520 REPORT — 1901. 



could only claim Thomas Young aud Ivory aa men wlio were doin<j notable work 

 in research. Amongst schoolboys of various ages we note Fresnel, Bessel, Cauchy, 

 Chasles, Lame, Mobius, v. Staudt and Steiner on the Continent, and Babbage, 

 Peacock, John Herschel, Henry ParrHamilton and George Green in this 

 country. It was not indeed till about 1845 or a little later that we could point 

 to the great names of William Rowan Hamilton, MacOullagh, Adams, Boole, 

 Salmon, Stokes, Sylvester, Cayley, AVilliiim Thomson, H. J. S. Smith and 

 Clerk Maxwell as adequate representatives of mathematical science. It is 

 worthy of note that this date, 1845, marks also the year of the dissolution of a 

 Tery interesting society, the Mathematical Society of Spitalfields ; and I would 

 like to pause a moment and, if I may say so, rescue it from the oblivion which 

 eeeais to threaten it. In 1801 it was already a venerable institution, having 

 been founded by Joseph Middleton, a writer of mathematical text-books, ia 

 1717.1 Tjjg members of the Society at the beginning were for the most part 

 silk-weavers of French extraction ; it was little more than a working man's 

 club at which questions of mathematics and natural philosophy were discussed 

 every Saturday evening. The number of members was limited to the ' square 

 of seven,' but later it was increased to the 'square of eight,' and later still to 

 the ' square of nine.' In 1725 the place of meeting was changed from the Mon- 

 mouth's Head to the AVhite Horse in Wheeler Street, and in 1735 to the Ben 

 Jonson's Head in Pelham Street. The subscription was six-and-sixpence a 

 quarter, or sixpence a week, and entrance was gained by production of a metal 

 ticket which had the proposition of Pythagoras engraved on one side and a sighted 

 quadrant with level on the other. The funds, largely augmented by an elaborate 

 system of fines, were chiefly used for the purchase of • books and physical 

 apparatus. A president, treasurer, inspector of instruments and secretary were 

 appointed annually, and there were, besides, four stewards, six auditors, and six 

 trustees. By the constitution of the Society it was the duty of every member, if 

 he were asked any mathematical or philosophical question by another member, to 

 instruct him to the best of his ability. It was the custom for each member in 

 rotation to lecture or perform experiments at each evening meeting. There was 

 a tine of half-a-crown for introducing controverted points of divinity or politics. 

 The members dined together twice annually, viz., on the second Friday in January 

 in London in commemoration of the birth of Sir Isaac Newton (this feast fre- 

 quently took place at the Black Swan, Brown's Lane, Spitallields), and on the 

 second Friday in July ' at a convenient distance in the country in commemoration 

 of the birth of the founder.' The second dinner fi-equently fell through because the 

 members could not agree as to the locality. It was found necessary to introduce 

 a rule lining members sixpence for letting oft' hreworks in tlie place of meeting. 

 Every member present was entitled to a pint of beer at the common expense, 

 and, further, every hve members were entitled to call for a quart for consump- 

 tion at the meeting. Such were some of the quaint regulations in force when, 

 about the year 1750, the Society moved to larger apartments in Crispin Street, 

 where it remained without interruption till 1843. It appears from the old luinute 

 books that about the year 1750 the Society absorbed a small matiiematical society 

 which used to meet at the Black Swan, ]}rowns Lane, above mentioned, and 

 that in 1783 an ancient historical society was also incorporated with it. By 

 the year 1800 the class of tlie members had become improved, and we hnd 

 some well-known names, such as DoUand, Simpson, Saundersou, Crossley, 

 Paroissen aud Gompertz. At this time lectures were given in all branches of 

 science by the members in the Society's rooms, which on these occasions were 

 open to the public on payment of one shilling. The arrangements for the 

 session 1822-23 included lectures in mechanics, hydrostatics and hydraulics, 

 pneumatics, optics, astronomy, chemistry, electricity, galvanism, magnetism 



• Its first place of meeting was the Monmouth's Head, Monmouth Street, Spital- 

 fields. This street has long disappeared. From a map of London of 1746 it appears 

 to have run parallel to the present Brick Lane and to have corresponded to the present 

 Wilks Street. 



