212 Britain's Heritage of Science 



Commerce, and the success with which it has worked to 

 attain its objects needs no comment. 



When science became more specialized, the need for 

 separate societies dealing with the more technical portions 

 of each subject began to grow. These societies now take an 

 important share in the promotion of scientific researches. 

 The Linnsean Society was founded in 1788, the Geological 

 Society in 1807, the Royal Astronomical Society in 1820, 

 and the Chemical Society in 1841. 



What strikes the foreign visitor most when he enquires 

 into the working of British scientific institutions is that the 

 Royal Society receives no subvention from the Government. 

 While in all foreign academies, the members receive an annual 

 sum from the State, in England they pay both an entrance 

 fee and regular subscriptions. The great French naturalist, 

 Cuvier, has some interesting remarks on the subject. 1 The 

 Royal Society, the oldest of the scientific academies, is, he 

 says, " sans contredit 1'une des premieres par les decouvertes 

 de ses membres," and he attributes this to the fact that, as 

 it depends for its subsistence on the contributions of its own 

 members, the number of Fellows must necessarily be large. 

 The more numerous a body, he argues, the smaller is the 

 number of those who control its administration ; hence the 

 Council of the Royal Society, in whom the administration 

 is vested, is a small body with great powers, and can exert 

 a stronger influence on the progress of science than con- 

 tinental academies can do. 



So far from the Royal Society having ever received sub- 

 ventions by the Government for general purposes, its Council 

 resolved unanimously in 1798 to pay into the Bank of England 

 a sum of 500 as a voluntary contribution towards the 

 defence of the country. Up to that time, the whole expendi- 

 ture of the Society was paid out of the entrance fees and 

 subscriptions of the Fellows, the only legacy which had 

 been received being a sum of 500 from Lord Stanhope, 

 paid over in 1786. During the last century the financial 

 resources of the Society have, however, been increased by a 

 number of valuable endowments. 



1 "Memoires de 1'Institut," 1826, p. 219. 



