ever been esteemed highly commendable and usefull, not only to
improve the minds of men, but also to incite them to virtuous
and noble actions, and such as may hereafter render them
famous and worthy examples to late posterity."
The qualifications of a fellow are thus defined in the charter:--
"By how much any persons shall be more excelling in the
knowledge of the Antiquities and History of this and other
nations; by how much the more they are desirous to promote
the Honour, Business, and Emoluments of this Society; and by
how much the more eminent they shall be for Piety, Virtue,
Integrity, and Loyalty: by so much the more fit and worthy
shall such person be judged of being elected and admitted into
the said Society."
Like the Royal Society, the Society of Antiquaries was to have
and employ a sergeant-at-mace, and apartments were allotted to it
in Somerset House. From this close neighbourhood grew an intimate
association between the two societies. Many persons belonged to both,
and although the paths of the two societies have since diverged, that
is still so in the case of about twenty fellows. A practice grew up
of attending each other's meetings. For more than forty years that
agreeable form of interchange has ceased, and the societies contemplate
each other from opposite corners of the quadrangle of Burlington House.
The Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries dined together for many years
on St. George's Day, April 23, the day prescribed for their anniversary
by the charter; but after a while the custom fell into disuse, and it
has only been revived of late years.
In 1753 the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and
Commerce, now called the Royal Society of Arts, was established. It
held its first public meeting in March, 1754. It was incorporated by
Royal Charter in 1847, and has for its objects:--
"the encouragement of the arts, manufactures, and commerce
of the country, by bestowing rewards for such productions,
inventions, or improvements as tend to the employment of the
poor, to the increase of trade, and to the riches and honour
of the kingdom; and for meritorious works in the various
departments of the fine arts; for discoveries, inventions
and improvements in agriculture, chemistry, mechanics,
manufactures, and other useful arts; for the application
of such natural and artificial products, whether of home,
colonial, or foreign growth and manufacture, as may appear
likely to afford fresh objects of industry, and to increase
the trade of the realm by extending the sphere of British
commerce; and generally to assist in the advancement,
development, and practical application of every department
of science in connection with the arts, manufactures, and
commerce of this country."
Between 1754 and 1783 it distributed £28,434 by way of premiums for
inventions. For more than a century and a half the society has devoted
itself with unabated zeal to the promotion of its objects--by meetings,
examinations, exhibitions, and in many other ways.
On January 13, 1800, the Royal Institution was founded. In the words
of one of its most distinguished professors, it has been a fertile
source of the popularity of science. By means of its lectures, its
laboratories, its libraries, and its rewards for research, it greatly
stimulated public interest in scientific pursuits when there were few
other bodies in existence capable of doing so. It continues to perform
the same useful function, notwithstanding the great increase in the
number of specialist societies since it was established. A feature of
its lectures is the annual course "adapted to a juvenile auditory." It
has appointed as its professors some of the most illustrious scientific
men, such as Sir Humphry Davy (up to 1812), Brande (1813 to 1852, and
afterwards as honorary professor), Faraday (1852), and Tyndall (1853).
The late Prince Consort (Albert the Good) took great interest in its
work, and frequently presided at its weekly meetings. It has a Board of
Managers, and also a Committee of Visitors, annually elected, and the
visitors make an annual report on the state of the institution. After
some early pecuniary difficulties it entered on a career of steady
prosperity.
In 1807 the Geological Society was founded. The science of geology
was very much opposed to popular notions derived from a literal
interpretation of the Hebrew cosmogony, and was accordingly unpopular
among those who held those notions; but the society steadily pursued
its object, and can now look back upon the hundred years of its
existence with pride and satisfaction. In one of his presidential
addresses Sir Charles Lyell quoted the observation of Hutton, that
"We can see neither the beginning nor the end of that vast series of
phenomena which it is our business as geologists to investigate."
Leonard Horner, another distinguished president, claimed that the
society had been a "powerful instrument for the advancement of
geological science, a centre of good fellowship, and a band of
independent scientific men, who steadily and fearlessly promote the
cause of truth." The society grants an annual medal, founded in memory
of Wollaston, which has been frequently awarded to foreign geologists
of distinction; and it also administers a fund bequeathed by him to
promote useful researches in geology.
