NA TURE 



165 



THURSDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1878 



THE ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL SOCIETIES 



LOCAL Societies : What is their aim and what pur- 

 pose do they ser\-e ? How may this aim be most 

 surely gained ? How can this purpose be most effectively 

 carried out ? These are questions which naturally arise 

 when considering the subject of local societies. 



The aim of every local society should be to raise the 

 intellectual status of the locality. The purpose to do so 

 in that way most generally useful. It is the mind of the 

 community which has to be raised by affecting the minds 

 of the individuals. Individual minds are to be affected by 

 contact with material surroundings. These surroundings 

 influence us through the powers of observation, hence 

 careful and accurate observation must exist among the 

 members of a society fulfilling its proper functions. The 

 greater the number of members exercising such obser- 

 vation the greater the usefulness of the society. It is 

 almost needless to instance other mental qualities as 

 necessary for success, because experience shows that 

 when once the observing faculty has received its due 

 share of attention, the power of using the observations 

 made follows in due course. The faculty of observation 

 must be drawn out and cultivated by contact with matter 

 in relation to man, and by contact with matter considered 

 apart from man as existing in a state of nature. And 

 just as it is important that in the culture of the individual 

 a one-sidedness should be specially avoided, so in raising 

 the culture of a community it is equally important that 

 opportunities or suggestions for mental improvement all 

 round should be afforded. Hence we are inclined to 

 think it advisable that especially in the case of small 

 country towns scientific studies, or suggestions for such, 

 should proceed from the same platform as those studies 

 which are often spoken of as more purely literary. Of 

 course literature includes the records of science, but still 

 for general purposes the meaning is clear when a literary 

 institute or society is spoken of as distinguished from a 

 scientific. Among the lower types of animals there is a 

 want of specialisation of parts ; very different functions 

 may be performed by the same part or the whole of the 

 body ; in the higher, speciahsation prevails, each function 

 has its own organ, and the function is performed more 

 efficiently. In large towns science may be pursued apart 

 from general literature, and even each special science 

 may stand on its own platform, but in small towns this is 

 out of the question, and I believe unadvisable, for the 

 over-performance of one function in the lowly organised 

 society s checked by the claim of the general body. More- 

 over, the tastes of a community being naturally various, it 

 becomes essential to present intellectual food of various 

 kinds. Hence we cannot but think that small local societies 

 should be both literary and scientific. The two aspects of 

 culture will support and strengthen each other, and the 

 introduction of a new clique, or party, or sect be avoided. 

 For it must be remembered that one of the distinct col- 

 lateral advantages of such societies is that a common 

 platform is provided upon which men of all political or 

 religious beliefs can stand and work together. No one 

 who is acquainted with the social conditions of our small 

 towTis can underrate the importance of this. 

 Vol. XIX.— No. 47S 



But how are such societies to work ? I would reply, 

 from within, outwards. Not, in the first place, by calling 

 in extraneous help, by engaging eminent men to give 

 courses of lectures, but by arousing the spirit of inquiry 

 and observation amongst the townsfolk. Let but a few 

 natives come forvvard with short papers on any subjects 

 with which they may be especially acquainted, the sub- 

 jects being treated in such a way as to ehcit a discussion 

 or inquiries, a spirit of interest will soon be aroused, and 

 minds put into a proper attitude for the reception of 

 truths before quite unknown to them, and for the prose- 

 cution of some special subject as a study. In practice I 

 would strongly advise the following course to be pursued 

 by any embryo literary and scientific society. Have two 

 classes of meetings : one the ordinary meeting, at which 

 members alone (and therefore townsfolk) should read 

 short papers, upon which a discussion should afterwards 

 be encouraged ; aindi public lectures, given mainly by non- 

 residents, and to which the general public should be 

 admitted on the payment of a small fee. At the ordinary 

 meeting the local talent and observation is drawn out, 

 and at the public lecture new subjects are introduced to 

 the notice of members. At the former, notices of local 

 phenomena and history, or the occasional original in- 

 vestigations of members, are recorded; at the latter, new 

 lines of thought are often indicated, or systematic in- 

 struction given in some one subject. 



A society established on some such basis is then in a 

 position to encourage the collection of objects of local 

 natural history, to establish a local museum, and carry 

 out field excursions during the summer months. More- 

 over, the experience of many years past has shown me 

 that the life — and therefore the growth of culture — in 

 such a society is far greater than in those cases where 

 only a yearly course of lectures is organised, the greater 

 part of them being given by strangers. Next comes the 

 oft-repeated question, But how long will such a society 

 last ? Many are ready to say. We have tried some such 

 plan, and success has attended our efforts for one or two 

 years, and then the society has died out. On this part 

 of the subject a few words will now be said, and the re- 

 marks made are founded upon experience gleaned amidst 

 the practical working of local societies in Cumberland 

 during the past nine years. 



How, then, can permanence be ensured? In a small 

 town or district local resources and talent are apt to 

 become exhausted or unavailable. A time will surely 

 come when the intellectual movement wiU wane and the 

 society be on the brink of non-existence. But the very 

 usefulness of such a movement must consist in its 

 stability ; there should be a growth, not a bare existence. 

 To insure this stability I suggested some years ago that 

 the four societies then existing in the Lake District and 

 West Cumberland should be united for general purpose?, 

 while each society should retain its individuality. After 

 many preliminary difficulties were overcome, the union 

 was effected, and since that time each society has grown 

 stronger, four new societies have been formed, and the 

 total number of members increased from a few hundred 

 to nearly 1,200. 



The objects to be attained by this association of 

 societies are as follows : — i. Increased strength to be 

 derived from mutual help, encouragement, and a spirit of 



I 



