252 RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT 



of this and other bodies who have indisputably 

 established claims to their attention ; I think it is 

 honourable and advantageous to every party that 

 the Government should occasionally grant personal 

 rewards for important discoveries ; I am of opinion 

 that when any branch of science has been put in such 

 a form that it admits of continued improvement 

 under a continued administrative routine, that 

 administration should be undertaken by the Govern- 

 ment. But I trust that in all cases the initiative 

 of science will be left to individuals or to inde- 

 pendent associations.' In an earlier passage Airy 

 had asserted that ' absence of Government science 

 harmonises well with the peculiarities of our social 

 institutions. In science, as well as in almost every- 

 thing else, our national genius inclines us to prefer 

 voluntary associations of private persons to organisa- 

 tions of any kind dependent on the State.' This is 

 a familiar view, doubtless more widely held than 

 Brewster's, and repeated by more than one sub- 

 sequent occupant of the chair of the Association. 

 Owen (address, 1858) foresaw the achievement 

 of the ideal state of scientific organisation through 

 the simple provision of a common dwelling-place for 

 the principal societies. ' In the late location, by 

 liberal permission of the Government, of the Royal, 

 Linnsean, and Chemical Societies, 1 in contiguous 



1 The Royal Astronomical and Geological Societies, the Society 

 of Antiquaries, and the Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies are also 

 located in Burlington House, in addition to the British Association. 

 As for the Association, the need of an independent office in London 

 was not encountered until about 1868. The Council had met at 

 Burlington House since 1862 ; but in 1870 an office was acquired at 

 22 Albemarle Street, adjacent to the home of a society whose interests 

 and objects are closely akin to its own the Royal Institution. It 



