particular were attracted to common effort 

 by the attempt to formulate and interpret 

 the intellectual activities and moral 

 impulses interwoven with their being- 

 activities and impulses shared with the 

 many, but whose import and significance 

 the many failed to appreciate. Hence the 

 variety of culture and ceremonial, which 

 sometimes united people, and sometimes 

 placed them in antagonism, and hence the 

 philosophic schools and theosophic iftyster- 

 les of various kinds, with reference to 

 which all ancient literature abounds. — 

 These, impressing a common thought and 

 kindling a common desire, fostered the 

 growth of human intelligence, deepened 

 and quickened the moral sense, and ele- 

 vated mankind to conceptions more or less 

 adequate to their origin and destiny. 



During the middle ages, when commerce 

 began to be a great factor in human pro- 

 gress, and the burgher class attained an 

 importance in the state unknown to 

 antiquity, commercial unions were formed, 

 and tradesmen allied themselves together 

 for mutual protection. These leagues and 

 guilds contributed not a little to the growth 

 of civil liberty, by tlie concessions which 

 they extorted from time to time from the 

 central power. Protected at lirst by the 

 central power, and supported as a counter- 

 poise to the arrogance of a turbulent feudal 

 nobility, they in the end consumed the 

 vitals of the despotic power by whom they 

 were encouraged, and by whose sufferance 

 and countenance tiiey had existed. During 

 these times of dissolution and reconstruc- 

 tion, of meek submissiveness and high- 

 handed violence, when nations and races 

 were unconsciously working out their 

 destinies, the co-operative activity of the 

 guild, of the league, and of the cloister — 

 agencies diverse, having little in common, 

 and often antagonistic, each on its own line 

 of action, and productive of diverse results, 

 t)ut afterwards co-ordinate to a common 

 end— played no unimportant part in the 

 transition from the civilization of antiquity 

 to that of the modern era. 



But it is not to ancient or medifeval times 

 that we must look for the fullest develop- 

 ment of co-operative activity. The revival 

 of letters gave, by the diffusion of knowl- 

 edge, a vast impulse to united action. — 

 Many who, under the conditions heretofore 

 existing, knew little and cared less about 

 how the world was governed or what the 

 thoughts of men were, found a new light 

 dawning upon them. The enfranchisement 

 of the minds and bodies of men raised all 

 humanity to a higher plane. The spread of 

 intelligence quickened all the dormant 

 energies of mankind, and an era of mental 

 and material progress was entered upon, 

 such as the world had never known. Asso- 

 ciations were formed for the promotion of 

 scientific discovery. The value of united 

 effort was felt and recognized in depart- 

 ments of human activity theretofore un- 

 known. 



As early as 1273, the Academy of Belles 

 Lettres was established at Florence, fol- 

 lowed at Naples by the Academy of Mathe- 

 matics in 1540, and by that of sciences in 

 1560. Possibly a few years earlier than the 

 establishment of the Academy of Belles 



Lettres at Florence, was the founding of the 

 Sarbonne at Paris, followed by the schools 

 of painting in 1391, of music in 1543, and of 

 the tine arts in 1648. The impulse given to 

 the cultivation of art, literature and science, 

 by these and kindred associations, was 

 immense. The works of the greatest 

 geniuses of the day were brought together, 

 their merits acknowledged and their faults 

 noted ; canons of criticism were established 

 and perfected ; the friction of mind upon 

 mind quickened invention, encouraged dis- 

 covery and perfected art ; publicity and 

 reputation were for the most part no longer 

 delayed, and fame, if Jiot wealth, was the 

 reward of industry and talent. The noble, 

 the wealthy and the high-born vied with 

 each other in the patronage of genius and 

 the encouragement of art. 



But not till the founding of the Royal 

 Society in 1660, and the Academies of 

 Inscriptions and Sciences by Colbert, a few 

 years later, did co-operative activity make 

 manifest what grand results it could accom- 

 plish. Boyle and Brouncker, Wallis and 

 Ashmole, Sir Christopher Wren and Dr. 

 Oldenberg have made their names forever 

 famous by their efforts to realize the con- 

 ception ot a learned society sketched by 

 the author of the " New Atlantis." To this 

 society Newton gave, in 1686, the first book 

 of his immortal " Principa." In 1699, a 

 model of Savery's condensing steam engine 

 was presented. In 1761, the Royal Society 

 sent Halley to St. Helena to observe the 

 transit of V'enus, perhaps the greatest event 

 in its consequences to astronomy since the 

 discovery of gravitation by Newton. In 

 1707, the medal of the Royal Society was 

 founded by Copley, given in after years to 

 famous men, as a recognition and reward of 

 scientific discovery. Gray, the father of 

 electric science, was the first to whom the 

 gold medal was given. Since then, it has 

 been awarded, among other illustrious 

 names, to Franklin, Bradley, Rumford, 

 Hunter, Faraday, Herschel and Davy. 



The Royal Society, in its aims and re- 

 sults, may be taken as the type of voluntary 

 association for the promotion of scientific 

 discovery. 



The Institute of France, embracing the 

 five famous sections, each consisting of 40 

 members, has achieved no less renown.— 

 Many of the greatest discoveries made by 

 the greatest of Frenchmen owe their origin 

 and their promulgation to the stimulus and 

 aid given by tins illustriovis body ; and, to- 

 day, no distinction is more coveted than 

 membership in the " Institute de France." 



Encouraged by the example of the Royal 

 Society, associations were formed, not only 

 in the metropolis, but throughout all the 

 large and many of the second rate cities of 

 Great Britain, for the cultivation and 

 advancement of special departments of 

 science. Of these, time allows me to men- 

 tion only a few. Whole pages, nay, pamph- 

 lets might be filled with their mere names. 

 Take for example, the Linnfean Society, for 

 the cultivation of natural science in gen- 

 eral ; the Geological Society, Geographical 

 Society, Chemical Society, Archseological 

 Society, Anthropological Society, Society of 

 Antiquaries, Ray Society, and the Statistical 

 Socieiy. Under the auspices of these and 



