THE SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 



preferentially through such of their members as were 

 Fellows of the Royal Society, upon a General Committee 

 which could deal with the distribution between the Societies, 

 both for reading and discussion, and afterwards for publi- 

 cation, of all the papers sent in to the Societies. It was 

 suggested by some members of Committee, that the Royal 

 Society might avail itself, with advantage, of the organisa- 

 tion and expert knowledge of the Councils of the special 

 Societies, for assistance in dealing with the selection of 

 communications for publication, and also indeed in the 

 selection of its Fellows. 



On the other hand, it was argued, and by a majority 

 of the Committee, that affiliation in any form, even if 

 restricted to matters of publication, involved mutual 

 obligations, and so to some extent a sacrifice of independ- 

 ence alike on the part of the Royal Society and of the 

 special Societies, which could not but be opposed to their 

 true interests and progress, and especially would be out 

 of harmony with the trend of modern thought, and the 

 newer conditions coming in from the ever widening differ- 

 entiation of scientific studies. 



One member of the Committee, who, from the leading 

 part he then took in the management of one of the most 

 important of the special Societies, might claim to be 

 regarded as representing the view which would be held by 

 these Societies of any such small sacrifice of independence 

 as would be necessarily involved in the obligations con- 

 nected with any form of true affiliation with the Royal 

 D 49 



