120 



NA rURE 



[November 29, ic,oo 



for discm'.ion was jjreat ; and the early volumes of the Philo- 

 sophical Transacliom contain a large amount of miscellaneous 

 reading. I am not sure that, as a means of whiling away a spare 

 half-hour, one of the first twenty volumes of the Transactions 

 would not by most persons be found more attractive and 

 amusing than the volume, say, of Series A for the year 1900. 



The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, 

 and Commerce was founded in 1754, but not incorporated until 

 1847, and this society, together with the two already mentioned, 

 form the trio from which neaily all the numerous learned 

 societies of the present day have sprung, by what may be 

 regarded as a natural process of evolution. 



As might have been expected, Scotland was not long in 

 following the example set by England, and the Medical Society 

 of Edinburgh was instituted in 1734, to be followed by the 

 somew'hat kindred Harveian Society in 1752. In the meantime, 

 the Royal Society of Edinburgh, or, as it was originally called, 

 the Philosophical Society, was established in 1739. The 

 ■*' Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh," exclusively devoted to 

 '' Natural History and the Physical Sciences," was founded in 

 1771, and by 1813 had absorbed no less than six other societies, 

 which became incorporated in it. 



■' In Ireland, the Royal Irish Academy for " the study of 

 Science, Polite Literature, and Antiquities," was founded in 1785, 

 'and may be regarded as combining the attributes of the three 

 parent societies in London. 



• Among the off-shoots of the Royal Society of London, the 

 ■first perhaps is the Medical Society, founded in 1773. The 

 Linnean Society, for the cultivation of natural history in all its 

 branches, was lounded in 1788, and has from 700 to 800 

 Fellows. These are the only two London societies coming 

 under this category that date bom the last century. 



During the century now drawing to its close the vast 

 advances in science, and the innumerable aspects it assumes, has 

 led to the foundation of numerous scientific societies, each with 

 a more or less limited scope. In natural history we have the 

 Horticultural (1804), the Zoological (1826), the Entomological 

 (1833), the Ornithological (1837), the Royal Botanic (1839), the 

 Ray Society (1844), the Palaeontographical (1847), and others that 

 it would be tedious to mention. 



Geology as a new science had a society founded for its study 

 in 1807, the Geologists' Association followed in 1858, and at a 

 later date the Mineralogical Society (1876). 1 he Royal 

 Astronomical Society (1820) has been supplemented by the 

 British Astronomical Association. Mathematics and Physics 

 have also their own societies, as have also Statistics, a subject 

 which has a mathematical side as well as one in the direction of 

 commerce and the affairs of ordinary life. Engineering is 

 represented, not only by the Institution of Civil Engineers 

 (1818), but by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (1847), 

 of Mining Engineers (i85i),the Iron and Steel Institute (1869), 

 and that of Electrical Engineers (1871). Geography has had 

 its own Royal Society since 1830, Microscopy its society since 

 1839, and Meteorology since 1850. For medicine, phar- 

 maceutics, pathology, neurology, anatomy, and some other 

 branches of medical inquiry, special societies have been founded 

 in London. The Victoria Institute or Philosophical Society 

 of Great Britain was founded in 1865, its primary object being 

 the at'empt to reconcile apparent discrepancies between 

 Christianity and science. 



In Edinburgh and Dublin scientific societies have multiplied, 

 though not to a similar extent ; and throughout the United 

 Kingdom there are numerous literary and phili>sophical 

 societii.s, that of Manchester dating back to 1781. There are 

 also several provincial geological societies, and almost every 

 county has its natural hisiory society or club. 

 ' Moreover, the British Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, founded in 183 1, continues to hold its annual meetings 

 at different centres in the Empire, and helps to maintain the 

 general intertst in the advancement of knowledge and to kindle 

 or keep alive local zeal. 



The offshoots from the Society of Antiquaries have not been 

 so numen us or important as those Irom the Royal Society, the 

 field of ArchiKwlugy being much more restricted than the wide 

 domain ot more purely " natural knowledge." The Society of 

 Antiquaries of Scotland dates, however, from 1780, and that of 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne from 181 3, while the Literary and 

 Antiqtiarian Society of Perth goes back to 1784. Several 

 branches of antiquarian study have now their own societies. 

