4 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
of the latter from Florence in 1667, on being made a Cardinal, was 
followed by the decline and virtual extinction of this remarkable 
Society. This is considered by Mr Hallam as a proof of the incon- 
veniences attending such exalted patronage of literary societies ; 
yet it does not seem to afford a sufficient reason for the cessation 
of the labours of a society which gave such indisputable proofs of 
vigour, whose Transactions remain a book of reference to this day, 
and whose members, including the best and ablest pupils of G-alileo, 
were well able to sustain their position amongst the learned men of 
Europe. 
The wide reputation of the Florentine Essays contributed, no 
doubt, to the establishment — also under Koyal sanction — of the 
Royal Society of London. This took place in November 1660, 
immediately after the Restoration, and from that time their pro- 
ceedings may be traced with minute precision. Founded originally 
upon the basis of a private Society for the cultivation of Natural 
and Experimental Science instituted in 1615, it was incorporated by 
charter in 1662, four years before the Academy of Sciences of Paris 
was instituted in 1666 under the auspices of Colbert. This last 
was incorporated with the previously existing Academie Frangaise 
founded for the cultivation of the French Language and Literature, 
much after the manner of the Crusca Academy in Italy. 
The Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of London sub- 
sist, it is needless to say, to this day ; and each in their own sphere, 
and in varying ways, according to the exigencies of the time, have 
contributed in the most important way to the improvement of the 
Physical and Mathematical Sciences. The unbroken series of 
Transactions of both are without a parallel in the history of know- 
ledge for continuity and importance. The publication of the 
“ Philosophical Transactions ” commenced in monthly numbers 
on the 1st March 1665. Our own Society has very recently ac- 
quired for the first tirhe a complete set of these publications 
from the commencement, — an acquisition of some difficulty and 
importance. 
An hundred and twenty years elapsed before the progress of 
knowledge and of organisation in the sister kingdoms of Scotland 
and Ireland sufficed for the formal institution of associations on 
similar principles and with similar ends to the Royal Society. The 
