NOTES 287 



basis, by which all the members shall have equal powers as regards the 

 election of officers, councillors, and new members, and officers and councils 

 will be deprived of rights of previous nomination. Of course, a mere private 

 society may organise itself as it pleases ; but it is another matter when a 

 society receives public funds or confidence ; and we may therefore urge that 

 the time has come when the latter class of societies shall be reorganised as 

 indicated. For obvious reasons, this will never be done if the matter is left 

 to the societies themselves ; and a Government commission to inquire into 

 the matter may therefore be suggested. 



In minor matters also, many learned societies seem to be very behind- 

 hand. Thus the selection of papers for reading is often done by antiquated 

 methods. The papers are usually subjected to the criticism of secret referees, 

 who may quite possibly be rivals of the author, and may even (so, at least, it 

 is often thought) reject his article and at the same time absorb much of the 

 matter contained in it. An altogether excessive and indeed pharasaical 

 attitude seems generally to be adopted by societies as regards the merit of 

 papers. It really does not much matter to science or learning if a given 

 paper is somewhat below par, because such a paper will be soon forgotten in 

 consequence of its own demerits ; but it does matter very much if a good 

 paper is rejected, especially after long delay, since authors may thus lose both 

 priority and time. 



Moreover, few learned societies seem ever to trouble themselves about the 

 interests of the workers in art, science, or literature. Yet, really, the work 

 depends upon the interests of the workers. 



If learned societies are considered to be only vehicles for publication and 

 discussion, they are almost useless, since these can be much more easily ob- 

 tained without them. If they become (which we hope is seldom) mere centres 

 for the advancement of individual members, they are injurious. They will be 

 really useful only if they are placed upon a new footing, and become not only 

 genuine depositories of special branches of knowledge, but also organisations 

 for the betterment of such branches of knowledge and of the workers. And 

 if they are to be subsidised and consulted by the State, the State should see 

 that they are properly constituted and conducted . 



Another course is possible. A thing which requires reformation is seldom 

 worth it ; and it may be better, in place of attempting to reform old societies, 

 to construct new ones upon a better basis, leaving the old ones to die a natural 

 death, and to remain, what they now often are, antique ornaments — on the 

 shelf. 



Do English People Read ? (0. A. C.) 



Mr. H. G. Wells, owing to his knowledge of facts and to his powers of 

 invention, is certainly the leading British author of to-day ; and in that 

 remarkable work. The Time Machine, in which he pictures the final decadence 

 of the human race at, let us hope, a very far future, he gives as a proof of that 

 decadence that the Eloi, though they possessed ancient museums and Ubraries, 

 never entered them, but spent the day in eating delicate banquets of fruit and 

 playing childish games with each other. Is it possible that we are already 

 beginning to fall to this stage ? I myself have entered museums in which 

 there was no one except the caretaker, and perhaps a tutor or an uncle taking 

 out a little boy for a treat, and in our libraries silence is always enjoined— 

 and ensues because there is seldom anyone in them. We are the heirs of all 

 the ages, but what do we do with the riches bequeathed to us by our ancestors ? 

 Liberated for a moment from my abstruser studies, I betook myself the other 

 day to a seaside resort, where, mirabile dictu, there is a hbrary close to the 

 bathing-machines. This library was evidently put there fifty years ago, 

 because it is full of books of that period. True, most of the books are the 



