150 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN. 



1845. 



To Sir John Herschel. 



7 Camden Street, May 19, 1845. 



MY DEAR SIR JOHN, As I gave you rather a bad impression 

 about the Mathematical Society from their old clay and pewter 

 days, I feel bound to tell you that Captain Smyth, Galloway, 

 and myself went down and examined their library and them- 

 selves, and saw a good many, and got the names and occupations 

 of all. We found an F.B.S., an F. Ant. S., an F. Linn. S., a 

 barrister, two silk manufacturers, a surgeon, a distiller, &c. ; 

 and we found that all had really paid attention to some branch 

 of Science. One Mr. Perrott is, I am told, a man of note as a 

 chemist". We certainly shall not lower the average knowledge 

 of our Fellows by accepting their proposition. I went down 

 rather against the scheme, but was perfectly changed by what 

 I saw and heard. 



Their library is a good one. The matter will soon be dis- 

 cussed at a Council. 



Yours very truly, 



A. DE MORGAN. 



To Sir John Herschel. 



7 Camden Street, May 28, 1845. 



MY DEAR SIR JOHN, No difficulty at all. Our by-laws 

 permit a general meeting, called by the Council, with a week's 

 notice, to destroy every by-law, and make a complete new set. 

 The Charter is liberty itself in this particular. 



A general meeting will be called after the next ordinary 

 meeting. Of course, we could not depart a hair's-breadth from 

 the statutable mode of election without. 



As to the Cambridge Transactions, I have not got them, 

 and know little of them as a whole. In addition to what you 

 name there are Murphy's papers, which are remarkable, particu- 

 larly those on definite integrals ; but were I you, I should consult 

 Hopkins, the secretary, on the details. 



The transactions generally may be described as having had a 

 tendency to bring forward discussions of principle among the 

 members of the University. There is, you may safely say, 

 sufficient proof in them that the ordinary system of University 

 reading, which crams details of methods, put together in exami- 

 nation form, with fearful rapidity upon the young student, does 



