1906.] on International Science. 361 



one can belong to the Academy of Sciences who is not domiciled 

 in Paris. Similarly although Germany possesses four Royal Academies 

 (Berlin, Gottingen, Leipzig, Munich), each of them is confined as 

 regards ordinary members to its own locality ; so that a Professor of 

 the Universities of Bonn or Heidelberg, however eminent he may be,, 

 could not become a member of any of these Academies. Neither in 

 France nor in Germany can the Academy therefore be called truly 

 representative. The disadvantages which may arise from this defect 

 have been minimised by adopting a rule that the International Associa- 

 tion of Academies may appoint Committees for the discussion of special 

 questions, and that members of these Committees need not be members 

 of any of the constituent academies. This to a large degree obviates 

 what would otherwise be a considerable difficulty. Xevertheless I 

 believe that the circumstances to which I have drawn attention, form 

 the only impediment in the way of handing over to the Association of 

 Academies the ultimate control of every new international undertaking 

 and even the charge of some of those already established. It is highly 

 desirable that we should work towards this end. An energetic en- 

 thusiast may easily start a new enterprise, and governments are appealed 

 to from different sides for help and support. There ought to be some 

 authoritative body to whom the governments could apply for advice. 

 Overlapping and waste would be thus avoided. 



It is not my desire to disguise the difficulties which have sometimes 

 been encountered in providing for joint undertakings on a large scale. 

 "Whether national or international, combined work between men of 

 different temperaments always requires some suppression of personality. 

 Even stronger feelings may be involved when a central office or bureau 

 has to be selected which specially distinguishes one locality. The ad- 

 vantage gained by the locality is often one of appearance rather than 

 of reality, for these central offices should be the servants rather than 

 the masters of the undertaking. In order to prevent national feeling 

 being aroused by any preference given to one nation, it has been 

 customary to select a president belonging to a different country 

 from that of the director of the Central Bureau ; there are also a 

 vice-president and a secretary — all belonging to different nations. 

 It is thought that such a distribution of office may assist in preserving 

 harmony. I believe that this is the case, btit sometimes at the risk 

 of impaired efficiency. It cannot be denied, however, that the seat of 

 the central office of an important undertaking confers a certain dignity, 

 and it is quite natm-al that a country should feel some pride in the 

 distinction. 



England as a whole has not done so badly. We should not forget 

 that in a great portion of the world, all clocks strike the same minutes 

 and seconds. Before long all civilised countries (except Ireland) will 

 have adopted the Greenwich meridian for their standard of time, and 

 we may rightly therefore call Greenwich the central bureau of universal 

 time. The offices of the International Catalogue and both the central 



