SOCIETY. 



one of the members on Tome medical fubjeft : — Society for 

 the Improvement of Medical Knowledge in London, efta- 

 blilhed in 1782, for the purpofe of collefting ufeful eflays 

 and obfervations for publication : the meetings of this fo- 

 ciety are held once a fortnight, on Tuefday evening, and 

 the members dine together once a quarter ; on which occa- 

 fion candidates for admiffion are ballotted for : the fociety is 

 under the direftion of a prefident, treafurer, two fecretaries, 

 and a committee for reviCng and felefting papers for publi- 

 cation, who are elefted annually by ballot : — the Medical So- 

 ciety of Edinburgh, to which the public are indebted for 

 fix volumes of curious and ufeful effays, coUedled princi- 

 pally by the late Dr. Monro, from June 1 731 to June 1736 ; 

 but this fociety was afterwards united to another, called the 

 Philofophical Society : — the Medical Society of Edinburgh, 

 incorporated by royal charter in 1778, under this title : this 

 inftitution appears to have been coeval with the eftabliihraent 

 of a regular fchool of phyfic in the univerfity, though none 

 of its records of an earher date than 1737 are now pre- 

 ferved : the ordinary members of this fociety are elefted by 

 ballot, and three diflentients exclude a candidate ; an ordi- 

 nary member may alfo be elefted an honorary member, who 

 enjoys the privileges of the others, and receives a diploma, 

 but is freed the obligation of attendance, delivering papers 

 in rotation, &c. to which the ordinary members are fubjeft ; 

 but in this cafe the votes niuft be unanimous ; the meetings 

 of this fociety are held every Saturday evening, in their 

 own hall, during the winter feafon, when papers on medical 

 fubjefts are delivered by the feveral members in rotation ; 

 and four of thefe are annually elefted to fill the chair in ro- 

 tation, with the title of annual prefidents. 



The Royal Medical Society of Paris was inftituted in 

 1776. The members are divided into alfociates ordinary, 

 limited to thirty, honorary to twelve, extraordinary to fixty, 

 and foreign to fixty, and correfpondents. This fociety has 

 publiflied feveral volumes of Memoirs in 4to. 



The Medical and Chinirgical Society of London, in Ve- 

 rulam Buildings, Gray's-Inn, was eftabliftied in 1805. Its 

 council confifts of a prefident, and 15 vice-prefidents : it 

 has a treafurer, two fecretaries, and a foreign fecretary. 



Society, Philofophical, defignated by the ftyle and title 

 of the " Royal Inftitution," was eftabhihed in the year 

 1799, and in its charter of incorporation, ftates that it is 

 formed with a view " of diffufing the knowledge and facih- 

 tating the general introduftion of ufeful mechanical improve- 

 ments ; and for teaching, by courfes of philofophical lec- 

 tures and experiments, the application of fcience to the 

 common purpofes of life." In the execution of this plan, 

 a fpacious and commodious houfe was purchafed in Albe- 

 marle-ftreet, where convenient rooms have been prepared 

 for the reception and public exhibition of all fuch new me- 

 chanical inventions and improvements as fhall be thought 

 worthy of public notice, and proper to be publicly ex- 

 hibited ; and, more efpecially, of all fuch contrivances as 

 tend to increafe the conveniencies and comforts of life, to 

 promote domeltic economy, to improve tafte, or to advance 

 ufeful induftry. Working models are provided and exhi- 

 bited, of fuch new mechanical inventions as are applicable 

 to the common purpofes of life. A lefture room is alfo 

 fitted up for philofophical leftures and experiments ; a com- 

 plete laboratory and philofophical apparatus, with the necef- 

 fary inftruments for making philofophical and chemical ex- 

 periments, are provided ; and men of the firft eminence, in 

 various branches of fcience, are engaged for carrying into 

 full effeft this important and ufeful part of the plan. A 

 library well furnifhed with books in various departments of 

 literature and fcience is alfo provided. Accefs to the library 

 and leftures may be had on certain conditions. 



