426 Presidentship of William Spottiswoode 1879 



to believe that eminent foreigners were coming less frequently 

 to London than they did a century before. But they were 

 now certainly seldomer seen at the table of the Royal Society 

 Club. There arise occasions indeed which bring a large 

 company of men of science from all parts of the world to 

 this country, as when the International Association of 

 Academies met in London in 1903 and still more when 

 the Royal Society gathered so illustrious an assemblage 

 of representatives of learning, literature, and science to 

 celebrate in 1912 its 250th birthday. At such times the 

 Royal Society Club has nobly discharged the duties of 

 hospitality. 



In another aspect the usual type of visitor to the modern 

 Club differs from the average type a century ago. Formerly 

 among the guests, and even among its members, there 

 could often be found ministers of state, heads of public 

 departments with other members of the official world, and 

 with leading representatives of literature and of art, and of 

 the Church, the Navy and Army. Not a few of these men 

 who actually joined the Club took pleasure in attending its 

 meetings and in sharing its conviviality. Such visitors are 

 but rarely seen now. It may be said that public life has 

 grown far more strenuous than it was two or three 

 generations back, and that hard-worked statesmen, poli- 

 ticians, and officials do not perhaps expect to meet with 

 mental relaxation and enjoyment at the table of the dining 

 club of a Society composed mainly of men absorbed in the 

 prosecution of all branches of science. 



It must be admitted, too, that the members of the Club 

 as a whole are not quite what they were in early days. The 

 Royal Society to which they belong consists now, to a far 

 larger extent than it used to do, of members who are truly 

 men of science, actively engaged in research. A large pro- 

 portion of them are professors or demonstrators in uni- 

 versities and colleges, engaged not only in teaching but in 

 research. They include few representatives of literature or 

 art, such as were formerly welcomed to the Fellowship of 

 the Society. The country gentleman, also, who besides 



