NATURE 



THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, \i 



SCIENTIFIC FED ERA TfON 



T N an article on " Science and the Jubilee" a week or 

 * two ago, we referred to the possibility that the Royal 

 Society might feel it desirable to consider whether it was 

 feasible to signalise the present year of Jubilee by any 

 new departure. It so happens that quite independently 

 of the proposed celebration a very appropriate extension 

 of the Society's usefulness to our colonies has been sug- 

 gested and has already been accepted by one of the 

 Australian colonies. This suggestion, and the action 

 which the Royal Society has already taken upon the 

 question submitted to it, really raises the whole question 

 of the desirability of a scientific confederation of all 

 English-speaking peoples. 



The suggestion to which we refer was made in Prof. 

 Huxley's Anniversary Address to the Royal Society little 

 over a year ago, from which we [make the following 

 extract : — 



" Since this Society was founded, English-speaking 

 communities have been planted, and are increasing and 

 multiplying, in all quarters of the globe, — to use a natural- 

 ist's phrase, their geographical distribution is ' world- 

 wide.' Wherever these communities have had time to 

 develop, the instinct which led our forefathers to come 

 together for the promotion of natural knowledge has 

 worked in them and produced most notable results. The 

 quantity and quality of the scientific work now being done 

 in the United States moves us all to hearty admiration ; 

 the Dominion of Canada, and our colonies in South 

 Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, show that they do 

 not mean to be left behind in the race ; and the scientific 

 activity of our countrymen in India needs no comment. 



" Whatever may be the practicability of political federa- 

 tion for more or fewer of the rapidly-growing English- 

 speaking peoples of the globe, some sort of scientific 

 federation should surely be possible. Nothing is baser 

 than scientific Chauvinism, but still blood is thicker than 

 water ; and I have often ventured to dream that the 

 Royal Society might associate itself in some special way 

 with all English-speaking men of science, that it might 

 recognise their work in other ways than by the rare 

 opportunities at present offered by election to our foreign 

 Fellowship, or by the award of those medals which are 

 open to everybody ; and without imposing upon them 

 the responsibilities of the ordinary Fellowship, while they 

 must needs be deprived of a large part of its privileges. 

 How far this aspiration of mine may be reciprocated by 

 our scientific brethren in the United States and in our 

 colonies I do not know. I make it public, on my own 

 responsibility, for your and their consideration." 



It would appear that the matter was at once considered 

 by the Council of the Royal Society, because the next 

 year (1S86) Prof Stokes, the present President, referred 

 to the subject in the following words : — 



" In his Presidential Address last year, Prof. Huxley 



suggested the idea, I may say expressed the hope, that 



the Royal Society might associate itself in some special 



way with all English-speaking men of science ; that it 



■Vol. XXXV.— No. 900 



might recognise their work in other ways than those 

 afforded by the rare opportunities of election to our 

 foreign membership, or the award of those medals which 

 are open to persons of all nationalities alike. This sugges- 

 tion has been taken up by one of our colonies. We have 

 received a letter from the Royal Society of Victoria, re- 

 ferring to this passage in the address, and expressing a 

 hope that, in some way, means might be found for esta- 

 blishing some kind of connection between our own 

 oldest scientific Society and those of the colonies. The 

 Council have appointed a Committee to take this letter 

 into consideration, and try if they could devise some 

 suitable plan for carrying out the object sought. The 

 Committee endeavoured at first to frame a scheme which 

 should not be confined to the colonies and dependencies 

 of the British Empire, but sho lid e nbrace all English- 

 speaking communities. But, closely connected as we are 

 with the United States by blood and language, they are 

 of course, politically, a foreign nation, and this fact threw 

 difficulties in the way of framing at once a more ex- 

 tended scheme, so that the Committee confined them- 

 selves to the colonies and dependencies of our own 

 country, leaving the wider object for some future endea- 

 vour, should the country concerned seem to desire it. 

 The scheme suggested was laid before the members of 

 the present Council, but there was not an adequate oppor- 

 tunity of discussing it, and it will of course come before 

 the next Council. Should they approve of some such 

 measures as those recommended by the Committee, they 

 will doubtless assure themselves, in some way or other, 

 that those measures are in accordance with the wishes 

 of the Fellows at large before they are incorporated into 

 the statutes." 



What the Council of the Society has already done in 

 the matter is of course unknown to us, as it has not yet 

 been made public ; but it is unnecessary to point out the 

 extreme fitness of some such action as this being taken 

 this year, if it is to be taken at all. 



Undoubtedly the scheme foreshadowed by Prof. Huxley, 

 if carried out in a proper way, may lead to a great many 

 advantages. It is not unimportant that all the scientific 

 organisations of Greater Britain should be welded into a 

 homogeneous whole, so that, if at any time a common 

 action should be necessary on any subject, the work 

 could be done promptly and with the least strain. If 

 any scientific organisation in a colony were affiliated with 

 the Royal Society at home, there can be no doubt that it 

 would be in a stronger position ; that its standard of scien- 

 tific work would be raised ; that other kindred institutions 

 would be more likely to be formed, on which a 

 similar status might at some future time be conferred 

 also. Such an organisation, too, would have a cachet 

 conferred upon it, so that colonists would consider it a 

 greater honour to belong to it, and would have a greater 

 inducement to work for it, and to aid in all its efforts. 



We can imagine some possible criticisms of Prof. 

 Huxley's suggestions. For instance, it may be asked. 

 Why should not Scotch and English and Irish organisa- 

 tions be treated in the same way? We think there 

 is a very good answer to this objection. Any member of 

 any of the British Societies, by taking a little trouble, may 

 obtain any of the privileges which the Royal Society 

 might confer upon colonists. To a great many British 



