NATURAL SCIENCE: 



A Monthly Review of Scientific Progress. 



No. 11. Vol. II. JANUARY. 1893. 



N 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Scientific Dinners. 



OW that the festive season is upon us, a few remarks on 

 Scientific Dinners may not be out of place. 



Most of the learned Societies meet once a year to celebrate their 

 " anniversary," in a more or less convivial fashion. This they do, 

 not in the style of the " good old days " of the " three-bottle " men — 

 the process is in a measure reversed. Instead of a plain dinner and 

 a large amount of wine, the custom is to have a very elaborate dinner 

 and a moderate amount of wine. The cost may be much about the 

 same. 



In the meanwhile the composition of the societies has undergone 

 considerable alteration. In old days. Science was the pursuit, or the 

 pastime, for the most part of those well-to-do — of leading professional 

 men, of clergy, and men of independent means. Nowadays Science 

 owes its progress as much, perhaps more, to poor men than to the 

 comparatively rich. Yet the annual dinners are practically restricted 

 to the latter, on account of the guinea (or more) that is charged. 

 This is not as it should be. To the younger workers, as a rule, the 

 cost is prohibitory. These social gatherings should be representative : 

 whereas, under present circumstances, it seems as if we had a 

 Christmas dinner, and denied a place to the children and to our poor 

 but hard-working relations. A change is needed, so that rich and 

 poor, old and young, may meet, and equally find a welcome. 



We read in the Life of Edivard Forbes that during the meeting 

 of the British Association held in Birmingham in 1839, " He and 

 other young naturalists, disliking the irksomeness and expense of the 

 ordinary, adjourned to a small tavern, adorned with the sign of the 

 Red Lion. There they dined daily at small expense, on beef cooked 



