THIHD ORDINARY MEETING. 31 



induce some wealthy man to do so for them, oblivion awaited them 

 with far more certainty than any pre-homeric hero. For conquests 

 remain if the conqvieror's name is forgotten; but a discovery unpub- 

 lished is lost to the world. But, all-important as they are, it unfor- 

 tunately happens that even in times of the greatest intellectual 

 activity, and among the most highly cultivated people, the recoi'ds 

 of original research, even of the most brilliant character and upon 

 the most momentous subjects, can never command a remunerative 

 market. They must be published at a pecuniary loss. The number 

 of those whose training enables them to follow intelligently the tech- 

 nicalities of such a paper is necessarily limited, and the number of 

 those whose interest in the special subject under consideration is suffi- 

 ■cient to induce them to master the tedious details of experiment and 

 induction by which the conclusion is reached is usually still more 

 limited. Moreover, such publications are often very expensive. Care- 

 fully executed drawings of apparatus or natural objects, machinery or 

 anatomical details, diagrams and mathematical formulae, combine to 

 render them in many cases exceedingly costly. And, since the 

 author can seldom hope for any pecuniary advantage from them, 

 while he has usually already expended much valuable time, and 

 often also money in the research itself, without any expectation of 

 profit or reward, it is not only most desirable, but it is an act of 

 bare justice, that the expense of publication should be shared among 

 those interested in the subject of the investigation ; and indeed fre- 

 quently but for channels so offered most valuable investigations 

 would either never see light or would be published in such an inade- 

 quate way as to lose half their value. 



Herein lies the immense public benefit of the published Transac- 

 tions of Learned Societies. By means of them any one who does 

 work worth recording has an opportunity of publishing his investi- 

 gations free of cost ; and knows that when he does so his work will 

 be immediately placed in the hands of all those likely to take an 

 interest in it, and capable of appreciating it at its proper value. So, 

 too, the student who wishes to keep abreast with the march of know- 

 ledge has only to read the Transactions of the Learned Societies to 

 learn all that is being done in his special line of study. 



Another object of scientific associations is to promote intercourse 

 among those pursuing similar lines of research, and indeed among 

 those engaged in the cultivation of science in any of its departments. 



