512 INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE. 



Very unfortunately, in my opinion, these efforts failed, and a charter 

 was granted to the British Academy, which has now been included as 

 a separate body among the list of academies forming part of the 

 association. While in this res})ect Ave have been at a certain disad- 

 vantage, the constitution of the Royal Society has the great advan- 

 tage of being truly representative of the Empire. In France, on the 

 other liand, no 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, lioweA'er emi- 

 nent he may be, could not become a member of any of these acade- 

 mies. Neither in France nor in Germany can the academy therefore 

 be called truly representative. The disadvantages which maj^ arise 

 from this defect have been minimized by adopting a rule that the 

 international association of academies may appoint committees for 

 the discussion of special questions, and that members of these com- 

 mittees need not be members of any of the constituent academies. 

 This to a large degree obviates what would otherwise be a consider- 

 able difficulty. Nevertheless 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 

 toward this end. An energetic enthusiast 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 person- 

 ality. Even stronger feelings may be involved Avhen a central office 

 or bureau has to be selected which specially distinguishes one locality. 

 The advantage 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, but sometimes at 



