292 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
Whilst philosophers are encouraged by these societies to investi- 
gate, by knowing that their discoveries will be recorded and pub- 
lished by the societies of which they are members, others who 
may or may not be members, when they see these discoveries 
and study their bearings, are often able to turn them to account, 
and in a way never anticipated by the authors. Hundreds of cases 
can be stated, where papers published in scientific transactions, on 
being perused and studied by other inquirers often in a distant 
part of the world, have been to them as bridges, enabling them to 
pass over difficulties which previously had obstructed progress, and 
on the brink of which they had been sitting in despair. 
That scientific societies contribute immensely to the advance- 
ment of knowledge, may be farther inferred from this circum- 
stance, that as it is during the last fifty years that discoveries 
and inventions have been more plentiful than in any former age, 
so it is during the last fifty years that these societies have multi- 
plied, and a wide circulation given to their published transactions. 
To these societies mainly, mankind is therefore indebted for the 
marvellous contrivances and processes which distinguish the pre- 
sent age above all that have preceded it. Most of these — such as 
electro-magnetism, electro-plating, photography, artificial light, 
improved telescopes and microscopes, steam machinery, ancesthe- 
tical agents and medical disinfectants — sprung out of experiments, 
observations, or speculations, were very unpromising as regarded 
any practical utility when first announced, but ultimately became 
sources of incalculable material wealth, as well as of vastly in- 
creased comfort and enjoyment to man. 
These triumphs of modern science, are also the chief elements of 
our present civilisation, and for them the world is indebted chiefly 
to scientific bodies such as ours. 
Y. In adverting to the last head of this address, viz. : — on the 
best way of encouraging and aiding such societies as ours, I have to 
remark that it may be effected in two ways, viz , — directly, by 
grants and accommodations from the State ; and indirectly, by 
creating among all classes of the population a greater taste for 
scientific pursuits. 
1. Taking the indirect method first, it is hardly necessary to 
