480 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1881. 



was held on the evenings of November 16 and 17. It was largely 

 attended by members of the Academy and their friends, and was 

 satisfactory to all those who took part in it. 



The sections afford greater facilities to specialists in their pur- 

 suits than they could obtain in newly organized and independent 

 societies. They are in no sense detrimental to the interests of the 

 Academ}'. They have the immediate care of those departments 

 of the museum which are appropriate to them ; and in this connec- 

 tion their conservators relieve the Curators of considerable labor. 

 There is no apparent reason why the formation of sections should 

 not be encouraged. They tend to unite those engaged in separate 

 but closely allied studies, advantageously to them as well as to 

 scientific progress, and to centralize their interest in the general 

 welfare of the society. A desire of membership in a section is 

 often the only inducement to seek membership in the Academy. 



The by-law, enacted May, 1876, which provides for the estab- 

 lishment of Professorships, had remained almost inoperative until 

 December, 1880. In its partial observance it promises to be satis- 

 factorily efficient, at least for the present. 



The enactment was founded on an idea that " there are many men 

 eminently qualified in all respects to engage in original research 

 whose scientific work is greatly restricted because almost all their 

 time is necessarily spent in gaining a livelihood, who, like the 

 Davys, Faradays, Huxleys, and Tyndalls of the Roj^al Institution, 

 would gladly accept a moderate support of assured continuance, 

 and in return for it devote all their energies to scientific investi- 

 gations and teaching." 



Objection to the scheme, though commendable in itself, was that 

 "to appoint professors before providing a laboratory in which they 

 may pursue their investigations, or a lecture-room for the accom- 

 modation of those who would listen to their teachings ; or means 

 for their permanent and entire support, would be merely to bestow 

 complimentary titles, without advancing the interests of original 

 research in any manner or degree. Gentlemen elected to profes- 

 sorships without income would not find in the title of professor 

 alone the means of living. Such title would not relieve them from 

 the necessity of giving their time and labor to some exacting voca- 

 tion for daily bread, nor afford them more leisure than they may 

 possess without it. Those devoted to original investigation who 

 are pecuniarily independent of secular employment do not need 



