i.j ANTECEDENTS. 5 



otlier private tests suggested few additions. 

 As two of these tests have been proposed by 

 several correspondents, it may be well to describe 

 them. The one is the election of individuals, 

 on account of their scientific eminence, to a 

 certain well-known literary and scientific club, 

 the name of which it is unnecessary to mention. 

 The committee of this club have the power of 

 electing annually, out of their regular turn, 

 nine persons eminent for science, literature, art, 

 or public services. The two or three men 

 who have in each year received this coveted 

 privilege on the ground of science now amount 

 to a considerable number, and they are all on 

 my list. Again, there are certain dining clubs 

 in connection with the Royal Society, the one 

 meeting on the afternoon of every evening that 

 it meets, and the other more rarely, and there 

 are about fifty members to each of these clubs, 

 the same persons being in many instances 

 members of both. The election to either of 

 the clubs is a testimony of some value to the 

 estimation of the scientific status of a man by 

 his contemporaries ; almost all their members 



