1902 Future Prospects 487 



Having brought the story of the Royal Society Club 

 from its earliest beginnings down to the time of its union 

 with the Philosophical Club, I have reached the limit at 

 which it seemed to me most fitting that my narrative 

 should end. The Club's varying fortunes during more than 

 a century and a half have been followed in the foregoing 

 pages, and at the end of that long period it is found to have 

 lost none of its early vitality, but has a larger membership 

 than ever before, with an ample number of candidates for 

 admission, and with its affiliation to the Royal Society more 

 firmly established. 



That a future lies before the Club even more successful 

 than its past may be confidently anticipated. Already 

 fifteen years have slipped away since the date at which 

 the present history comes to a close, and these years have 

 furnished fresh tests of the vigour and usefulness of the 

 Club. They have supplied opportunities of which the 

 Club has promptly availed itself, to show its hospitality on 

 a wider field than was ever before open to it. The Royal 

 Society has celebrated the 25oth year of its corporate 

 existence with a large concourse of eminent representatives 

 from the Universities and learned academies both of the 

 Old World and of the New. It has also on different occasions 

 been visited by the foreign delegates of several international 

 associations for purposes of co-operation in scientific under- 

 takings. At each of these times the Club has borne a 

 willing and effective share in the hospitable welcome of 

 the visitors. It has thus more fitly than ever earned the 

 name of the Dining-Club of the Royal Society, and its 

 prosperity is still more closely linked with that of the 

 venerable Society whose name it bears. Vivat, crescat, 

 floreat ! 



