1 



128 SATUKDAY LKCTfEES. 



sided. M. Rouland, the Minister of Public Instruction, 

 deigned to authorize it in 18G1, cand, in 18G4, it was recog- 

 nized formall)^ as a society of pubhc utihty, by a decree of 

 the Council of State. After this date, the attendance of the 

 special police agent at its meetings was discontinued. 



During the first three years of the existence of the society, 

 Broca filled the office of secretary. It was a burdensome 

 task for a man of his numerous avocations to undertake, 

 but it was of the highest importance that the transactions 

 of the 3"oung society should be edited with talent and ap- 

 pear with punctuality. He excelled in the difficult art of 

 giving the integral meaning, but without prolixity, of Avhat 

 was said in the ardor of debate. He was skillful in ignor- 

 ing the common-places of the chronic speaker ; the man 

 who always " rises to give his views," though he has gene- 

 rally nothing to communicate. These comptes rendus are 

 master-pieces of their kind, especially when it is considered 

 that they were written from memory', for he took too active 

 a part in discussion to have time to take notes. 



In 1863, the increase of the Society made it necessary to 

 appoint a General Secretary, electable for three j^ears ; Broca 

 held the office till his death. Professor Pozzi sa^^s, " Broca 

 was the soul of the Society of Anthropology. • It was he 

 who founded it, he who made it live through its first trying 

 3'ears, and that by the })reponderating influence of his 

 incessant labor and the communicable ardor of his love for 

 the growing science. The povrerful influence of Broca, 

 especially visible at the beginning of its career, was not less 

 real to the very close, in spite of the care which he took to 

 avoid the appearance of personal control. Even when he 

 abstained from taking part in any irritating debate, his 

 attitude, the few words which might escape him, his vote, 

 infallibly indicated to doubting minds, upon which side 

 reason, moderation, and justice were to be found." 



Upon the establisment of his Society, Broca began a 

 craniological collection and, thanks to the surgeons of the 

 navy, with whom he kept up an active correspondence, it 

 soon attained respectable dimensions. Nevertheless, a 



