TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 459 



we mean a clear and certain knowledge of anything- founded on self-evident prin- 

 ciples or demonstration, little progress, I fear, can be expected, because necessary 

 or mathematical truths are limited in number, and because we live under conditions 

 that we can but seldom have any clear or certain notice of things capable of 

 producing absolute conviction. But if we use the word ' science ' for a formed 

 system of any branch of knowledge, for knowledge generalised, systematised, and 

 verified, comprehending the doctrine, reason, and theory of the thing, with or 

 without any immediate application of it to any use or office of life, then we may 

 say science is making immenee progress. We certainly know more than ever we 

 did of the physical property of things, and their operations. Many things which 

 were formerly known but vaguely and loosely are now known more fully and com- 

 pletely. Much of what was, at best, a guess or a supposition, is now founded on 

 experimental knowledge. There has been both a large accumulation of facts and 

 a clear discerning of their relation one to another. We have fathomed Nature 

 more closely, discovered more of her powers, and utilised more of her forces. What 

 problems in mathematics and algebra have been solved, and how happily have their 

 principles been applied to the science of life — to mechanics, navigation, and astro- 

 nomy ! What advance in medical science, especially in hygiene, pathology, and 

 surgery ! What advancement in scientific instruments, as revealed in our late 

 exhibition at South Kensington ! What revolutions in our knowledge of geology, 

 mineralogy, and biology ! And how much have the philosophical sciences, espe- 

 cially of politics and social economy, become extended and methodised ! Science 

 has truly made, and is making, constant progress, and we have abundant proof of 

 it in the multiplication of our scientific societies, in the greater reverence paid to 

 science, and in the greater activities of its votaries. 



In the seventeenth century there were only two scientific societies in the United 

 Kingdom — the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries. In olden time the 

 Universities were the sole centres and propagators of science. The eighteenth 

 century saw the establishment of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Eoyal Irish 

 Academy, the Linnasan Society, the Koyal Institution, and the Society of Arts. 

 But the nineteenth century has been very prolific in the formation of scientific 

 societies. As each science expanded, its cultivators became more numerous, and 

 they soon saw the advantage of uniting in their labours, publishing their trans- 

 actions, and forming themselves into groups and distinct societies. At this present 

 moment London, the metropolis of science, possesses upwards of forty to fifty 

 scientific societies, and the calendar for the season exhibits an amount of activity 

 quite unknown in former periods. And it is the more remarkable in this age, 

 often described as wholly given to the ignoble occupation of money-making, that all 

 the labour thus performed by men of science in England, Scotland, and Ireland, 

 year by year, is the spontaneous offering of time and learning of men, in most cases 

 far from affluent, to the great cause of human and scientific progress. 



First and foremost among our scientific societies are the three Royal Societies, one 

 in England, one in Scotland, and one in Ireland. Though the primary objects of the 

 Royal Society of London are the promotion of mathematical and physical science, it 

 has for a considerable time achieved the distinction of having among its members some 

 of the most distinguished men from all branches of science. The Royal Society differs 

 from the French Institute and other foreign academies principally in the fact that it 

 is not divided, like them, into sections, and its members are not paid by the State. 

 The Institute of France, in its five divisions — the Acad^mie Francaise, Acad^mie 

 des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, des Sciences, des Beaux Arts, and Sciences 

 Morales et Politiques — has 226 members, 36 free academicians, 32 foreign members, 

 and 236 foreign correspondents. The Royal Prussian Academy of Science, in its 

 two divisions — the Physico-Mathematical and Philosophic-Historical — has 44 

 ordinary members, 16 foreign members, 11 honorary members, and 175 correspond- 

 ing members. Other Royal Academies have fewer members. The Imperial 

 Academy of Science of St. Petersburg is composed of 15 professors, besides the 

 president and directors. The Royal Academy of Science of Turin consists of 40 

 members resident in Turin, 20 non-resident, and 20 foreign members. The Royal 

 Society of London has now 549 members. Since the passing of the law, in 1847, 



