360 Professor Arthur Schuster [May 18, 



sion, are not allowed to interfere with the very substantial work which 

 is being done at these meetings. The list of subjects included in 

 the discussion of the London assembly gives an idea of the activity 

 of the association wliich does not stop at the conclusion of the meetings, 

 but is kept alive by the work of its members. A permanent com- 

 mittee was charged with the investigation of the functions of the 

 brain, and others were appointed to deal with questions of atmospheric 

 electricity and of the measurement of magnetic elements at sea. An 

 important proposal to carry out an exact magnetic survey along a 

 complete circle of latitude is under discussion. The section of letters 

 dealt with the mutual arrangements between libraries regarding the 

 interchange of manuscripts, approved the intended edition of the 

 Mahabharata, and considered a proposal to constmct a new Thesaurus 

 of Ancient Greek. The association also took cognisance of and re- 

 ceived reports on independent international undertakings, such as 

 the catalogue of scientific literature, the Geodetic Association, and the 

 Geological Congress. 



The association meets every three years. To these meetings each 

 constituent academy may send as many delegates as may be found 

 convenient. For the discussion of special questions the assembly 

 divides itself into a scientific section and a literary section. 



In each of these sections, as well as in the plenary meetings com- 

 prising both sections, each academy has only one vote. At each 

 triennial assembly, the next meeting place is chosen. In the intervals 

 between the meetings the affairs of the Association are placed in the 

 hands of a council on which each academy is represented by two 

 members or one, according as it comprises l)oth a literary and scientific 

 section or only one of them. The resolutions passed by the Associa- 

 tion are not binding on the constituent academies, who maintain their 

 liberty of adopting or rejecting them. 



The Association of Academies suffers unavoidably from a certain 

 want of homogeneity, owing to differences in the constitution of its 

 component bodies. Most Continental academies contain both literary 

 and scientific sections, and at the organising meeting held at Wiesbaden, 

 marked attention Avas drawn to the fact that there was no body in 

 England that could be considered as representative of literary studies. 

 If matters had ])een left as they stood then, this country would have 

 been altogether unrepresentative as regards half the activity of the 

 Association. Efforts were made, in consequence, to take a more 

 liberal view of the branches of knowledge coming within the range of 

 the Royal Society and to include literary subjects. A^ery unfortu- 

 nately, in my oi)inion, these efforts failed, and a charter was granted to 

 the British Academy, which has now been inchided as a separate 

 body among the list of academies forming part of the Association. 

 While in this respect we have been at a certain disadvantage, the 

 constitution of the Royal Society has the great advantage of being 

 truly representative of the Empire. In France, on the other hand, no 



