of London and the Academy of Sciences 

 of Paris arose at about the same time and under similar circum- 

 stances. At Paris a club counting among its members Descar- 

 tes, Gassendi and Pascal met at a private house for some thirty 

 years, until an academy of sciences was finally organized by Col- 

 bert on the model of the Academic Frangaise established earlier 

 under the auspices of Richelieu. The seven original members 

 included Huyghens, who was called to Paris. They received 

 pensions from the king and grants for instruments. The acad- 

 emy was reconstituted in 1699 with fifteen active members, 

 three each in geometry, astronomy, mechanics, anatomy and 

 chemistry. The academy of sciences became part of the Insti- 

 tute of France in 1795 ; at which time it was divided into 

 ten sections in each of which were six members and six as- 

 sociates m the provinces, the sections being: (i) mathematics, 

 (2) mechanics, (3) astronomy, (4) experimental physics, (5) 

 chemistry, (6) natural history and mineralogy, (7) botany 

 (8) anatomy, (9) medicine and surgery, and (10) agriculture. 

 An eleventh section — geography and navigation — was added 

 in 1803 with three members. As constituted since 1833, the 

 Institute of France contains five academies : (i) Frangaise, (2) In- 



