570.6(42) i68 



II. 



What shall we do with our Local Societies ? 



TT^HEN the votaries of science in all parts of the country are 

 VV thinking of the national association for the advancement of 

 science, it may not be amiss to consider briefly what is the essence of 

 that science which the British Association is established to promote, 

 and in what new way the association and other kindred but less 

 influential bodies may yet take further steps in advance. 



As Huxley often insisted, scientific knowledge only differs from 

 ordinary knowledge in its greater precision, and science consists of 

 such precise knowledge systematised. Mere guesses or unverified 

 gossip cannot be dignified by the name of scientific knowledge, nor 

 can the mere accumulation of facts, however precise, if not grouped 

 round general principles, constitute a science. 



Now, we have at our command a vast number of observers 

 capable of adding to our stock of scientific facts, and many thinkers 

 capable of generalising from these facts, though the work of both 

 classes is in danger of being wasted or rendered virtually nugatory by 

 want of organisation. 



If one is engaged on research referring to some particular district 

 he can readily turn to the publications of the local society or societies, 

 though even in this case he may overlook some of them owing to their 

 number, their unfortunately short life, or the limited publicity of 

 their publications. Even with reference to such local work one 

 may sometimes be tempted to wish that there had never been 

 a field club at Stubbleton or Blankham, when a complete set 

 of their Transactions, the precise value of which is an entirely 

 unsolved problem, is neither to be found in the local library nor 

 in that of the British Museum. This feeling, however, becomes far 

 stronger when an Egyptologist hears of a paper recording original 

 work on hieroglyphics in the Proceedings of the Shropshire Natural 

 History Society, or when a meteorologist is referred to some 

 valuable tabulated records of West Indian weather in the Tran- 

 sactions of the City of Lincoln Literary Club. 



Science will, however, be benefited far more by an increase 

 in the total number of local societies than by their suppression, 

 provided only that their work be directed into useful channels and 

 that their results be systematised. Much valuable work in most 



