412 Co-operation amongst Local Scientific Societies. [Sess. 



presidential address, spoke very strongly of the disorganised 

 state of science as a social and political power. " Our crying 

 need," he said, " is to bring about an organisation of men of 

 science, and all interested in science, similar to those which 

 prove so effective in other branches of human activity. For 

 the last few years I have dreamt of a Chamber, Guild, League, 

 call it what you will, with a wide and large membership, 

 which should give us what, in my opinion, is so urgently 

 needed." And he thought that a splendid basis for such a 

 Guild could be found ready-made in the Corresponding 

 Societies, — 70 in number, with a membership, he said, of 

 25,000. " The number could be greatly increased," he added, 

 " by creating more Corresponding Societies : it might reach 

 nearly half a million," — to my mind an extravagant estimate. 

 " A British Science League," Sir Norman went on to say, " of 

 600,000 with a sixpenny subscription would give us £12,000 

 a-year, — quite enough to begin with," and he gives as an 

 example the German Navy League, which has branches even 

 in our Colonies, and has a membership of 630,000, and an 

 income of nearly £20,000 a-year! 



Inspired by these ideas, the Council of the British Associa- 

 tion altered and widened its rules for the admission of 

 Corresponding Societies. Previously the indispensable condi- 

 tion was the doing of original work and publishing the results. 

 Now, the chairman at one of the recent conferences said, " It 

 is doubtful whether publication is the best test of merit." 

 His own impression was that we have had "too much cry for the 

 amount of wool," and "if we exclude from our deliberations all 

 those societies whose circumstances and inclinations have caused 

 them to refrain from adding to the mass of literature under 

 which there is danger of our being smothered, it is possible 

 that we are excluding the very bodies whose sympathy and 

 interest we should most wish to encourage." So it was 

 resolved to form a new class of Corresponding Societies, — 

 societies " which exist for the encouragement of the study of 

 science," which need not publish anything, but must have at 

 least 50 members, and have been in existence for not less 

 than three years. The chairman I have already quoted, in 

 explaining this new arrangement, made the almost comical 

 statement, that societies should be affiliated from the number 



