March 27, 1902] 



NA TURE 



493 



covering that the present drainage system began to be 

 traced, and the channels originally chosen by the streams 

 that first flowed over it still, on the whole, keep to the 

 same courses, though they have now cut their way down 

 into the older rocks. The most helpful line of investiga- 

 tion that can at present be pursued in this subject is to be 

 found in the search for actual or probable evidence of the 

 extent of the denuded formations. The recent discovery 

 by the Geological Survey of masses of Rhivtic, Liassic 

 and Chalk strata in a Tertiary volcanic vent in the Isle of 

 Arran, which proves the former extension of these forma- 

 tions into the west of Scotland, is an example of the un- 

 expected way in which the most important evidence may 

 at any moment be discovered. But even if no such 

 evidence should be forthcoming, it is impossible to con- 

 template the prodigious denudation of the country even 

 among solid massive rocks like the lavas of the west of 

 Scotland without the profound conviction that since 

 Tertiary time hundreds of feet of rock have been removed 

 from the surface, and that it is impossible to comprehend 

 the history of our landscapes without taking this 

 momentous fact into account. 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY AND THE PROPOSED 



BRITISH ACADEMY. 

 ' I "HE following letter on this subject appeared in the 



■*■ Times of March 20 : — 



To the Editor of the Times. 



Sir, — In the references which have been recently 

 made to the early history of the Royal Society, the 

 charters of King Charles II. have frequently been re- 

 marked upon, and also the subject-matter of the com- 

 munications published by the Pliilosopliicul Transactions 

 from time to time. It has been conceded by many who 

 have given attention to the matter that the charters of 

 King Charles II. intended that the then newly-founded 

 Society should take cognisance, not only of observational 

 and experimental science, but also of those philoso- 

 phical, historical and philological subjects for which, on the 

 ground that they lark representation to-day, Kmg Edward 

 VII. has been petitioned to grant a charter enabling some 

 new body to look after their interests. It has also been 

 conceded that the early practice of the Royal Society 

 was in accordance with the suggested intention referred 

 to above, so far as the communications made to it enable 

 us to form a judgment. 



In a previous letter on this subject, which you were 

 good enough to insert in the Times of January 29, I 

 pointed out that a committee specially appointed by the 

 Council of the Royal Society to consider the matter had 

 reported, after consultation with high legal authorities, 

 that the inclusion of the subjects within the scope of the 

 Royal Society, for the general organisation of which it is 

 now proposed to found a new Academy,is within the powers 

 conferred on it by the charters of that Society. I venture 

 to give two extracts from the first charter granted by 

 King Charles II. which alone seem to establish this con- 

 clusion. If you will permit me, I will reproduce them 

 here : — 



Charles II., by the grace of God King of England, Scot- 

 land, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., to all to 

 whom these present Letters shall come, greeting. 



We have long and fully resolved with Ourself to extend not 

 only the boundaries of the Empire, but also the very arts and 

 sciences. Therefore we look with favour upon all forms of 

 learning, but with particular grace we encourage philosophical 

 studies, especially those which by actual experiment attempt 

 either to shape out a new philosophy or to perfect the old. In 

 order, therefore, that such studies, which have not hitherto 

 been sufficiently brilliant in any part of the world, may shine 

 conspicuously amongst our people, and that at length the whole 

 world of letters may always recognise us not only as the 

 Defender of the Faith, but also as the universal lover and patron 

 of every kind of truth : Know ye, &c. 



Of the "Fellows" it is written : — 



The more eminently they are distinguished for the study of 

 every kind of learning and good letters, the more ardently they 

 desire to promote the honour, studies and advantage of this 

 Society . . . the more we wish them to be especially deemed 

 fitting and worthy of being admitted into the number of the 

 Fellows of the same Society. 



Of course it would have been very much more satis" 

 factory if the committee, instead of enunciating pious 

 and legal opinions as to what the charters enabled the 

 .Society to do, as abstractedly as if the Society had never' 

 existed, had, seeing that action under the charters had" 

 been going on for nearly two centuries and a half, told' 

 us what the Society had really done year after year irf 

 the matter of choosing men for election into the Society. 

 In this way sure proof could be obtained of the 

 general opinion of what the charters empowered and 

 enjoined the Society to do, not only at the time they were 

 conferred, but at subsequent dates. This course, which 

 obviously is the only satisfactory way of arriving at a 

 conclusion on the questions at issue, was, however, not 

 open to the committee ; for a complete list of the officers. 

 Fellows and foreign members elected in each year from 

 the foundation of the Society was not generally available. 



This gap in our knowledge of the actual life of the 

 Society has recently been filled, and we can now learn the 

 kind of work for which the Society considered itself re- 

 sponsible by the men it elected to do it in its early 

 days, and especially by those who were elected to fill the 

 various offices. It will be obvious that a complete inquiry 

 of this nature is a matter involving considerable time 

 and labour ; but in the present state of the question 

 raised by the proposition for a new British Academy it 

 is of such high importance to know the facts that I have 

 not hesitated to try to get at them, however imperfectly ; 

 my inquiry being limited as much as possible, this has 

 been done by passing over all doubtful cases and con- 

 sidering chiefly the first century of the life of the Society, 

 that is from 1663. 



The general result of this limited inquiry may be 

 stated as follows ; — 



I begin with the presidents. Some were ap- 

 pointed on account of their rank, others on account 

 of their contributions to observational or experimental! 

 science, among them Wren, Newton, the Earl of Mac- 

 clesfield, and others. But besides these we have Sir 

 John Hoskins, "a most learned virtuoso as well as a 

 lawyer,'' according to Evelyn ; Samuel Pepys, of diary 

 fame ; Martin Folkes, an antiquarian "under whom the 

 meetings were more literary than scientific" ; Sir James 

 Burrow, an antiquarian, also a lawyer ; and James West, 

 another antiquarian and collector of coins, and given to 

 "black letter lore." If we pass the first century, we find 

 Sir John Pringle, a learned physician and professor of 

 metaphysics and moral philosophy, elected in 1772, and 

 Davies Gilbert in 1827, who, although addicted to science, 

 was chiefly an antiquarian and historian. 



Among the treasurers we find one of the first ap- 

 pointed Abraham Hill, given as much to moral as to 

 natural philosophy ; Roger Gale, an archs'ologist and 

 nuiTiismatist ; and, again passing the first century, Wm. 

 Marsden (1802), an Oriental scholar, and Samuel 

 Lysons (1810), an antiquarian and an artist. 



We next come to the secretaries. The most remark- 

 able thing about these officers is that between 1663 and 

 1765, of the twenty-nine elected no less than sixteen 

 were doctors of divinity, medicine or law ; and, so 

 far as the inquiry has gone, the "Dictionary of National 

 Biography " shows that they were not merely professional 

 men, but scholars first and writers afterwards. The 

 secretary elected in 1776 was Joseph Planta, the librarian 

 of the British Museum ; while in 1812 Humphry Davy 

 was followed by Taylor Combe, an archaeologist and 

 numismatist. 



NO. 1 69 1, VOL. 65] 



