THE PUBLICATION FUND 135 



act of his Presidency. The high fees payable by the Fellows 

 pressed hard on men of small means and often prevented them 

 from coming forward as candidates for election. In half a 

 dozen cases, indeed, the fees had been remitted by special 

 resolution. 



The inception of the scheme is told in the following letter. 



To Charles Darwin 



June 9, 1878. 



I have long had at heart a scheme of reducing the 

 monstrous heavy fees (in future) of F.E.S. by establishing a 

 * publication fund,' which by relieving the income of part 

 of the expenditure on publication, would eventually set free 

 the desired amount for reduction of fees to the standard 

 of other Societies. 



To this end I induced my old friend Young of Kelly to 

 give me 1000, and the Council has entered into my scheme, 

 accepted the 1000 as the first contribution to the fund 

 and sanctioned my taking any honest course towards in- 

 creasing it. 



Spottiswoode has gone into the matter for me, and finds 

 that 10,000 would suffice, and further he thinks that an 

 effort should be made to raise this sum at once amongst 

 the Fellows by subscriptions varying from 50 (which is 

 as much as I can afford) to 1000, out of which a few swells 

 may be cozened ! 



I need hardly say that I am ambitious to confer this 

 boon on the Society and on Science before I leave the Chair. 

 I am sure of your sympathy, but can well suppose that you 

 cannot help and shall riot be surprised to be told so. 



The response was immediate. There was no need to go 

 tentatively and fund the first subscriptions until the minimum 

 of 10,000 should be reached. In a few weeks 8000 was 

 subscribed in large donations, and the remainder of the 

 minimum soon followed. Mr. T. Phillips Jodrell, who had 

 given the Eoyal Society a large sum for research purposes 

 in the same spirit of liberality with which he had endowed 

 science at the Universities and built a physiological laboratory 

 at Kew, consented to transfer 1000 to this fund ; Sir Joseph 



