OUTLINE OF THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY 



ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



PREPARED FOR THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION BY C. A. ALEXANDER. 



"The principal advantage of academies consists in the philosophical spirit naturally en- 

 gendered by theui, which spreads itself throughout society, ai;d extends to all objects. The 

 isolated inquirer may resign himself without fear to the spirit of system ; he only hears afar 

 oft' the contradiction which ho incurs. Cut in a learned society the conflict of systematic 

 opinions soon results in their overthrow ; and the desire of being mutually satisfied necessarily 

 establishes between the members an agreement to admit nothing but the results of observation 

 and calculation. Hence, as experience has shown, true philosophy has been generally dif- 

 • fused since the rise of academies. By setting the example of subjecting everything to the 

 examination of a rigorous analysis, they have dissipated the prejudices which had too long 

 tyrannized in the sciences, and in which the best intellects of preceding ages had shared. 

 Their useful influence over opinion has, in our day, dispelled errors which had been received 

 with an enthusiasm that in other times would have perpetuated them. Equally exempt from 

 the credulity which would admit everything, and the prejudice which disposes to the rejection 

 of whatever departs from received ideas, tliese eidighteued bodies have always, in difficult 

 questions, and with reference to extraordinary phenomena, wisely awaited the answers of ob- 

 servation and experiment, which they have at the same time solicited bj' prizes and by their 

 own labors. Proportioning their appreciation, as well to the magnitude and difficulty of a 

 discovery as to its immediate utility, and convinced by many examples that the most sterile 

 in appearance may some day lead to important consequences, they have encouraged the re- 

 search for truth in regard to all objects, with the exclusion of those only which the limits of 

 man's understanding render forever inaccessible. Finally, it is from their bosom that those 

 great theories have arisen whose generality places them beyond the common reach, and which, 

 spreading themselves by numerous applications over nature and tiie arts, have become inex- 

 haustible sources of light and fruition. Wise governments, convinced of the utility of such 

 societies, and considering them as one of the principal foundations of the glory and prosperity 

 of empires, ha^■e not only instituted them, but attached them to their own service, that they 

 might derive from them that knowledge which has often proved of the highest public advan- 

 tage." — (Laplace, Precis de VHistoire de l^ Astronomic, p. 99.) 



" The development and advancement of science," it has been remarked, "are 

 signally indebted to three among modern associations : the Accademia del 

 Cimento at Florence, which endured, however, but for a exhort time ; the Royal 

 Society of London ; and the Academy of Sciences at Paris." The lirst of these 

 was established in 1657, under the patronage of the Grand Duke Ferdinand II, 

 acting upon the advice of Viviaui, the great geometrician. The name adopted 

 by this society implies as its object the investigation of truth by experiment 

 alone, and its members, whose number was unlimited and included the distin- 

 guished names of Castellio and Torricelli, were held to no other obligation but 

 an abjuration of all authority and a resolution to inquire after truth, without 

 regard to the doctrines of any previous system of philosophy. Nor did the 

 Academy pass away without leaving a record of its labors. A volume, con- 

 taining reports of the experiments made under its auspices, was printed in 1666, 

 including, with many others, those on the supposed incomprcssibility of water, 

 the universal gravity of bodies, and the property of electric substances. 



For England, after Italy, is claimed a priority in the formal inauguration of a 

 similar and purely scientific association, and the date of the establishment of 



