84 TODMORDEN BOTANICAL SOCIETY. \March, 



ardour and energy in the Metropolis, where the access to books 

 for reference and to public herbaria, and to collections of living 

 plants, is so much easier than in provincial towns and in such* 

 remote and obscure places in Todmorden ! 



London not long ago had a Botanical Society, which, like 

 some village benefit clubs founded by the gentry and clergy, 

 languished rather than lived for a brief space, and then died of 

 sheer atrophy or inanition. This result was a natural conse- 

 quence of the narrow minded and egoistic policy of its chief pa- 

 tron, who cared more about realizing the petty object of self- 

 ish vanity than he did about the interests of science. 



The conceit of these would-be promoters of science, viz. the 

 Patron and the Honorary Secretary, who were, in fact, the alpha 

 and omega, the head and tail of the association, was prominently 

 manifested by their causing their pictures to be painted and hung 

 up in the meeting-room. Was the expense of this egregious 

 example of foolish ostentation defrayed out of the funds of the 

 Society, or did the eminent memljcrs pay for their likenesses out 

 of their own pockets ? 



We hope the provincials will not split on this rock or stum- 

 bling-block of petty ambition and self-conceit. 



Societies for the promotion of science, unless they belie the 

 name which they assume, must have more comprehensive objects 

 and be animated and governed by a more liberal spirit than the 

 defunct Botanical Society of London was ; their professed objects 

 should be catholic, not sectarian. The performances of cliqueism 

 will do no good service to science nor to humanity ; and unless 

 the principles of an association embrace this higher object, viz. 

 the promotion of knowledge among mankind in general, the com- 

 bination will be an abortive effort to obtain even personal no- 

 toriety. 



We hope our Todmorden and Manchester friends will not 

 mistake nor misappreciate the purport of these remarks. They 

 are the result of both thought and observation ; and though they 

 be condemnatory of selfish aims and objects, they are meant to 

 be both laudatory and encouraging to the hundreds (? thousands) 

 in Lancashire, viz. at Todmorden, Manchester, and Liverpool, 

 whose leaders, supporters, and patrons, appear to be actuated by 

 right motives, and are obviously seeking the welfare and gratifi- 

 cation of the many, and not striving through these means to 

 promote their own paltry interest and personal gratification. 



