resolutions drawn up at the time, in which it was "agreed that records should be made of all the works of nature and art of which any account could be obtained; so that the present age and posterity might be able to mark the errors which have been strengthened by long prescription, to restore truths which have been long neglected, and to extend the uses of those already known; thus making the way easier to those which were yet unknown. It was also resolved to admit men of different religions, professions, and nations, in order that the knowledge of nature might be freed from the prejudices of sects, and from a bias in favour of any particular branch of learning, and that all mankind might as much as possible be engaged in the pursuit of philosophy, which it was proposed to reform not by laws and ceremonies, but by practice and example. It was further resolved that the Society should not be a school where some might teach and others be taught, but rather a sort of laboratory where all persons might operate independently of one another.” * We have already seen what an immense amount of good, direct and indirect, has flowed from the Royal Society; we may now see in this brief outline of its original views that such admirable results have been but the natural consequences of admirable principles. The combined objects and effects of all the learned societies of the present day could hardly be more accurately described than they are in this important document dated nearly two centuries back. And it was no mere flourish of the pen, but a genuine preparation for downright hard labour. The world of knowledge was before the members to choose what paths they would, and with characteristic ardour they chose all, or something very like all; but that was in consequence of the universality of their minds, not through conceit, or presumption; and they went to work with a full consciousness of what would be demanded from them. They divided themselves into committees. In March, 1644, we find no less than eight of these in operation; one to consider and improve all mechanical inventions, a second to study astronomy and optics, a third to study anatomy, a fourth chemistry, a fifth geology, a sixth the histories of trade, a seventh to collect all the phenomena of nature hitherto observed, and all experiments made and recorded; an eighth to manage the correspondence; whilst later in the year we find a ninth constituted, it having been "suggested that there were several persons of the Society whose genius was very proper and inclined to improve the English tongue, and particularly for philosophical purposes;" which can hardly be questioned when we know that among the members of the Society were such men as John Dryden and Edmund Waller, both of whom, with Evelyn and Spratt, were included in the committee then voted. Among the other members of the Society at the same time were Dr. Ent, the friend and defender of Harvey; Boyle, the great cultivator of experimental science; Sir Kenelm Digby; the poets Denham and Cowley; Ashmole, Aubrey, Isaac Barrow, Hooke, the distinguished chemist and mechanician, who professed to have anticipated Newton, a somewhat later member of the Society, in his grandest discoveries; Spratt, another poet in his way, afterwards Bishop of Rochester; and many others of scarcely less distinction. At the same time one must acknowledge that some of the occupations of this august assembly must excite a smile. Boyle was at one time requested to examine the truth of the notion, that a fish suspended by a thread would turn towards the wind. At another the members of the Society tested by direct experiment the truth of the opinion that a spider could not get out of a sphere enclosed within a circle formed of a powdered unicorn's horn! Let us step in here beneath Sir William Chambers's sumptuous archway at Somerset House, and passing through a door on the left, ascend the circular

staircase to the apartments of which it enjoys the use through the liberality of the crown. We must not expect to find the vigour that characterised its youth. It was no doubt a consciousness of some little fallings-off that first prompted Davy, when he became its president, to propose his magnificent scheme of making the Royal Society an efficient establishment for all the great purposes of science, similar to the college contemplated by Lord Bacon, and sketched in his New Atlantis;' having subordinate to it the Royal Observatory at Greenwich for astronomy, the British Museum for natural history in its most extensive acceptation, and a laboratory founded for chemical investigation, amply provided with all the means requisite for original inquiry, and extending the boundaries and the resources of this most important national science." But government was lukewarm, and before Davy could collect funds from the fellows to carry out the scheme in part at least among themselves, he died. Well, if there be, as we have observed, less of the original activity of the Society exhibited now than of yore, we have at all events got rid of the fish-weathercocks and the circle-charmed spiders.

At the yearly anniversary, gold medals are conferred upon the authors of the best papers on experimental philosophy, written in the preceding twelve months, and who are often personally present to receive them from the hands of the President, with some suitable remarks on the occasion made in the course of his general address. One honourable feature characterises the grant of these medals-they are conferred indifferently on foreigners and Englishmen. Besides the general advantages attending the right of witnessing and sharing in all the proceedings of the body, Fellows receive a direct return for some portion of their subscription in the current yearly volume of the great publication of the Society, the Philosophical Transactions,' of which above 130 volumes have now been issued, and which, in Sir Humphry Davy's words, "remain monuments of all the country has possessed of profound in experimental research, or ingenious in discovery, or sublime in speculative science, from the time of Hooke and Newton to that of Maskelyne and Cavendish."

