CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES, 6] 
comes within the purview of the Association itself. These Corresponding 
Societies are divided into two classes: (1) Those which ‘undertake local 
scientific investigation and publish the results.’ These are Affiliated Societies, 
(2) Those which ‘encourage the study of Science,’ as opposed presumably to 
investigation, and (it is implied) do not publish results because they have none 
to publish. These are Associated Societies. 
For our present purpose the distinction drawn by the British Association 
between Affiliated and Associated Societies does not greatly trouble us. Indeed 
a society that ‘encourages a study,’ even though it refrain from publication, 
may be doing more educational service than a small body of professional investi- 
gators publishing technical papers and making no appeal to the public. 
In 1883 the number of publishing societies regarded as worthy of admission 
was 175 for the whole of the British Isles. This number included the Cumber- 
land Association, the Midland Union, and the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union, 
which three bodies represented 70 societies. Twenty of those societies were 
also in the general list, so that the number of presumably non-publishing societies 
comprised in the Unions for about half of England alone was 50. Considering 
the difficulty, then as now, of obtaining information, we may say that for 
the British Isles at that date a total estimate of 200 publishing and 200 non- 
publishing active societies would probably have been within the mark. The 
number of 39 actually placed on the roll of Corresponding Societies in 1885 
therefore represented about one-tenth the total number and one-fifth the admis- 
sible number. This was good enough for a beginning, but, as expounded 
in Sir George Fordham’s Address to the Conference of Delegates in 1914, the 
number did not increase materially till the widening of the entrance qualifica- 
tions in 1905, when he records a total of 72. High-water mark, according 
to Sir George, was reached in 1912 with a total of 114. 
Last year, 1917, the numbers were: Affiliated, 88; Associated, 32; total, 
120. But of the Affiliated Societies two were outside the British Isles. 
This, however, gives a most imperfect idea of the total number of eligible 
societies in these islands. It is not easy to estimate what that number may 
be, but I have made an attempt. Taking all the lists available, such as 
Griffin’s ‘Year-book of Scientific and Learned Societies,’ the Catalogue of 
the Natural History Museum Library, the lists of the Unions, and the ‘ Museums 
Directory,’ I have compiled a card index. It contains 392 names. But even 
this is certainly incomplete, as will appear from various considerations. For 
instance, I was able to supplement the aforesaid published lists from my own 
personal knowledge, and no doubt other people could in the same way supply 
names of other societies which ought to be in these lists. 
Another line of argument is derived from the geographical distribution 
of the societies listed. This is shown on a map exhibited here. Two facts 
are manifest on this map. One, the extensive areas without any indica- 
tion. Some of these are due to paucity of population, but others must be 
assigned as much to our own ignorance as to any lack of interest on the part 
of the inhabitants. That I have been able to credit certain districts with a 
goodly number is due to the existence of Unions, such as the Yorkshire 
Naturalists’ and the South-Eastern, which have swept a large proportion of 
the societies into their lists. It is only such lists that have told me of tho 
continued existence of societies which for years had given to the outer world 
no sign of life. Where Unions have lapsed, as in the case of the Midland 
Union, or have never existed, as in $8.W. England and East Anglia, our 
information is undoubtedly deficient, probably by at least one-half. The second 
fact that emerges is the congregation of the recorded societies in or near the 
great cities. Greater London finds room for about 50, Manchester 13, Liver- 
pool 11, Glasgow 7, Edinburgh and Dublin 8 each, Leeds 9. The region round 
Bradford, Halifax, and Huddersfield, 14 or 15. It was here that the York- 
shire Naturalists’ Union came into being, with its constituent societies each 
within a walk of the others. Newcastle, Carlisle, and Worcester have 6 each ; 
Hull 5; York, Birmingham, Bath, Norwich, and Southampton are each credited 
with 4. This makes 158 out of our 392. Partly this concentration is due to 
density of population but not entirely. Something is due to fashion: Bath, 
for instance, has a reputation to keep up. But a good deal is due to the 
1918. % 
