662 



SCIENCE PROGRESS 



From these figures we can calculate the rate at which Quakers and non- 

 Quakers have been elected F.R.S. per million inhabitants. The results are 

 as follows : 



Thus between the years 185 1 and 1900, a man had about forty-six times 

 more chances of being elected F.R.S. if he was a Quaker, or of Quaker descent, 

 than was the case if he belonged to the general population. It is obvious that, 

 as the total actual numbers of elections were small, there is no certainty that 

 if ten times or a hundred times as many elections had been made each year, 

 the same proportion would hold good. 



Quakers who have had the distinction of being elected F.R.S. include 

 Thomas Young (1773-1829), the originator of the undulatory theory of light; 

 Luke Howard (1772-1864), a pioneer in meteorology; JohnDalton(i766-i844), 

 who first made an estimate of the relative weights of the atoms and thereby 

 placed the atomic theory on a secure basis; Joseph Jackson Lister (1786-1869), 

 who made important improvements in achromatic lenses; his son. Lord Lister 

 (1827-1912), the discoverer of antiseptic surgery; and Silvanus Thompson 

 ( 1 851-19 1 6), the well-known electrician. A list of Quakers and persons of 

 Quaker descent who have been elected F.R.S. is appended. 



A contrast to the history of the Quakers is afiorded by that of the Mennon- 

 ites. This sect, whose creed was formulated in 1632, had theological beliefs 

 that were almost identical with those of the Quakers. They resembled the 

 Quakers also in their endogenous marriage customs, in their objection to 

 military service and war, in having been subjected to persecution, in their 

 moral and puritanical habits, and in being restricted in numbers. They 

 have spread chiefly in America, Holland, Germany, and Russia. In matters 

 of belief and custom they difiered from Quakers solely, so far as available 

 information goes, in lacking most, if not all, of the accessory quasi-rational 

 beliefs that distinguished the Society of Friends. Further research on this 

 point is, however, needed. Though they are known as honest and indus- 

 trious workers, no reason could be found in the books about them that I 

 have consulted for ascribing to them any special mental ability in business 

 or otherwise. 



The foregoing information was chiefly obtained at the Friends' Reference 

 Library, 136 Bishopsgate, London, whose ofi&cials gave me most kind and 

 valuable help. The remarkably full records of the history of the sect con- 

 tained in this library would permit a far more detailed study of the mental 

 development of the Quakers than has been here attempted. 



The following list is mainly compiled from an article in The Journal of the 

 Friends' Historical Society (vol. vii. No. i, First month 1910, p. 30). No 

 information is available to me as to whether any Friends have been elected 

 F.R.S. since 1915. 



