CHAPTER XVI 

 THE RISE OF NEW LEARNED SOCIETIES 



IT now happened, with the widening % knowledge 

 of the Natural Sciences and their growing popu- 

 larity as educational influences, that specialization 

 tended to produce new groups of men desirous 

 of a base for work independently of the Royal Society. 

 Hence arose several new Societies, each of them on a 

 new footing of their own. The Chemical Society and the 

 Geological Society were among the first, and they speedily 

 justified their separate existence. But Sir Joseph Banks 

 was not altogether content that Fellows of the Royal 

 Society should transfer their energies into new and 

 independent Associations ; and his countenance was not 

 willingly given. His views on the matter appear to have 

 been supported by some of his friends. 



Mr. Weld alludes (History, II, 230) to this raising of 

 new and literary and scientific Bodies ; and tells us that 

 it was customary, " when any of these applied for a 

 charter of incorporation, to send a copy of the petition to 

 the Royal Society, in order that the Council might make 

 any objection that they thought proper." This statement 

 throws a little light on the situation. Once having got 

 into the way of appealing to the Royal Society, that is, 

 to Sir Joseph Banks, it was a facile step to submission 

 to his authority. The point that interests us is, that the 

 augury of a sort of autocracy arising soon after the first 

 accession of Banks to the chair in 1778, was fulfilled. 

 As this supreme authority in the world of Science was 



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