In November, 1820, Dr. Burgess, the Bishop of St. David's, obtained
an audience of King George IV., and laid before him a plan for the
establishment of a Royal Society of Literature. The King took so
warm an interest in the project as to assign out of his privy purse
an annual sum of 1,100 guineas, out of which pensions of 100 guineas
each were awarded to ten royal associates of the society, and two
medals annually granted to distinguished literary men. Among the
royal associates were Samuel Taylor Coleridge, T. R. Malthus, William
Roscoe, and Sharon Turner. Among the medallists were Dugald Stewart,
Walter Scott, Robert Southey, Washington Irving, and Henry Hallam. Upon
September 15, 1825, the society received its Charter of Incorporation,
in which its object is defined to be:--
"the advancement of literature by the publication of inedited
remains of ancient literature, and of such works as may be
of great intrinsic value, but not of that popular character
which usually claims the attention of publishers; by the
promotion of discoveries in literature; by endeavouring to fix
the standard, as far as is practicable, and to preserve the
purity of the English language; by the critical improvement
of English lexicography; by the reading at public meetings of
interesting papers on history, philosophy, poetry, philology,
and the arts, and the publication of such of those papers as
shall be approved of; by the assigning of honorary rewards to
works of great literary merit, and to important discoveries in
literature; and by establishing a correspondence with learned
men in foreign countries for the purpose of literary enquiry
and information."
The first method, the publication of inedited and other works, has
been greatly promoted by a bequest to the society of £1,692 from the
Rev. Dr. Richards. Out of the income of this fund the _Orations of
Hyperides_, edited by the Rev. Churchill Babington; the _Discourses
of Philoxenus_, by Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge; the _Chronicle of Adam
of Usk_, by Sir E. Maunde Thompson; Coleridge's _Christabel_, by
E. H. Coleridge; and other valuable works have been provided. The
_Transactions_ of the society also contain many important papers. On
the death of George IV. the annual gift of 100 guineas to each of
the ten royal associates was withdrawn. The society now acknowledges
literary merit by the award of the diploma of Honorary Fellow. In this
capacity many distinguished authors, both in this country and abroad,
have been and are associated with the society.
In its early years the society was hotly attacked by Macaulay, who
held that its claim to be an appreciator of excellence in literature
involved a claim to condemn literature of which it disapproved, and
was equivalent to the establishment of a literary star-chamber. He
illustrated this by a rather feeble apologue, and nothing in the
subsequent history of the society has shown that his apprehensions
had any foundation. It has been very modest in the exercise of the
functions conferred upon it by its charter, which included the
foundation of a college and the appointment of professors. At one time
it did appoint a professor of English archæology and history, and it
called upon every royal associate on his admission to select some
branch of literature on which it should be his duty, once a year at
least, to communicate some disquisition or essay. The subject chosen by
Coleridge was a characteristic one:--
"The relations of opposition and conjunction, in which the
poetry (the Homeric and tragic), the religion, and the
mysteries of ancient Greece stood each to the other; with
the differences between the sacerdotal and popular religion;
and the influences of theology and scholastic logic on the
language and literature of Christendom from the 11th century."
In pursuance of this undertaking he communicated a disquisition on the
"Prometheus" of Æschylus.
In 1827 the Royal Asiatic Society was founded. As its title implies,
it devotes itself to the study of the languages, the literature, the
history, and the traditions of the peoples of Asia, especially of those
inhabiting our Indian dependency. It has enrolled in its ranks many,
if not all, the great Indian administrators and the most distinguished
Asiatic scholars. Daughter societies have been established in the three
Presidencies, and have contributed to the collection of materials for
its work. Its transactions are of acknowledged value and authority.
In its rooms at Albemarle Street a library and museum have been
collected. Its latest publication is a collection of Baluchi poems by
Mr. Longworth Dames, which has also been issued to the members of the
Folk-lore Society.
On September 26, 1831, the British Association for the Advancement
of Science held its first meeting at York. It originated in a letter
addressed by Sir David Brewster to Professor Phillips, as secretary to
the York Philosophical Society. The statement of its objects appended
to its rules, as drawn up by the Rev. William Vernon Harcourt, is as
follows:--
"The Association contemplates no interference with the ground
occupied by other institutions. Its objects are:--To give a
stronger impulse and a more systematic direction to scientific
inquiry--to promote the intercourse of those, who cultivate
science in different parts of the British Empire, with one
another and with foreign philosophers--to obtain a more
general attention to the objects of science, and a removal of
any disadvantages of a public kind which impede its progress."