4 



Societies of a fimilar kind, but in a lefs perfeft and 

 fplendid ftate, although in fome refpefts no lefa ufeful, are 

 the London, Surrey, and Ruflel inllitutions. See the article 

 London. 



Society of London, Philofophical, which owed its rife and 

 prefent flourilhing ilate, in a very great degree, to the aftive 

 and perfevering exertions of the ingenious T. J. Pettigrew, ^ 

 efq. was founded in Oftober 1810. The objeas of this f 

 fociety, ftated in its addrefs to the public, are to fofter 

 genius, to eradicate unphilofophical prejudice, to increafe 

 the knowledge of nature and of man, to dettroy, as much 

 as poflible, the falfe definition of words, which has been fo 

 juftly reprobated by Bacon and Locke, as the origin of fo- 

 phiftry and mifconception ; but, above all, to remove the 

 barrier erefted by pedantry againft univerfal knowledge, 

 and to fubdue an efprit de corps, which has been introduced 

 into philofophy, tending to confine it within the narrow 

 limits of fefts, and preventing its natural diffufion among 

 mankind. The means adopted to attain thefe objefts are, 

 firft, to promote a literary talle by the ereftion of a library- 

 common to all the members ; humbly to diffufe more widely 

 a familiarity with fcience by leftures in every department of 

 philofophy ; and thereby to cultivate a correft mode of rea- 

 foning, by fubjefting thofe leftures to a rigorous fubfequent 

 inveitigation, and by introducing difcuflions which corre- 

 fpond with the general objefts of the fociety. In this 

 fociety there are three clafies of members, ^';a. ordinary, 

 honorary, and correfponding. Every ordinary member 

 pays at his entrance the fum of two guineas, which fhall 

 be repeated annually ; he fhall alfo fubfcribe to the regula- 

 tions of the fociety ; and upon withdrawing hirafelf forfeit 

 all title to the property of the fociety. No perfon fhall be 

 deemed eligible as an honorary member, unlefs he be author 

 of fome fcientific work of celebrity, or profeflor of fome 

 branch of philofophy ; and the fame qualifications are re- 

 quired in a correfponding member, except in the cafe of fuch 

 ordinary members, removed from town, as the council may 

 think proper to admit. A perfon propofed for admifCon 

 muft be recommended by three members, whofe names, to- 

 gether with that of the perfon nominated, fhall be hung up 

 in the fociety's lefture-room fifteen days previous to his 

 being ballotted for by the council. In ballots, three black 

 balls fhall be confidered as a rejeftion. Each member fhall 

 be allowed to introduce three perfons at the ordinary meet- 

 ings of the fociety ; and he fhall alfo be permitted to borrow 

 books of the fociety. The fociety fhall meet on every 

 Thurfday, at eight o'clock in the evening, and a lefture 

 fhall be delivered at every alternate Thurfday, and the in- 

 termediate meetings fhall be occupied in difcuffing the pre- 1 

 ceding lefture, or in the difculfion of fome philofophical | 

 queftion, which may have been fubmitted to and approved of 

 by the council. The fociety fhall meet every alternate 

 Tuefday evening at the fame time, to converfe on philofo- 

 phical fubjefts, or for the reading of papers previoufly pre- 

 fented to and approved of by the council. In the difcuf- 

 fions and proceedings of the fociety, theological and political 

 fubjefts fhall not be admitted. 



The bufinefs of the fociety is condufted by a prefident, 

 eight vice-prefidents, a treafurer and fecretary, two cura- 

 tors, a regiftrar and afliftant, and a council compofed of j 

 eighteen members ; all of thefe are elefted annually. The ; 

 patrons of the fociety are the dukes of Kent and Suffex. 

 The number of members already amounts to 200, and the 

 library confifts of about 500 volumes. In both thefe re- g 

 fpefts the fociety is receiving numerous acceflions. 1 

 Society Iflands, in Geography, a clufter of fix iflands \a | 

 the Pacific ocean, fo called by captain Cook in 1769, be- , 

 caufe they be contiguous to each other, fo that he did not 



think 



