APR 12 1893 
INCAS TRAST S Gol TN © Tee 
A Monthly Review of Scientific Progress. 

Nomis Voto JANUARY, 1693: 
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. ‘hese 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 Edward 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 
B 