 The Numismatic Society was founded in 1836, the Royal 



NO. 1622, VOL. 63] 



Historical Society in 1868, the Society of Biblical Archaeology in 

 1871, the Palaeontographical in 1873, and that for Hellenic 

 studies in 1879. There are also special societies for the explor- 

 ation of Palestine and Egypt, as well as the important Royal 

 Asiatic Society with its different branches. The peripatetic 

 habits of the Royal Archaeological Institute and of the British 

 Archaeological Association (both 1843) help to maintain the 

 warmth ol local interest and to disseminate a certain amount 

 of archaeological information. 



Anthropology and Ethnology have made great advance since 

 the foundation of the Ethnological Society in 1843, and of the 

 Anthropological in 1863. The two merged in 1871 to form the 

 Anthropological Institute, which has rendered signal services to 

 science. A minor branch of anthropology — Folk Lore — ^has 

 had its own society at work since 1878. 



The Society of Arts — to make use of its shortened title — can 

 claim nearly as numerous an offspring as its elder sisters the 

 Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries. Her descendants, 

 moreover, are fairly entitled to as high, if not indeed a higher, 

 rank and importance. It is not merely the Royal Scottish 

 Society of Arts (1821) that she can claim as an offshoot, but it 

 was the Society of Arts that first in England devoted attention 

 to the all-important objects of forestry and agriculture. The 

 Royal Agricultural Society originated not earlier than 1838, 

 though in Scotland a Society of Improvers of Agriculture was 

 instituted in 1723, a Dublin Agricultural Society in 1731, the 

 Rath and West ot England Society in 1777, and the Highland 

 Society in 1784. 



It would, moreover, be unfair not to credit the Society of 

 Arts as well as the Royal Society with having laid the founda- 

 tions on which the Institution of Civil Engineers and the cognate 

 bodies have been erected. The Chemical Society was estab- 

 lished at a meeting held at the rooms of the Society of Arts in 

 1841. From this arose the Institute of Chemistry in 1877. The 

 Society of Chemical Industry (1881) to a large extent grew out 

 of the Chemical Section of the Society of Arts, which dealt for 

 some years with the chemical industries, and was dropped on the 

 foundation of the society. The Sanitary Institute and the other 

 sanitary societies certainly owe their origin to the Conferences 

 on the Health and Sewage of Towns held by the Society of 

 Arts in 1877, 1879, and 1880. The City and Guilds' Institute 

 also originated in consequence of the action of the society in the 

 matter of technical education. . They took up and carried on 

 the technological examination founded by the Society of Arts. 



It must never be forgotten that in its earlier days inventions 

 of all useful kinds, and all that was new in machinery and manu- 

 factures, came within the scope of .the society, which in thirty 

 years spent many thousands of pounds in rewards and premiums 

 for useful inventions. 



It took a very active part in all educational movements and a 

 warm interest in the wellare of our Colonies, and toils credit be it 

 said that the examinations of the Society of Arts still rank among 

 the most useful and thorough, while the existence of our Indian 

 Section still evinces our interest in the prosperity of the depen- 

 dencies of the Empire. 



What the society has done for the advancement of art, it is 

 difficult for us of the present day fully to appreciate ; but it 

 must be remembered that one of the first, if not, indeed, the 

 first public exhibition of pictures was that held in the society's 

 rooms in 1760, and that Irom this exhibition sprang the Royal 

 Academy, the first exhibition of which, comprising one hundred 

 and thirty-six works only, was opened in 1769. We may, there- 

 fore, here claim the Royal Academy as in a certain sense an off- 

 shoot from our body. The Royal Institute of British Architects, 

 founded in 1835, '"''^y ^'^'^ '" some degree be regarded as con- 

 nected with the Royal Academy, which admits architects among 

 its members. The Photographic Society also grew out of an 

 exhibition of photographs, the first of the ki.id held in our rooms. 

 The foundation of the Royal College of Music is likewise due to 

 the exertions ol the Society of Arts. 



It would indeed be difficult to say how far the woik done by 

 any society would have been accomplished by the individuals 

 composing that society, without combination or collective 

 organisation. A society of course is only a collection of in- 

 dividuals, and the work of the society is the work of the in- 

 dividuals composing it, 



A society offers opportunities for discussion, brings men of 

 similar ideas together, and substitutes collective and organised 

 action for isolated individual effort. It affords means of pub- 

 lication, organises research, records discoveries, stimulates 



