EARLY HISTORY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY 



admitted by the President in accordance with the Statutes, 

 the President taking him by the hand and saying : " I do, 

 by the authority and in the name of the Royal Society of 

 London, for improving natural knowledge, admit you a 

 Fellow thereof." 



There are elected from time to time, as Foreign Members, 

 men of great eminence for their scientific discoveries and 

 attainments, of which the number is not to exceed fifty. 



The total number of the Fellows is at present 454 

 (January 1906). 



The President is elected annually, but the Statutes 

 contain no limitation of the number of years during which 

 the President remains eligible for re-election. Sir Joseph 

 Banks presided over the Society for forty-one years, Sir 

 Isaac Newton for twenty-four, and Sir Hans Sloane 

 for fourteen years. About thirty years ago the Council 

 considered that it would be for the interests of the 

 Society that a change in the Presidency should take 

 place at intervals not greater than five years. Since 

 that time an unwritten understanding exists, that a 

 President will not consent to be put again in nomination 

 after having served five years, thus practically limiting 

 the tenure of the office to five years. 



The Mace, which was made for the Society in accordance 

 with the Royal Warrant quoted above, was received from 

 the Master of the Jewel House in August 1663. In the 

 first and second Charters, permission is given to the Society 



to have two Sergeants-at-mace to attend upon the Presi- 



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