62 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE.—1918. 
publicity attending such efforts in these places. One society joins a Union 
and the rest follow. There are certainly societies in many a town that is 
not so marked on the map, but they live a life apart, and we hear nothing 
of them. Instances of this are Lancaster, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Lich- 
field, Colchester, and Salisbury—each of them ‘no mean city,’ and probably 
boasting more than one scientific society. 
Taking all these facts into consideration, I am convinced that our list 
might be increased to 500 or 550 without losing its character. 
But this is not all: widely though the net may be cast there are a number 
of societies carrying on educational work of considerable value, yet too small 
or obscure to be caught in its meshes. Any estimate of their number must 
be quite vague, and yet it is worth attempting if one wants a true picture 
of the state of the country. Take the Borough of Wimbledon with its popu- 
lation of nearly 60,000. In the list as compiled there are only two societies 
entered, of which one is associated to this Conference. There are, however, 
six others known to me as doing good educational work. It is quite likely 
that the same proportion obtains in many other towns. The inclusion of such 
societies in our list would raise the number to at least 1,000. 
We may pause here to consider whether it would not be advantageous for 
us to bring more of these societies within our fold. In the early days of this 
Conference the conditions cf admission included local scientific investigation 
and the publication of results. Since the delegate became ex-officio a member 
of the General Committee a reasonably high standard was certainly desirable. 
Now that the rule of 1905 admits non-publishing societies as associates, with- 
out representation on the general committee, we should make more strenuous 
efforts to obtain their co-operation. Even on the ground of investigation, the 
publication of a report is no criterion of the value of the society. The con- 
tents of the report may lack originality, and, on the other hand, the members 
may do excellent work but prefer to publish in some other form than a special 
organ of their own. This is recognised by the §8.E. Union, which compiles 
and publishes a list of such papers produced by its members. The multipli- 
cation of trivial Reports and Proceedings is not an unmixed blessing to anyone 
except the printer, and I long regretted that the British Association should 
have felt obliged to make this a test for admission. 
Our object is to encourage and co-ordinate the work of local societies, 
and we cannot do this effectively so long as we remain out of direct touch 
with 88 per cent. of them. Perhaps the conditions of membership might be 
eased by making it possible for a society to become a member of the Association 
by compounding for a term of years, on the principle of the life member. 
Especially in present circumstances we can hardly expect individuals or societies 
to pay a pound apiece for the privilege of some five hours’ attendance at this 
Conference. But if a society could secure representation for 30 or 40 years 
by a single payment of 10/., this would be an inducement to it to send a 
delegate, and to continue its activities sufficiently to conform to our standard. 
On the other hand, the attendance of a delegate at the Association meetings 
and at this Conference would, let us hope, react favourably on the Society. 
Hitherto I have considered only the number of societies. It may be worth 
while to estimate, however roughly, the number of individual members. Taking 
our own list for 1916 and excluding the associates of the large Unions and 
the members of the oversea societies, we find 88 Affiliated Societies with a 
total membership of 22,535, or an average of 256; and 31 Associated Societies 
with a membership of 7,079, or an average of 228. ‘I'he total average is about 
248. This number is, however, liable to correctiun, because in most of the 
larger societies a considerable proportion of the members are also members 
of other societies in the list. Also it is hardly fair to reckon as characteristic 
the Institution of Mining Engineers with its 3,600 members. Probably it would 
be fair to take 200 as the average number of members in a society of the 
kind we are considering. Certainly if we include all our supposed thousand 
societies, this would not be an underestimate. That gives a grand total of 
200,000 individual members for the British Isles. From one point of view, 
a respectable number; but in reference to the whole population of forty-five 
millions, only 04 per cent. 
ae 
