SOCIETIES. 
sSiould amount to a sum equal to the claims 
of very numerous applicants, its bounties 
are necessarily confined to the residents of 
Great Britain and Ireland, except an ex- 
press intimation to the contrary occursj nor 
can any person receive a premium who 
has obtained a patent for his discovery or 
improvement ; besides,' every person claim- 
ing is expected to act in the same open and 
ingenuous manner adopted by the society, 
for should he be detected in any unfair 
attempts to secure success, he not only for- 
feits all pretensions for the time, but is ren- 
dered incapable of future apjjlication. 
The performances sent each year, which 
have obtained rewards, are left in the pos- 
session of the institution till after the pub- 
lic distribution of them, but no member 
can be a candidate for any thing more than 
the honorary medal of the society. “ The 
candidates are, in all cases, expected to 
furnish a particular account of the subject 
of their claims ; and where certificates are 
required to be produced in claim of pre- 
miums, they are to be expressed as clearly 
as possible in the words of the respective 
advertisements, and to be signed by per- 
sons who have a positive knowledge of the 
facts stated. Where premiums or bounties 
are obtained, in consequence of specimens 
produced, the society retains such part of 
those specimens as it judges necessary ; at 
the same time, making reasonable compen- 
sation to the party concerned, who cannot 
be admitted to any of the meetings of the 
society, or its committees, or at their rooms, 
after they have delivered their claims, un- 
less they are summoned by the latter. The 
stated periods for distributing the rewards 
produce a most interesting series of spec- 
tacles, which are not perhaps equalled by 
the operations of any other society. 
Were we to follow the subject of this 
article to the extent it deserves, we should 
enter into an account of the 
SociETY/or the relief of persons confined 
for small debts, which originated in the be- 
nevolent mind of Dr. Dodd, and has been 
.continued to the present moment with great 
success : and of the 
Society, Royal Humane, for the recovery 
of persons from supposed death, and of various 
.others under different denominations, ex- 
clusive of the 
Societies, benefit, which have recently, 
jmder the authority of an act of parliament, 
been established throughout the kingdom ; 
iand which deserve every possible encourage- 
pent, as by their operation the poorest la- 
bourer may, by the weekly deposit of a very 
small portion of his earnings, assist in form- 
ing a fund that will, in the event of illness, 
afford him every comfort, and a decent fu- 
neral should it prove fatal. 
Several most respectable and laudable 
societies have lately been founded, as the 
London Institution, the Surry Institution, 
the Russell Institution, and the Royal Insti- 
tution; of the Royal and London Institu- 
tions we shall proceed to give some account. 
Royal Institution. Tlie immediate 
origin of this important society will be best 
explained by the following short extract 
from a letter written by Count Rumford, 
in 1799, to the Committee of the society, 
for “ bettering the condition of the poor.” 
“ Inclosed I have the honour to send you 
a corrected copy of the proposals I took 
the liberty of laying before you on Thurs- 
day last, for forming in this capital, by 
private subscription, a public institution 
for diffusing the knowledge, and facilitating 
the general and speedy introduction of new 
and useful mechanical inventions and im- 
provements ; and also for teaching, by re- 
gular courses of philosophical lectures and 
experiments, the application of the new dis- 
coveries in science, to the improvement of 
arts and manufactures, and in facilitating 
the means of procuring the comforts and 
conveniencies of life.” 
The Committee made use of the first op- 
portiinity of communicating the above pro- 
posal to the society of which they were the 
acting members ; the society immediately 
appointed a new Committee to confer with 
the Count, and they reported, “ that they 
were satisfied that the institution proposed 
by him would be extremely beneficial and 
interesting to the community;” and they 
recommended that, in order to procure the 
necessary sum of money for establishing it, 
subscribers of fifty guineas each should be- 
come perpetual proprietors of the new in- 
stitution ; and that each of those persons 
should have perpetual transferable tickets 
for the lectures, besides admission to the 
apartments; further proposing, that when 
thirty such subscribers were obtained they 
should be invited to meet to receive the 
plan, and elect managers for the future pro- 
ceedings. This report was favourably re- 
ceived and adopted, and a paper was im- 
mediately printed, explaining the proposed 
institution, and inviting those to whom it 
was communicated to become subscribers 
on the above terms ; fifty-eight names were 
instantly procured, of the highest respect* 
