98 ORGANISATION 



MEMBERSHIP or THE ASSOCIATION 



We have seen (p. 23) that, as originally proposed, 

 membership of the Association involved this limited 

 amount of qualification that the applicant should 

 already be a member of a ' philosophical ' society. 

 This qualification was maintained for many years in 

 theory, though it vanished in practice, and member- 

 ship actually came early to involve, as it does still, 

 ' no technical qualification.' In 1845 the Council 

 laid down conditions and terms of membership which, 

 it is worthy of remark, survived until 1919 ; and even 

 then (when the life composition fee was raised, and a 

 special rate of subscription was instituted for mem- 

 bers desiring to receive the Annual Report) it still 

 remained, and remains, possible to attend a meeting 

 for the same fee (l) which was demanded in 1831. 

 The Council and General Committee, indeed, went 

 farther in 1919, despite the vastly decreased value 

 of money, for they removed the entrance fee of l, 

 which had till then been required of members as 

 distinct from associates. It can at least never be 

 said that the Association has priced its service to the 

 public too highly. From 1845 down to 1919 a class 

 of 'associates' was maintained, who joined solely for 

 the purpose of attending a meeting, and held no 

 rights of receiving the report, holding office, or serving 

 on committees. The recommendation of a member 

 was originally required for admission to the associate- 

 ship, but this ceased to be demanded in practice, and 

 finally the class of associates was abolished too, for 

 the distinction between the two classes ceased to 

 serve any useful purpose. 



Of more interest, as a matter of history, than these 