Of the SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, which holds its meetings in apartments adjoining those of the Royal Society, and on the same evenings, but at an earlier hour, we need say very little. It was in existence as early as the reign of Elizabeth, when a few distinguished scholars, headed by Archbishop Parker and Sir Robert Cotton, formed themselves into a body for the preservation of our national antiquities. From thence to 1617 various attempts were made to obtain a charter of incorporation, but ineffectually, and the Society then died away. In 1707 a new body was constituted, comprising Peter le Neve, Madox the Exchequer antiquary, and others, who met first at the Bear in the Strand, then at the Young Devil' in Fleet Street (a rival, we presume, of the famous 'Old Devil' of poetical memory), and then at the Fountain over against Chancery Lane. Here Stukeley, Samuel and Roger Gale, and Browne Willis joined them, and a little later George Vertue, the illustrious engraver, became a zealous member. Many other removals took place; but at last, in 1750, a charter was obtained, and since then of course all has gone on very smoothly. Numerous publications have appeared, some of great value, more particularly the 'Archæologia,' which is to the Antiquarian Society what the 'Philosophical Transactions' are to the Royal, a place of deposit for all the more important communications submitted to its notice. Its members are nearly as numerous as those of the Royal Society which in all its arrangements for admission, government, &c., it closely resembles.

Of the other Societies we can give no more than the following Alphabetical List for the year 1851.

CYCLOPEDIA OF LONDON.

Pres.--(vacant).

Secs.-E. Bentley, M.D., and N. Ward.

ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND, 12, Hanover Square.

Pres.-Duke of Richmond.

Sec. James Hudson.

ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY,
5, New Burlington Street.

Pres.-Earl of Ellesmere.
Dir.-Professor H. H. Wilson.
Sec.-R. Clarke.

Assistant Sec.-E. Norris.

ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY,
Somerset House.

Pres.-G. B. Airy, Astron. Royal.

Secs.-A. De Morgan and Captain R. H.
Manners, R.N.

For. Sec.-J. R. Hind.
Assist. Sec.-J. Williams.

ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY, REGENT'S PARK,

Pres.-Duke of Norfolk.

Treas.-E. Majoribanks.
Sec.-J. De Carle Sowerby.
Curator-R. Marnock.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS,
Pall Mall East.

Pres.-J. Ayrton Paris, M.D.
Treas.-Thomas Monro, M.D.

Registrar-Francis Hawkins, M.D.
Sec.-Robert L. Rawes.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS,
Lincoln's Inn Fields.

Pres.-J. M. Arnott.

383

Vice-Pres.-J. H. South and C. H. Hawkins.
Sec.-Edmund Belfour.

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY,

3, Waterloo Place.

Pres.-Capt. Wm. H. Smyth, R.N.

Hon. Secs.-J. Hogg and Professor F. H.
Trithen.

Assist. Sec. and Editor of Journal-Dr.
Norton Shaw.

ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS,
16, Grosvenor Street.

Pres.-Earl De Grey.

Secs.-J. J. Scoles and C. C. Nelson.
Librarian-F. H. Webb.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, ALBEMARLE STREET,
Pres.-Duke of Northumberland.
Sec.-Rev. John Barlow.

Assist. Sec. and Lib.-B. Vincent.

ROYAL LITERARY FUND,

73, Great Russell Street.

Patron-The Queen.

Pres.-Marquess of Lansdowne.

Sec.-Octavian Blewitt.

ROYAL MEDICO-BOTANICAL SOCIETY,

32, Sackville Street.

Pres.-Earl Stanhope.

Secs. John Foote and D. Watkins.

ROYAL MEDICAL AND CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY, 53, Berners Street.

Pres.-Thomas Addison, M.D.

Secs.-S. Thompson, M.D., and C. S. King.

ROYAL SOCIETY, SOMERSET HOUSE.
Pres.-Earl of Rosse.

Vice-Pres. and Treas.-George Rennie.
Secs.-Thos. Bell and S. Hunter Christie.
For. Sec.-Lieut.-Col. Sabine.

Assist. Sec. and Lib.-C. R. Weld,
Clerk-Walter White.