NATUR 
8) 
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1869 
A SCIENTIFIC CENSUS 
ce we reduce to the certainty of numbers the amount 
of interest taken in England in the advance of 
science? How many are there devoted to its pursuit ? 
How many sufficiently concerned in its progress, as to be 
willing to make some sacrifices for its promotion? 
Interested in the results of science, ready to grasp its 
countless benefits, eager to catch its earliest gifts, we all 
are ; but how many love science for its own sake, and are 
actively engaged in cultivating and promoting it? Are 
there not very many in this sordid age ready to exclaim 
with D’Ailly— 
Dieu me guarde d’étre savant, 
D’une science si profonde 
Les plus doctes, le plus souvent, 
Sont les plus sottes gens du monde! 
The Census of 1861 gave the number of persons 
engaged in the learned professions, or in literature, art, 
and science; and classed as “scientific persons,” officers 
of literary and scientific societies, curators of museums, 
analytical chemists, and a certain number who styled 
themselves naturalists, botanists, geologists, mineralogists, 
chronologists, and civil engineers. These, however, with 
a number of professors and teachers, pursue science as a 
vocation. We prefer drawing our materials from the 
"membership of our learned societies. Many of their 
members are, it is true, professors and teachers, yet they 
appear in a more congenial character as members of our 
academies, or fellows of our learned societies; and 
though it can scarcely be said that their members are in 
all cases absolutely men of science, or that all the men of 
science in the country are to be found in their lists, in 
them we have, at least, a goodly band of men associated 
together for the advance of science. Judging from 
the facilities such societies afford for the association of 
persons of kindred mind and taste, the common use of 
technical libraries and instruments, and the publication of 
their transactions, we are safe in assuming that they 
attract, at least, the greater number of men anxious to 
labour for the promotion of science. 
First and foremost among our learned societies is the 
Royal. The Institute of France and other foreign 
academies are, in a manner, the creatures of the State ; 
and their members are mostly all salaried. The Royal 
Society was, from the first, a voluntary society, and never 
derived any support from the State, though it administers 
from year to year a certain amount given by the State 
for the promotion of science. In 1831 the Royal Society 
had 791 members, but by a change introduced in 1847 
the membership has undergone considerable diminution ; 
and in 1868 the number was reduced to 600, the num- 
ber admitted every year being considerably less than 
the number dying or retiring. It is the vocation of 
the Royal Society to admit within its circle the most 
distinguished men in all the branches of science, and 
we might even hope that, like the Institute of France, 
its membership may be divided into five Academies, 
such as the “ Académie Francaise” for literature, the 
“ Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres ” for history, 
the “Acidémie des Sciences” for sciences and mathe- 
matics, the “ Académie des Beaux Arts” for the fine arts, 
and the “Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques” 
for mental philosophy and jurisprudence. It is not a 
question of altering the essential character of the Royal 
Society, as an integral one: it would be only a natural 
development of its organisation if its members were 
allowed to constitute themselves into sections for physics, 
mathematics, philosophy, history, and philology. 
Physical and Mathematical Science, however, engages 
the labour of six other learned societies. There are the 
Astronomical Society with 528 members, the Chemical 
with 518, the Meteorological with 306, and the Geological 
with 1,204 members. We have also a Statistical Society 
with 371 members, and a Mathematical with 111. Col- 
lectively, these form seven societies, with 3,638 mem- 
bers, giving, in relation to the population of the United 
Kingdom, 121 in every 10,000 either a physicist or 
a mathematician in the highest sense. The next group 
of societies comprises those engaged in the advance- 
ment of the science of life, whether vegetable or animal. 
Biology is a favourite study, and many are intensely 
devoted in exploring the many problems which are taxing 
the mind of the philosopher and moralist. Connected 
with Vegetable Physiology are the Linnean Society with 
482 members, the Botanic with 2,420, the Horticultural with 
3,595, and the Agricultural with 5,500 members. And 
connected with Animal Physiology are the Zoological with 
2,920 members, the Entomological with 208, the Ethno- 
logical with 219, and the Anthropological with 1,031 mem- 
bers ; in alleight societies, having in the aggregate 16,300 
members. It must beremembered, however, that the largest 
of these societies have their Gardens and Exhibitions, 
which attract numerous members, and it would demand an 
excess of charity to regard all the members in this group 
as strictly men of science. Archaeology has numerous 
votaries. There is the Society of Antiquaries, the oldest 
of our scientific societies, founded nearly 300 years ago, in 
1572, having now 651 members, but the number of fellows 
was in 1862 restricted to 600. We have also a British 
Archeological Institute with 697 members, and an Arche- 
ological Association with 484 members, besides a very large 
number of other archzological societies. Then comes the 
Geographical with its 2,150 members, the most popular of 
societies, owing much to its illustrious president, Sir 
Roderick Murchison, and still more to the great con- 
tributions to geographical science by Livingstone, Speke, 
Grant, and Baker. And next we find the large group of 
societies for the Promotion of Applied Science. There is 
the Society for the Encouragement of Art, Manufacture, 
and Commerce, so elastic, so active, and so enterprising, 
having 3,200 members ; the Institute of Civil Engineers 
with 1,700 members, and the Institute of British Architects 
with 498 members, each of them comprising men engaged 
in active life, yet deeply interested in the advancement of 
science. Of a more miscellaneous character are the 
Microscopical Society with 360 members, the Philological 
with 200, the Numismatic with 160, the Asiatic with 320 
members, and the United Service Institution with 3,800 
members. And, besides these, there are the Royal and 
London Institutions, the British Association, and Social 
Science Association, each having its thousands of mem- 
bers, to say nothing of the medical societies, and the 
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