FIRST MEETING 19 



the annual meetings of our Societies, and a meeting 

 at which all the sciences of these kingdoms should 

 be convened, which should be attended, as this 

 first meeting you see already promises, by deputa- 

 tions from every other Society and in which foreign 

 talent and character should be tempted to mingle 

 with our own. With what a momentum would such 

 an Association urge on its purpose ! What activity 

 would it be capable of exciting ! How powerfully 

 would it attract and stimulate those minds which 

 either thirst for reputation or rejoice in the light and 

 sunshine of truth ! 



' The Royal Society still embodies in its list every 

 name which stands high in British science ; it still 

 communicates to the world the most important of 

 our discoveries, it still crowns with the most coveted 

 honours the ambition of successful talent, and when 

 the public service requires the aid of philosophy, it 

 still renders to the nation the ablest assistance and 

 the soundest counsel. Nevertheless, it must be 

 admitted, gentlemen, that the Royal Society no 

 longer performs the part of promoting natural 

 knowledge by any such exertions as those which we 

 now propose to revive. As a body, it scarcely labours 

 itself, and does not attempt to guide the labours of 

 others. 



' Hence it happens that when any science becomes 

 popular, and those who interest themselves in its 

 advancement perceive the necessity of working for 

 it by united exertions, that science is detached from 

 the central body ; first one fragment falls off, and 

 then another ; colony after colony dissevers itself 

 from the declining empire, and by degrees the 

 commonwealth of science is dissolved. The new 

 societies distinguish themselves by their diligence 



