CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 723 
of Science for having invited the Conference of Delegates to meet at H 
then proceeded to read the Chairman’s Address on = Dra 
The History of the Endeavour to Co-ordinate the Work of Local 
Scientific Societies in Great Britain. 
More than thirty years have now elapsed from the period when an attempt 
was first made to group the local scientific societies of Great Britain and Ive- 
land round the British Association, and to co-ordinate their work of local 
research and investigation on settled lines with that of the Association. It is 
possibly, therefore, an appropriate time for reviewing shortly, in the form of a 
presidential address, the results of this movement, and the success it has 
achieved. The initiative in this matter is due to Mr. John Hopkinson, then as 
now the moving spirit of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society, who, in a 
letter printed in ‘ Nature’ on August 5, 1880, suggested a Conference of officials 
and annual delegates of local scientific societies during the meetings of the 
British Association. Such a meeting, small and informal, was held during the 
British Association week at Swansea; in August 16380, when twelve representa- 
tives were present from nine societies. Mr. Hopkinson was chairman of the 
meeting, and the following resolutions were adopted: That this Conference 
recommends that at future meetings of the British Association the delegates 
from the various scientific societies should meet with the view of promoting 
the best interests of the Association and of the several societies represented ; 
that Mr. Hopkinson and Mr. H. George Fordham be a Committee to carry out 
the views expressed at this Conference, and report to the Conference of Dele- 
gates to be held at York in 1881, in accordance with the foregoing resolution. 
In the result, four successive annual conferences were held: at York (1881), 
at Southampton (1882), at Southport (1883), and at Montreal (1884). They 
were arranged by a small Committee, and the expenses were met by contributions 
to a fund formed for the purpose by the delegates themselves. The interest in 
this movement was a growing one, and at the meeting in Montreal thirty-eight 
societies were represented by thirty-one delegates. During the five years of 
voluntary activity in this matter—to 1884—many circulars and notices were 
printed and issued to societies, and representations were made to the British 
Association itself in furtherance of the idea of co-operation upon which these 
preliminary Conferences were based. The minutes of these early Conferences 
and the discussions and reports they include, with some manuscript addition, 
as the copies now in my hands have been completed, make up twenty-two pages 
of octavo. In similar form a ‘circular referring to subjects recommended for 
investigation by local scientific societies’ issued by their Committee runs to eight 
pages. These thirty pages of print and manuscript contain a great many in- 
teresting discussions and many valuable suggestions, and give the summarised 
history of the movement in its early and unofficial stage. 
It would not serve any useful purpose to analyse now these discussions of 
the suggestions made, and I do not propose to do so, but it seems well to draw 
attention to the effort made in the period 1880-1884, and to found upon it as the 
historical basis of what has been since developed. 
The first stage of the official activity of the British Association in connection 
with local scientific work and organisation was naturally one of inquiry. An 
investigation was set on foot through a Committee of the Association appointed 
in 1882 and reporting in the following year on the lines of what had already 
been done unofficially, in order to obtain exact and complete knowledge of the 
number of scientific societies in the United Kingdom which could be properly 
classified as ‘local,’ their constitutions, the number of their members, and their 
objects, and in particular of the character, form, and frequency of their 
publications. It turned out to be an exceedingly tiresome one, but in the end 
the number of societies of a local character of sufficient consequence and 
stability to warrant their being recorded in the list prepared, was found to 
be about 190, as to which the information obtained was grouped in eight 
columns. The following paragraphs from the report of 1883 may be recalled : 
“The local societies differ widely in character. Those which are established 
in large towns, and are not particularly well situated for carrying on systematic 
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