CHARACTERS, 
by which they were ere@ted into a 
corporation, cinsisting of a president, 
conncil and fellows, for promoting na- 
tural kuotvledg?, and enducd with 
various privileges and authorities. 
Their manner of electing mem- 
bers is by balloting ; and two-thirds 
of the members present are neces- 
sary to carry the election in favour 
of the candidate. The council con- 
sists of 21 members, inciuding the 
president, vice-president, treasurer, 
and two secretaries; ten of which 
gO out annually, and~ ten new 
members are elected instead of 
them, all chosen on St. Andrew’s 
day. They had formerly also two 
curatorjy, whose business it was 
to perform experiments before the 
society. 
- Each member, at his admission, 
subscribes an engagement, that he 
will endeavour to promote the good 
of the society; from which he 
may be freed at any time, by sig- 
nifying to the president that “he 
desires to withdraw. 
The charges are five guineas paid 
to the treasurer at admission; 
and one shilling per week, or 52s. 
per year, as long as the person 
continues a member; or, in lieu 
of the annual subscription, a com- 
position of 25 guineas in one pay- 
ment. 
The ordinary meetings of: the 
society are once a weck, from No- 
vember till the end of Trinity term 
the next summer. At first, the 
meeting was from three o’clock till 
six after noon, Afterwards their 
meeting was from six to seven in 
the evening, to allow more time 
for dinner, which continued for a 
long series of years, till the hour of 
meeting was removed, by the pre- 
sent president, to between eight 
and nine at night, that gentlemen 
[363 
of fashion, as was alleged, might 
have the opportunity of coming to 
attend the meetings after dinner. 
Their design is to ‘¢ make faith. 
ful records of ail the works of 
nature or art, which come within 
their reach ; so that the present, as 
well as after ages, may be- enabled 
to put a mark on errors which have 
been strengthened by long prescrip- 
tion; to restore truths that have 
been long negletied ;: to push those 
already known to more various 
uses ; to make the way- more pas. 
sable to what- remains unreveal. 
ed, &c,.”? , 
To this purpose they have made 
a great number of experiments 
and observations on most of the 
works of nature; as eclipses, 
comets, planets, meteors, mines, 
piants, earthquakes, inundations, 
springs, damps, fires, tides, cur- 
ents, the magnet, &c.: their 
motto being Nudlius iz Verba. They 
have registered experiments, his. 
tories, relations, observations, &c. 
and reduced them into.one common 
stock. They have, from time to 
time, published some of the most 
useful of these, under the title of 
Philosophical Transattions, &c, usu. 
ally one volume each year, which 
were till lately very respeétable, 
both for the extent or magnitude of 
them, and for the excellent quality 
of their contents. The rest, that 
are not printed, they lay up in their 
registers. | 
- They have a good library of 
books, which has been formed, 
and continually augmenting, by 
numerous donations. ‘They had also 
a museum of curiosities in nature, 
kept in one of the rooms of their 
own house in Crane-court, Fleet. 
street, where they had their meets 
ings, with the greatest reputation, 
for 
