THE 
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
AUGUST, 1880. 
I. REPORT- ON SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
By Dr. C. K. Akin. 
UR readers are doubtless aware that some years ago 
there was a formal inquiry as to the most efficient 
means for the advancement of Science in England. 
The following letters on this important subject were, ad- 
dressed to Professor Stokes, Secretary of the Royal Society, 
by a gentleman well acquainted with the universities and 
learned societies of most parts of the Continent. They 
have never been published, and as they have been kindly 
placed at our disposal by the author we gladly embrace the 
opportunity of laying them before our readers.— Ed. J. S. 
Pesth, June 24, 1870. 
My Dear Sir, 
As the terms of appointment of the Royal Commis- 
sion of which you are a member make reference to England 
only, perhaps you were astonished at my wishing to tender 
it any advice. But, on consideration, you will no doubt 
agree with me that, Science being in its essence cosmopoli- 
tan, whatever concerns the science of any nation cannot but 
awaken the interest of scientific men at large, of whatever 
country. You will also recoiled! that, in the course of a 
more than three years’ residence, in the aggregate, at Cam- 
bridge, Oxford, and London, I have had some experience of 
the state of Science in England; which I have been able to 
compare with the corresponding state of things in Germany 
and in France, having spent, both previous and subsequent 
to my stay in England, seven or eight years on the whole at 
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