242 Royal Irish Academij. 



tion consequently come to by Council has been already reported 

 to the Academy. 

 Further action "21. At the General Meeting of the Society, held on the 

 18th January, 1883, for the purpose of considering the Draft in 

 question, the necessary majority of three-fifths of the Members 

 present was not obtained, and it was hoped that the Governing 

 Body of the Society might see the wisdom of abandoning a 

 further course of encroachment. 

 Eenewed "22. This expectation has not been realized. The Council 



action of the ^f ^j^g Society has, as already intimated, taken the Statutable 

 steps to convene a Special General Meeting, within the next 

 fortnight, to consider a resolution approving a second Draft new 

 Charter; but has not, as on the former occasion {supra, 20), as 

 yet made public its terms even to its own Members. 

 Duty of Mem- " 23. It may, however, be inferred from a Report laid before 

 bers of the ^j^g Society at its last Meeting (1st March), as appearing in the 

 longing to both public newspapers, that, in the now proposed Draft, no claim 

 Societies. ^-^^ ^^ ^,^^^ ^^ ^^le name ' Eoyal Society of Dublin'; but be- 



yond this nominal change there is no assurance that any of the 

 other provisions of the former Scheme have been substantially 

 modified, and Council must assume that it is still proposed to 

 extend the functions of the Society over the whole field of 

 Science. The situation is critical, and calls for the most serious 

 consideration of the Members of the Academy. 



"24. The President, on the occasion first referred to, used 

 words which entirely express the sense of Council, when, depre- 

 cating the creation by Charter in Ireland of two bodies for the 

 pursuit of Science in the same identical province of investigation, 

 he said : — 



" ' This country cannot afford such a rivalry. The number of 

 ' educated men of Science who are also scientific investigators is 

 ' not sufficient to support two great rival societies in Pure Science 

 ' in Dublin. Either both should languish, or one should flourish 

 ' on the ruins of the other. The Royal Irish Academy has de- 

 ' served better of the State than to be exposed to that alternative. 

 ' Whichever Society might emerge victor out of such a strife 

 ' would achieve its triumph at an expenditure of intellectual 

 'force, diverted from its proper pursuits into barren and pos- 



