NA TURE 



45 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER i8, 1919. 



SCIENCE AND SOCIALITY. 



Amtals of the Philosophical Club of the Royal 

 Society, written from its Minute Books. By 

 Prof. T. G. Bonney. Pp. x + 286. (London : 

 Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1919-) Price 15s. net. 



THE Royal Society is not only our most 

 eminent body of men of science, but also 

 one of the oldest and perhaps the most illustrious 

 of all the learned academies of the world. To 

 be elected into the number of its Fellows has 

 always been regardcjii^' by the cultivators of science 

 in this country as oij.e of the highest distinctions 

 to which they can aspire. To " shine in the dignity 



\f)i F.R.S." was a. coveted honour in the days 

 jf the "Dunciad," and is in even higher repute 

 -day. The recent publication of two volumes, 

 [lowever, shows that this " dignity " has from the 

 irst been combined with the saving grace of 

 Strong social and convivial instincts. The first of 



Ithese volumes, "Annals of the Royal Society 

 Club" (reviewed in N.-^ture of August 30, 1917), 

 showed that the philosophers, while they doubtless 

 conducted their scientific investigations and dis- 

 cussions with all the zeal and solemnity credited 

 to them, were at the same time fond of the free, 

 personal intercourse of the dinner-table. In true 

 English fashion, they met in some tavern, and 

 after two or three hours of pleasant talk, ad- 

 journed to the meeting of the society ; or, if that 

 meeting took place earlier in the day, they dined 

 together after the scientific discussions were over. 

 There is, indeed, some reason to believe that the 

 Royal Society itself may have been actually born 

 in a coffee-house. We know how much Samuel 

 Pepys enjoyed these prandial meetings. It was 

 not, however, until after his time that the choicer 

 spirits formed themselves into a dining fraternity, 

 with formal rules and a limited membership, the 

 president of the society being chairman. They 

 sat down weekly before a portentous bill of fare 

 and with the spirit of true deipnosophlsts. 



Tried all hors-d'ceuvtes^ all liqueurs defined, 

 Judicious drank, and greatly daring dined. 



Thus arose the " Royal Society Club " in the 

 early part of the eighteenth century. Since then, 

 while one generation has followed another, and 

 Presidents and Fellows in long succession have 

 come and gone, the Club still flourishes more 

 vigorously than ever. It has migrated from tavern 

 to tavern, from the City westwards to the pre- 

 cincts of Burlington House, and has learnt to dine 

 from a less ample and miscellaneous cuisine, now- 

 still further retrenched by the war and the high 

 cost of food. Yet it still maintains Vne hospitality 

 which has always been one of its prominent 

 features. 



After the Royal Society Club had lived for 

 rather more than a century, a number of the 

 younger and more actively scientific Fellows of 

 the Society began to be increasingly dissatisfied 



NO. 2603, VOL. 104] 



with the way in which the elections into the mem- 

 bership were conducted, and they put such pres- 

 sure on the council as eventually to lead to a 

 complete and salutary reform of that and other 

 grievances. These ardent innovators, having 

 purged the Society in 1847, may have thought 

 of directing the tide of purgation into the Club. 

 Any serious change in that social institution, how- 

 ever, even if considered desirable, would not have 

 been easy of accomplishment. The triumphant 

 reformers included in their number some nine 

 members of the Club, but years would obviously 

 have to pass before the rest of the active brigade 

 could obtain admission. Besides, the atmosphere 

 of the Club may have been too close and conserva- 

 tive for the comfort of the innovators, who would 

 not be likely to find there much sympathy with 

 their iconoclastic determination to keep a vigilant 

 eye upon the doings of the council. They accord- 

 ingly resolved to found a new dining confraternity, 

 which was ultimately named the Philosophical 

 Club, the history of which has now been compiled 

 by Prof. Bonney in the second of the two volumes 

 above referred to. 



The aims for which this fresh organisation was 

 created were more ambitious than those of its fore- 

 runner, and went much beyond social intercourse 

 among members. In the language of its 

 founders it was meant "to promote as much as 

 possible' the scientific objects of the Royal Society ; 

 to facilitate intercourse between those Fellows who 

 are actively engaged in cultivating the various 

 branches of natural science and who have con- 

 tributed to its progress ; to increase the attend- 

 ance at the evening meetings [of the Society] ; 

 and to encourage the contribution and discussion 

 of papers." Its numbers were limited to forty- 

 seven, all of whom must be Fellows of the Royal 

 Society and likewise authors of a paper published 

 in the Transactions of one of the Chartered 

 Societies, or of some work of original research in 

 natural science. It was further provided that at 

 least thirty-five of them must be resident within 

 ten miles of the London General Post Office. 

 They dined once a month at half-past five o'clock, 

 and adjourned at a quarter past eight, when they 

 were each expected to attend the meeting of the 

 Society, unless unavoidably prevented. Perhaps 

 the rule which most strongly marked them off 

 from the older club was that which formally ex- 

 cluded all strangers from their meetings, with the 

 exception of scientific foreigners temporarily visit- 

 ing this country. Thus from the genial hospitality 

 which had always distinguished the Royal Society 

 Club and had been so useful in bringing 

 men of letters, of art, of politics, of the Navy and 

 Army, of public life, and of commerce and industry 

 into contact with the men of science, the Philo- 

 sophical Club, in its zeal for the prosecution of 

 science, deliberately separated itself. Possibly to 

 make amends for this abnegation of variety from 

 the outside, it was customary for the chairman to 

 invite the members present to make communica- 

 tions to the meeting on any subject of special 



