Vice-President’s Address. 3 
associated with the foundation, almost, of certain branches 
of science, took part in them. 
The Society, founded in 1771, consisted during the first year 
of about eighteen members, and during the ten following 
years there was an average addition of membership of about 
eighteen per annum. So rapidly was its power augmented, 
that in 1778 a Royal Charter was applied for and granted, 
and four years later several other most important societies 
were amalgamated with it. The whole of the work, 
however, was still intimately associated with questions 
connected with medicine, and its work running on lines 
parallel to that done by the Chirurgo-Medical Society, this 
latter was one of those that joined with us in 1782. 
Like all societies, young and old, its periods of success 
alternated with periods of great depression; and we are told 
by the late Mr David Grieve (who recently died, after having 
been a member of the Society for nearly sixty-three years) 
that before 1828 there was one of these periods of collapse, 
and extinction seemed imminent; but the generosity 
of one man (Professor Dick), and the energy of a few of 
the members, averted what would have been an irrepar- 
able loss to the scientific world. In that year, however, 
no fewer than seventy-two new members were obtained, 
whilst in the following year sixty-eight more were enrolled. 
As we have seen, its membership was made up principally of 
senior medical students and young graduates, an exceedingly 
unsatisfactory (because a floating) membership on which to 
rely for so important a Society, and great efforts were made 
to entice men of scientific standing outside the medical 
profession to throw in their lot with their medical brethren 
to make the Society worthy the name of Royal Physical 
Society. 
As might be expected, the carrying out of such a policy 
was attended with the best results, and some of the brightest 
lights that have been thrown on the paths of scientific dis- 
covery have emanated from men who were connected with 
the medical profession only through the meetings held under 
the egis of our Society. How great would have been the loss 
to the annals of the Society were we to delete the fascinating 
