466 



EEPORT — 1879. 



of their communications ; others publish thern in full, together with the discussion 

 which ensued after the papers were read. For non-resident and busy members 

 the full and early publication of memoirs is of the utmost importance. 



It is not to be desired that our scientific societies should be subsidised by the 

 State, but the claim of science to State assistance has been fully recognised, and we 

 may well demand that whatever amount is so devoted be fairly distributed among 

 all the branches of science. In the case of house accommodation it is difficult to 

 see on what ground many of our best and most useful societies are excluded from 

 the boon of free rental. When recently, on the recommendation of the Royal 

 Commission on Scientific Instruction; the State resolved to vote 4,0001. annually 

 to aid research, the societies whose presidents were to be taken in consultation 

 were named as the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh and the Royal Irish 

 Academy, the Royal Astronomical, the Mathematical, Chemical, Linnsean, Zoolo- 

 gical, Geological, and Physical Societies, the Institutes of Civil Engineers and 

 Mechanical Engineers, the General Council of Medical Education, the Royal Colleges 

 of Physicians and Surgeons, and the British Association. Several important 

 societies were thereby not recognised. 



The amount voted by the State yearly for education, science, and art appears 

 large, and constitutes a somewhat greater percentage on the total national expen- 

 diture than in former years, as may be seen from the following figures : — 



If, however, we eliminate from the total vote the amount expended for element- 

 ary education, the proportion left for science and art is considerably diminished : — 



The aid now given by the State to science takes the form of grants for salaries 

 to professors in the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and St. Andrew's, where 

 the professorships are insufficiently endowed; of payments to the University of 

 London and other Universities for examiners in certain sciences ; of sums devoted 

 to the maintenance of royal observatories and museums of science and art ; the 

 support of schools of science and art ; the cost of the Geological Survey ; and the 

 maintenance of the Royal Gardens at Kew and Botanical Garden in Edinburgh. 

 In this manner the physical sciences are aided by 1,5001. for chemistry, 1,316Z. for 

 astronomy, and 100/. for physic. Geology, including the cost of the Geological 

 Museum and Geological Survey, receives the sum of 33,373/. Meteorology, in- 

 cluding the vote for the Meteorological Council, receives 14,987/., and natural 

 philosophy 841/., making altogether the goodly sum of 50,801/. The natural 

 sciences are well remembered. To natural history 200/. is awarded, to zoology 

 500/., to botany 8,013/., to agriculture 150/. The medical sciences receive for 

 medicine 860/., anatomy 680/., surgery 750/., materia medica 600/., medical science 



