18 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [dec. 6, 
Societies and scientific men should be treated so niggardly as com- 
pared with those in England and Ireland. It cannot be because 
she does no scientific work. It is sometimes said, indeed, that in 
literary matters Scotland, and especially Edinburgh, is a mere 
shadow of her former self ; but in science this is not the case, and 
it is towards scientific matters that the great ploughshare of human 
thought and activity is, in this age, directed. I question if any 
country in the world, taking into consideration its size, can show a 
better record of scientific work, or a more excellent volume of scien- 
tific literature, than Scotland, during the past ten or twenty years. 
There can be no doubt that Scotland has a great grievance in the 
fact that her learned Societies do not receive the same consideration 
from Government as do similar societies in other parts of the United 
Kingdom, and in the fact that the administration of all the grants, 
in which she may be supposed to have a right to participate, is cen- 
tralised in London and controlled by London Committees. Scotland 
was refused a representative on the Meteorological Council, where 
the expenses of the members are paid. Two representatives of this 
Society are allowed on the committee of sixty members, which dis- 
tributes the grant of <£4000 for research; but when two members of 
the Council are sent twice a year to London it costs this Society 
£50 annually, — a considerable charge against its funds. But there 
is a unanimous opinion among Scottish scientific men that there 
should be a grant in aid of the learned societies of Scotland, for the 
purposes of scientific research, analogous to the Government grant 
of £4000 to the Royal Society of London, which is distributed by 
a committee in London. Several of the best qualified men in Scot- 
land hesitate to apply for aid from the London committee, and, 
especially as many of the younger men have been frequently dis- 
appointed, there has sprung up a firm belief that the only satisfac- 
tory arrangement for the scientific men resident in the northern 
part of Great Britain is that there should be a grant for scientific 
research to be distributed by a committee in Scotland, which would 
be fully conversant with the nature of the investigations to be 
undertaken, and personally acquainted with the applicants. There 
can be little doubt that such a grant distributed locally would have 
the effect of removing many of the barriers which at present impede 
the progress of science in Scotland. 
