106 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol,. VL, No. 131. 



infant society the name which has now become 

 historic ; it hmits the membership to fortj' per- 

 sons ; and it confers upon the cliief and pro- 

 tector, Cardinal Richelieu, the authorization 

 of officers, statutes, and by-laws. Various 

 other names had been proposed, -^1' Academic 

 des beaux esprits, I'Academie de I'^loquence, 

 I'Academie ^minente, — but finall}' Academic 

 fran9aise was selected, because it was more 

 modest and more appropriate. 



The original statutes define in much detail 

 the sphere of the academ}-, and its methods of 

 procedure. Its purpose is thus stated in the 

 twentj^-fourth article. " The principal func- 

 tion of the academy will be to labor with all 

 possible care and diligence to give certain rules 

 to our language, and to make it pure, eloquent, 

 and capable of treating the arts and the sci- 

 ences." In subsequent paragraphs, provision 

 is made for the distribution of the best French 

 authors among the academicians who are to 

 make a note of such words and phrases as sug- 

 gest general rules of correct expression, the 

 entire academy being the judge of what is thus 

 presented. The preparation of four works — 

 a dictionar}', a grammar, a rhetoric, and a 

 l^oetr}^ — is projected. At ever}^ regular meet- 

 ing, one of the academicians, in his turn, is to 

 present a discourse in prose, reading it or 

 reciting it as he chooses. He ma}^ select any 

 theme, but must restrict himself in delivery to 

 fifteen, or, at most, thirtj' minutes. The rest 

 of the session is to be devoted to the examina- 

 tion of works which have been presented to the 

 academy, or to the prosecution of the four 

 great tasks alreadv mentioned. Ever}' dis- 

 course before the academy- is to be referred to 

 two censors, who shall report within a month 

 their observations upon it, and the author, 

 within the following month, shall submit to the 

 commissioners the corrections which he ma}' 

 have made in accordance with their sugges- 

 tions. Similar steps are to be taken in respect 

 to other works submitted to the judgment of 

 the acadeni}'. Brief rules are laid down to 

 make the criticism truh' effective. The com- 

 missioners or censors are not to keep copies of 

 the papers the}' examine, nor of their observa- 

 tions upon them ; faults are to be pointed out 

 with deference and courtesy. The corrections 

 are to be received in the same spirit ; the ap- 

 probation of the academy will be expressed 

 without praise, and in accordance with a pre- 

 scribed formula. Works indorsed by the 

 academy, after such scrutiny as has been men- 

 tioned, may be published ' by order of the 

 French academy ; ' but no academician may 

 indicate his membership in the academy on the 



titlepage of a work not submitted to the criti- 

 cism of his associates, or not approved by their 

 action. The rules which the academy pre- 

 scribes in respect to language or orthography 

 must be followed by all the academicians in 

 prose and verse. All revelation of the confi- 

 dences of the academy, in criticism or praise, 

 is forbidden under penalty of disgraceful and 

 irremediable 'expulsion . 



By these severe methods, the literary men 

 in Paris, in the middle of the seventeenth 

 century, endeavored to hold themselves and 

 their countrymen up to a high standard of 

 literary excellence. The results have been 

 apparent from that time to this, in the clear- 

 ness, the fitness, and the grace, which have 

 characterized French writers, not only those 

 of genius and erudition, but those of hum- 

 bler standing. In later days, other acade- 

 mies in Paris have shared with the French its 

 lofty rank ; and perhaps there is less reason 

 now than there was two centuries ago, for such 

 concerted action in the improvement of the 

 French language, and in the promotion of a 

 pure style ; yet no one can read the story of 

 those primitive days without admiration for 

 the spirit which conceived this lofty idea of the 

 benefits of literary criticism, severe and con- 

 siderate, and which upheld the advantages of 

 co-operative efforts in the advancement of let- 

 ters. Among all the literary clubs of the world, 

 none has attained to such acknowledged 

 authority, none has come so near to immor- 

 tality, none has had such wide-spread influence, 

 as that which sprang into life at the magic 

 touch of Richelieu two centuries and a half as^o. 



EXPLORATION IN INDO-CHINA.^ 



On the 12th of December, 1883, I left London for 

 Liverpool, and embarked the next day for Eangoon. 



Luckily I was introduced to the Rev. Dr. J. N. 

 Gushing before leaving the steamer, and, as he was 

 the best-known Shan scholar, and had previously 

 traversed part of the country I intended to explore, 

 I induced liim to join my party. Having procured the 

 necessary passports, and paid my official calls, I left 

 for Maulmain to make arrangements for the journey. 



On the 12th of January I sent my boys on with the 

 luggage to Shwaygoon, a town some sixty miles dis- 

 tant from Maulmain up the Salween River, and fol- 

 lowed with Mr. Ross, of the Bombay-Burmah trading 

 company, on the 15th, in a steam-launch. The same 

 day we left in carts for Hlineboay, where we arranged 

 for hiring elephants for both of our parties. Returning 

 to Shwaygoon, I made a boat-journey up the Salween 

 as far as Yembine, to see whether it was practicable 

 to carry a railway in that direction. On my return to 



1 From an article by Holt S. Hallett in the London Graphic. 



