THE SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 



division has not met the need for greater room for ex- 

 pansion as science has advanced, and has not prevented 

 the formation of specialised Societies in Paris outside the 

 Academy, similar to those which have grown up around 

 the Royal Society in this country. 



Indeed, the Institut de France, by its already somewhat 

 antiquated limitations, as shown by the payment of 

 members, by the methods of the election of its members, 

 and especially by its close connection with and dependence 

 upon the Government of the day, has less flexibility of 

 adaptation to new conditions than the Royal Society, 

 and, I need scarcely say, is not in harmony with the freer 

 spirit of this country, or with the trend of modern thought, 

 which is undoubtedly towards individualism ; of which 

 general tendency, though no doubt also influenced by 

 local interests, the recent breaking up of the Victoria 

 University into three independent bodies may perhaps 

 be mentioned as an illustration. 



The earliest instance of the sub-division or specialisa- 

 tion of scientific studies in this country, by the establish- 

 ment of a distinct association for the cultivation of one 

 branch of natural knowledge, took place in 1788 by the 

 foundation of the Linnean Society under the auspices of 

 Sir James Edward Smith, Sir Joseph Banks, and other 

 Fellows of the Royal Society. I should mention, perhaps, 

 that seven years earlier the Fellows of our Society who 

 were chemists had formed an association, or perhaps 

 more correctly a club, which met fortnightly at a coffee- 



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