1(5 



ACADKMY. 



gold medals, arc nnnunlly offered. The Royal 

 Vcademy at Copenluigen sjirin^ iVoni :i wx'icty ot 

 six literary men, to whom Christian VI. committed, 

 in 1742, the care of his cabinet of medals. They 

 subsequently enlarged tln-ir plan, so as to form a 

 regular academy. One of tin > lin-niry men was 

 the Count of Holstcin, at who>c suggestion (lliris- 

 tian VI. took the academy under his protection in 

 1743, endowed it with a fund, and directed the 

 members to extend their studies to natural history, 

 physics, and mathematics. It lias published fifteen 

 volumes, in the Danish language : some of these 

 have been translated into Latin. The Royal Irish 

 Academy at Dublin was formed in 1782, mostly of 

 the members of the university, who assembled week- 

 ly. Its transactions have appeared regularly since 

 1788. As early as 1683, there was an academy in 

 Dublin, but, owing to the distracted state of the 

 country, it soon declined. In 17-10, a Physico- His- 

 torical Society was instituted there, which published 

 two volumes of transactions, still extant. This also 

 soon declined. In Lisbon, the late queen established 

 an academy of science, agriculture, arts, commerce, 

 and economy in general, consisting of three classes ; 

 those of natural science, mathematics, and national 

 literature, and comprising sixty members. It has 

 published Memorias de Litteratura Portngucza, Me- 

 morias Economicas, together with scientific transac- 

 tions, and a CoMeccao de Livros incdiios de Historia 

 FortHgiteza. 



Academies for the promotion of particular depart- 

 ments of Science. 1. Medical. 1 he Academia Na- 

 ture Curiosonun at Vienna, called also Leopold's 

 Academy, was formed in 1652. At first, it published 

 its treatises separately, but after 1684, in volumes. 

 Under Leopold I. who favoured it in a high degree, 

 it adopted the name Cffisareo-Leopoldina Natural 

 Curiosorum Academia. Similar academies were 

 established at Palermo, 1645; in Spain, 1652; at 

 Venice, 1701 ; and at Geneva, 1715. 2. Surgical. 

 A surgical academy was established at Paris, 1731, 

 which proposes annually a prize question. The prize 

 is a gold medal of the value of 500 livres. A surgi- 

 cal academy was founded at Vienna in 1783. Three 

 prize medals, each of the value of 50 guilders, are 

 yearly adjudged to the most successful students. 3. 

 An academy of theology was established, in 1687, at 

 Bologna, 4. Coronelli founded, in the beginning 

 of the 18th century, a geographical academy at Ve- 

 nice, under the title of the Argonauts : the object 

 is to publish good maps and descriptions of countries. 

 5. Historical. King John V. founded, in 1720, 

 a royal academy of Portuguese history at Lisbon, 

 consisting of a director, four censors, a secretary, 

 and fifty members : the subject of their study is the 

 ecclesiastical and political history of Portugal. In 

 Madrid, an association of scholars was instituted 

 about 1730, for the purpose of investigating and 

 explaining the historical monuments of Spain. It 

 was formed into an-academy by king Philip V. in 

 1738. It consists of 24 members, and has published 

 several ancient historical works ; some for the first 

 time, some in new editions. The Academy of Sua- 

 bian History, at Tubingen, was established for the 

 purpose of publishing the best historical works, and 

 the lives of the best historians, as well as for com- 

 piling new memoirs. 6. For the study of antir/ui- 

 ties. An academy exists at Cortona, in Italy, for 

 the study of Etrurian antiquities ; another at Upsal, 

 in Sweden, for the elucidation of the northern lan- 

 guages, and the antiquities of Sweden. Both have 

 published valuable works. The academy which 

 Paul II. established in Rome, for the same purpose, 

 soon came to an end, and the one founded by Leo 

 \". uiU, with the same fate, after it had flourished 



some time. Others, less important, rose on theii 

 ruins, but all similar institutions were surpassed by 

 the Academie ties Inscriptions, at Paris, founded by 

 Colbert, iu 1663, for the study ot ancient monu- 

 ments, and for the perpetuation of the remarkable 

 occurrences of their own country, by means of me- 

 dals, statues, inscriptions, &c. At first, it had but 

 four members, who wen- chosen from those of the 

 French academy ; but in 1701, the number was fixed 

 at ten honorary members, ten associt-s, ten pension- 

 aires, and ten sieves. They met semi-weekly in the 

 Louvre, and held every year two public sessions. 

 The class of eleves was finally abolished. The king 

 annually appointed their president and vice-presi- 

 dent. The secretary and treasurer held their offices 

 for life. Their memoirs (from 1701 93) constitute 

 50 vols. in 4to. It experienced the fate of nil tlm 

 French academies, and is now restored. The llrr- 

 culanean Academy was instituted at Naples in 1755, 

 by the minister Tanucci, to explain the ancient 

 monuments found in Herculaneum, Pompeii, &c. 

 Their labours have appeared, since 1775, under the 

 title Antichitil di Ercolano. In 1807, Joseph Bo- 

 naparte founded an academy of history and antiqui- 

 ties at Naples, which has fallen into decay. The, 

 academy founded in the same year at Florence, for 

 the explanation of Tuscan antiquities, has published 

 some volumes of memoirs. In the same year, like- 

 wise, a Celtic academy was established at Paris, the 

 objects of which were the elucidation of the history, 

 manners, antiquities, and monuments of the Celts, 

 especially those in France ; also researches into the 

 etymology of all European languages by the aid of 

 the Celto- Breton, Welsh, and Erse dialects; to- 

 gether with investigations respecting the Druidical 

 worship. Lenoir is its president. Its transactions 

 appear under the title Memoires de f Academie Cel- 

 ti</ue. 7. For the improvement of language. The 

 Academia della Cmsca, or Academia Furfuratorum, 

 was formed in 1582, and first attracted attention by 

 its attacks on Tasso. Its principal merit consists in 

 having compiled an excellent dictionary, and edited 

 with care several of the ancient poets of Italy. The 

 Academie Frangaise, formed in 1629, was then a 

 private association ; six years after, it was raised by 

 Richelieu to the dignity of an academy of the 

 French language, grammar, poetry, and eloquence. 

 The number of members was fixed at 40, and from 

 them a director and a chancellor were elected every 

 two months, and a secretary for life. Besides many 

 other valuable works, it has published a dictionary 

 of the French language, (first edition in 1694.) At 

 Madrid, the duke of Jbscalona founded an academy 

 for the improvement of the Spanish language, in 

 1714, which the king endowed with various privi- 

 leges. It has done much towards purifying and per- 

 fecting the language, especially by the compilation 

 of a dictionary. In Petersburg, an academy' for the 

 improvement of the Russian language was founded 

 in 1783, and united with the Academy of Sciences. 

 In Sweden, also, a royal academy of language 

 was instituted in 1789. Many literary societies 

 are distinguished only by name from academies. 

 Such are the Royal Society of Sciences, at Gottin- 

 gen, founded in 1750, the Royal Society of Eng- 

 land, founded in 1645. This society has made ob- 

 servations and experiments on most of the works of 

 nature ; has improved agriculture, navigation, naval, 

 civil, and military architecture, &c. It has registered 

 experiments, observations, &c., and, from time to 

 time, published the most valuable, under the title of 

 Philosophical Transactions. The Royal Society of 

 Dublin, for the encouragement of husbandry and the 

 arts, established in 1731, has been one of the most 

 active establishments of the kind in Europe. The 



