THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 309 



statutes appended to the charter. Those statutes, 

 which may be repealed or altered by royal warrant 

 on petition of the Society (a procedure much simpler 

 than the alteration of a royal charter), confer great 

 elasticity upon the Society's arrangements, enabling it 

 to regulate by by-law many details which were rigidly 

 prescribed in the earlier charters. 



The Dublin Society was in its eighteenth year 

 when it was first incorporated by royal charter. At 

 that time the total number of members was only 

 thirty-one, and the management of the Society's 

 business, then comparatively limited, was naturally 

 entrusted to the members at large. When the number 

 of members grew larger, a central governing body was 

 found to be necessary; there were 1146 members at 

 the time of the first supplemental charter, and the 

 number had increased to i486 when the second supple- 

 mental charter was granted. Thus, as the number of 

 members increased, the control over the Society's 

 afFairs became centralised. The one thing needful at 

 the time of the second supplemental charter was to 

 ensure that the management of the various branches of 

 the Society's work, so widely different in character, 

 should be entrusted to persons possessing the necessary 

 qualifications, and that those persons should be left 

 a fairly free hand within their own sphere. This the 

 second supplemental charter did, and at the same time 

 it greatly increased the power of the Society to adapt 

 itself to its ever altering environment. 



This charter was practically the work of two 

 members — Geo. Johnstone Stoney, f.r.s., then a vice- 

 president, and Geo. Francis FitzGerald, f.t.c.d., who 

 was then an honorary secretary. 



The charter rendered it necessary to revise the by- 

 laws completely, and on February the 6th, 1889, the 



