2 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
Monday, December 1862. 
Principal Forbes, one of the Vice-Presidents, delivered the 
following Opening Address : — • 
G-entlembn, — I propose to address you on this occasion with re- 
ference to the following points : — 
First, to recapitulate briefly the origin, the objects, and the Con- 
stitution of Societies similar to our own. 
Secondly, to trace the rise and general history of the Eoyal So- 
ciety of Edinburgh. 
Thirdly, to consider what changes the progress of science and of 
society render necessary or desirable in the working of associations 
like ours, and how far such changes are safe and prudent. 
Lastly, to , recall the history of this Society during the past 
twelve months, especially with reference to the Fellows whom it has 
lost. 
I. To recapitulate briefly the Origin, Objects, and Constitution of 
Societies similar to our own. 
Societies having any true analogy to the academies of modern 
Europe, or to the Eoyal Societies of London and Edinburgh, or the 
Eoyal Irish Academy, have arisen within about 300 years. Italy 
was their birth-place, and perhaps, on the whole, in no country have 
they flourished more. They appear to have been the direct off- 
spring of the spirit of inquiry so active in that country throughout 
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. According to the literary 
historians of Italy, the cultivation of literature by academicians, 
salaried by the G-overnment, commenced at Eome in 1514, under 
the Pontiflcate of Leo X. It is well known, that the cultivation of 
literature and the flne arts continued to be fostered in Italy by 
similar institutions during many generations. The Accademia 
della Crusca (named after the Italian word for bran or chaff, from 
the fanciful analogy of sifting the pure from the heterogeneous 
parts of the language), and the Society of Arcadians, which still 
