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nity of the Academy was compromised, its place amongst 

 the scientific bodies of Europe was lowered, and its influence, 

 as the chief scientific body in our own country, was greatly 

 diminished. But our last President, to whom we owe so much 

 for his wise administration of the affairs of the Academy, 

 looked upon this practice as one which needed reformation, 

 and accordingly, with the aid of the Officers of the Academy, 

 he drew up a code of regulations respecting the admission of 

 Honorary Members, to which the Academy at large, after due 

 deliberation, gave its cordial approval. It was thus deter- 

 mined that we should have a fixed number of Honorary Mem- 

 bers, the number having been previous to that time unlimited ; 

 and it was also thought reasonable to distribute these honours 

 in a particular manner, by electing a certain number ofMembers 

 in the several departments of Science, Polite Literature, and 

 Antiquities. Sixty being the whole number of places reserved 

 for Honorary Members, it was deemed only reasonable that 

 half that number should be devoted to Science in its nume- 

 rous phases, whilst one-fourth was reserved for scholars dis- 

 tinguished in Polite Literature, and as many more for the culti- 

 vators of Archaeology. We are now bound to elect at least 

 one-half of our Honorary Members, in each section, from per- 

 sons who are not natives of the British Islands. Formerly a 

 very considerable proportion of our Honorary Members were 

 natives of our own country, and the claims of learned men on 

 the Continent were not sufficiently attended to. This brief 

 explanation will account for the fact that, in the present in- 

 stance, the Council has not recommended the names of men 

 who, nevertheless, hold a leading place among the savans of 

 Europe. Those who have watched the progress of science 

 in these countries may, on looking over the list of our Hono- 

 rary Members, observe with surprise the omission of the name 

 of Faraday. It is, indeed, an omission of which we have 

 reason to be ashamed ; but the present Council is not to be 

 censured, because the name of Faraday is not now recom- 



