CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 383 
quickening in the individual the power of observation, but also in pro- 
moting the missionary spirit which will enable the members to excite the 
interest and sympathy of their neighbours. It is possible that our present 
constitution does not attach sutlicient importance to this educational part 
of the work. I refer especially to Regulation I., which confines the right 
of representation at this Conference to those Societies which publish 
proceedings. Now it is very doubtful if publication is the best test of 
merit. My own impression is that we have ‘too much cry’ for the amownt 
of ‘wool,’ and if we exclude from our deliberations all those Societies 
whose circumstances or inclinations have caused them to refrain from 
adding to the mass of literature under which there is danger of our being 
smothered, it is possible that we are excluding the very bodies whose 
sympathy and interest we should most wish to encourage. If we are to 
lay down some criterion, I would suggest that of membership rather than 
that of quantity of print. 
It is true that as the Delegates become ew-officio members of the 
General Committee of the Association some guarantee ought to be given 
that those who receive this privilege have some real knowledge of, and 
interest in, natural science. This difficulty might be met by the establish- 
ment of two classes—namely, affiliated and associated Societies. Delegates 
from affiliated Societies (those which undertake local investigations and 
publish the results) might continue to receive, as at present, the privilege 
of membership of the General Committee ; whereas Delegates from the 
associated Societies might be invited to take part in the deliberations of 
these Conferences and to receive copies of the reports, &c., without 
becoming members of the General Committee. Any local Society which 
has existed for a period of, say, three years, and numbers not fewer than 
fifty members, might well receive the right of appointing a representative. 
Surely we desire to throw our doors as wide open as possible ; surely we 
wish to give every encouragement to all scientific Societies, but more 
especially to those working under difficulties, to strengthen the hands of 
their promoters and to ask their aid and assistance in our deliberations. 
Moreover, it is precisely those Societies with narrow means, and whose 
members are possibly drawn from the working classes, that can be of the 
greatest use to us. They are missionaries situated where we most want 
them, and preaching to the unconverted. This yearly meeting of single 
Delegates from a few of the leading Societies, although an admirable 
nucleus, is not sufficient to produce crystallisation of the scientific interests 
in solution in the population of this kingdom. We want more frequent 
means of intercommunication, more power of directing individual move- 
ments towards one common object. I suggest that all associated and 
affiliated Societies should be asked to make a small contribution (to some 
extent proportional to their numbers) in order to defray the expenses of a 
Journal of Corresponding Societies, which would be published at stated 
intervals, An annual contribution at the rate of, say, 5s. per fifty 
members would, with our present constituency, produce a sum exceeding 
100/. per annum, and if the suggestion as to the addition of associated 
Societies be accepted, I believe this sum would soon be more than doubled. 
The Council of the British Association might well be asked to contribute 
an annual grant during, say, the first three years ; after which interval I 
believe the scheme might become self-supporting. Such a journal should 
start on very unambitious lines : it should contain a list of the meetings 
which have taken place since the preceding week, the titles (merely) of 