The association was well described by the late Mr. Spottiswoode
as "general in its comprehensiveness; special in its sectional
arrangement." The general business of its meetings consists (1) in
receiving and discussing communications upon scientific subjects at
the various sections into which it is divided; (2) in distributing,
under the advice of a Committee of Recommendations, the funds arising
from the subscriptions of members and associates; and (3) in electing
a council upon whom devolves the conduct of affairs until the next
meeting. Although the meetings are held in all parts of the United
Kingdom, and have been held in Canada and South Africa, the British
Association may be correctly described as a London learned society, as
its headquarters are in London, where the council meets and directs
its continuous activities. One principal feature of its work, that
of the Research Committees, which, either with or without a grant of
money, pursue special enquiries with the view of reporting to the
next annual meeting, continues throughout the year. The original
designation of what are now the sections was "Committees of Sciences,"
and these were--(1) mathematics and general physics, (2) chemistry and
mineralogy, (3) geology and geography, (4) zoology and botany, (5)
anatomy and physiology, (6) statistics. The sectional arrangement was
begun in 1835, and the sections are now constituted as follows--(_a_)
mathematical and physical science, (_b_) chemistry, (_c_) geology,
(_d_) zoology, (_e_) geography, (_f_) economic science and statistics,
(_g_) engineering, (_h_) anthropology, (_i_) physiology, (_k_) botany,
(_l_) educational science. At each annual meeting, which lasts a week,
the president of the next meeting is chosen, but the previous president
remains in office until the first day (Wednesday) of that meeting, when
he introduces his successor, who delivers an address. Many memorable
addresses have been delivered by the distinguished men who have held
that office. Each section has also a president, chosen for the year,
and he delivers an address at the opening of the proceedings of his
section. These addresses usually relate to the progress during the
year, or during recent years, of the science dealt with by the section,
or to some interesting matter developed by the personal researches of
the president himself. Men of eminence in the various sciences are
generally selected for and willingly accept the office of Sectional
President. The meetings of the British Association have been called
a "Parliament of Science," and its influence in promoting scientific
movements and rendering science popular has been very great.
In 1833 the Royal Geographical Society was founded. It may fairly be
called the most popular of all the special societies, having about
4,000 members. It is also one of the most wealthy, having an income of
about £10,000 a year. It has accumulated a fine series of maps, and a
large library of geographical literature. Its quarterly journal is a
store-house of the most recent information relating to geographical
exploration. By medals and other rewards to explorers, by prizes
awarded in schools and training colleges, by the loan of instruments to
travellers, by the preparation of codes of instruction for their use,
and in many other ways, it applies its resources to the extension of
geographical knowledge. It has taken an active part in the promotion
of Arctic and Antarctic exploration. As geographical researches are
matters of great public interest, its meetings are sometimes important
social functions, as on a recent occasion, when a foreign prince was
the lecturer, and our King attended and spoke.
On March 15, 1834, the Statistical Society (now Royal Statistical) was
founded. It was one of the first fruits of the activity of the British
Association, which established a Statistical Committee at the Cambridge
meeting in 1833, with Babbage as president. Their report recommended
the formation of a society for the careful collection, arrangement,
discussion, and publication of facts bearing on or illustrating the
complex relations of modern society in its social, economical, and
political aspects, especially facts which can be stated numerically and
arranged in tables. The first president was the Marquis of Lansdowne,
and among his successors have been many statesmen, such as Lord John
Russell, Mr. Gladstone, and Lord Goschen; authorities on finance, as
Lord Overstone, Mr. Newmarch, and Lord Avebury; and eminent writers on
statistics, as Dr. Farr, Sir Robert Giffen, and the Right Hon. Charles
Booth. As becomes the orderly mind of a statistician, the society has
been very regular in its publications, having for seventy years issued
a yearly volume in quarterly parts, which form a veritable mine of
statistical information.
The society presents a Guy medal (in memory of Dr. W. A. Guy) to the
authors of valuable papers or to others who have promoted its work, and
a Howard medal (in memory of the great philanthropist) to the author of
the best essay on a prescribed subject, generally having relation to
the public health. It has accumulated a fine library of about 40,000
volumes of a special character, containing the statistical publications
of all civilised countries. It has conducted some special enquiries--as
into medical charities, the production and consumption of meat and
milk, and the farm school system of the Continent--upon which it has
published reports.
Among recent developments of statistical method in which the society
has taken part may be mentioned the use of index-numbers for affording
a standard of comparison between statistics of different years, and
a means of correction of errors that would otherwise arise; and the
increasing use of the higher mathematical analysis in determining
the probabilities of error and defining the curves of frequency in
statistical observations. Professor Edgeworth, Messrs. Bowley, Yule,
Hooker, and others, have made contributions to the _Journal_ of the
society on these matters.
