643 



pass a formal minute declaring the Royal Society to be a 

 Society affiliated to the Public Library, Museum, and Art 

 Gallery. This, however, was a step which the Board could not 

 take unless asked to do so by the Council. 



Of course, the latter body lost no time in making the 

 request, to which, however, they received the startling reply, 

 that it had been discovered that the Act gave the Board no 

 power to affiliate societies; it would, however, take the neces- 

 sary steps to obtain such power. 



This led to the passing of a short Amending Act the 

 following year, and affiliation between the two bodies was then 

 duly effected. 



Another little matter, which resulted from the termina- 

 tion of the union between the Society and the S.A. Institute, 

 may be of interest as involving a principle. An early 

 intimation was received from the Board, that after June 30, 

 1884, the Society would be relieved of any further payment 

 for the use of its room, except for the cost of gas consumed 

 at its meetings and those of its branches; further, that in 

 future it would receive no assistance in clerical work from 

 the Board's officers. 



It was about this time, also, that owing to the rapid 

 growth of the School of Design, it became necessary for the 

 Society to vacate its old room in the Institute and occupy a 

 more commodious room in the new wing of the Museum. 

 They remained there until 1891, when the School of Design, 

 having removed to the Exhibition Building, the Society, with 

 the consent of the Board, returned again to its old quarters 

 in the Institute. 



(c) Establishment of Sections* 



As early in its history as 1858, a Committee was 

 appointed to consider the expediency of dividing the Society 

 into sections, each of which should be specially charged with 

 the supervision of certain subjects. No less than ten such 

 sections were proposed, and it was probably owing to their 

 multiplicity that the scheme fell through. 



In 1883 the idea was revived, though from a different 

 point of view. It was thought that there existed a need for 

 a section of a popular nature, which would also serve as a 

 recruiting ground from which the Society might increase its 

 membership. Thus was established the Field Naturalists' 

 Section. It was intended for studiously disposed persons, of 

 either sex, who wished to undertake the study oi natural 

 history from an elementary standpoint. 



Professor Tate, from whom the proposal had emanated, 

 delivered an interesting lecture in the Town Hall, explaining 