In 1844 an Ethnological Society was established, under the presidency
of Sir Charles Malcolm. Dr. Richard King, the founder, became its
secretary. In 1846 Dr. J. C. Prichard became president, and he and
Dr. King fulfilled respectively the same functions in an ethnological
sub-section of the section of zoology of the British Association, which
then met for the first time. In Prichard's first anniversary address
to the society, he defines ethnology as "the history of human races
or of the various tribes of men who constitute the population of the
world. It comprehends all that can be learned as to their origin and
relations to each other." Prichard died in 1848, and Sir C. Malcolm
resumed the presidency, which he held until his death on November 12,
1851. In that year ethnology was transferred from the zoological to
the geographical section of the British Association. Sir B. C. Brodie
became the next president of the society. He retired in 1854, and was
succeeded by Sir James Clark. The fourth and last volume of the first
series of the society's _Journal_ was published in 1856, and a series
of _Transactions_ begun in 1861. At that time Mr. John Crawfurd was
president of the society, and he retained the office until his death in
1868, when he was succeeded by Professor Huxley.
In 1862 Dr. James Hunt, the Honorary Foreign Secretary of the
Ethnological Society, withdrew from it, and founded the Anthropological
Society of London, which held its first meeting on February 24, 1863,
under his presidency. In his inaugural address, he defined anthropology
as the science of the whole nature of man, and ethnology as the
history or science of nations or races. The new society was active
and aggressive. It published translations of works of such writers
as Broca, Pouchet, Vogt, and Waitz, and of the famous treatise of
Blumenbach. Some of the papers read before it attracted much attention,
and were thought to have a political bias. Many men whose names were
well known in the scientific world adhered to the Ethnological
Society, and that society, under Mr. Crawfurd, entered upon a more
active career. The rivalry between the two societies was prosecuted
with great vigour until January, 1871, when Professor Huxley effected
an amalgamation between them.
The title of the combined societies was agreed upon as the
"Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland," to which,
in 1907, has been added by the King's command the prefix "Royal." In
1871 the department of ethnology in the section of biology in the
British Association became the department of anthropology, and in 1884
anthropology became a section of itself. This was the final recognition
by the Parliament of Science that Hunt had fought for twenty years
before. In the interval, the claim of anthropology to this recognition
had been established by many great works, such as Huxley's _Man's
Place in Nature_, Darwin's _Descent of Man_, Tylor's _Early History
of Mankind_, and Lubbock's _Prehistoric Times_. Besides its annual
_Journal_, the Anthropological Institute publishes a monthly periodical
entitled _Man_, and it has issued several separate monographs. In
1878 the branch of anthropology, aptly termed "Folk-lore" by the late
Mr. W. J. Thoms, became so popular as to call for the establishment
of a separate society, which publishes a quarterly journal entitled
_Folk-lore_, and has annually issued one or more volumes of collections
of folk-lore.
In 1844 a new departure was taken by the establishment of the British
Archæological Association, a body which was intended to take the
same place with regard to archæology that the British Association
occupied with regard to science, holding meetings in various parts of
the country where there existed objects of specially archæological
interest. It held its first meeting at Canterbury, under the presidency
of Lord Albert Conyngham (afterwards Lord Londesborough), and arranged
its work in four sections--primæval, mediæval, architectural, and
historical. Before a second meeting could be held, violent dissensions
arose, and the association split into two. In the result honours were
divided between the two bodies, those who retained the leadership
of Lord Albert retaining also the title of British Archæological
Association; while those who had for their president the Marquis of
Northampton retained the control of the _Archæological Journal_, and
adopted the title of "Archæological Institute of Great Britain and
Ireland," to which has since been prefixed the word "Royal." Both
bodies still exist, though the causes of controversy have long died out.
Shortly afterwards, County Archæological Societies in London and
greater London began to be formed. In 1846 the Sussex Society, in 1853
the Essex Society, in 1854 the Surrey Society, in 1855 the London and
Middlesex Society, and in 1857 the Kent Society were established.
Each of these societies has published transactions and other works of
solid value. In each the annual or more frequent excursion to places
of archæological interest within the county is an essential feature,
tending to the dissemination of knowledge and to the preservation
of antiquities, and affording the advantages of social intercourse.
Societies have also been established for the like purposes within
more restricted areas, as in Hampstead, Battersea, Balham, Lewisham,
Whitechapel, and elsewhere.
Of merely publishing societies, the Percy, the Camden, the Shakespeare,
and the Arundel have run their course; but many others, as the
Roxburgh, the Harleian, the New Palæographic, and the Palæontological
still exist to delight their subscribers with the reproduction of rare
works.
In this summary account of the principal Learned Societies of London it
has not been possible to include many societies of great importance,
such as the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, the numerous
societies connected with other professional pursuits, the Linnæan,
Zoological, Botanical, and other societies devoted to natural history;
the Royal Astronomical Society, which has important public functions;
the Royal Academy, and other institutions devoted to art. The roll of
Learned Societies is being constantly increased. Among recent additions
may be mentioned the British Academy for Historical Studies, and the
Sociological Society.
LITERARY SHRINES OF OLD LONDON
BY ELSIE M. LANG
From the Borough to St. James's