Francis Storr

“ In the great battle between the Ancients and the Moderns which divided the learned world in the first half of the 18th century, the Academy of Inscriptions naturally espoused the cause of the Ancients, as the Academy of Sciences did that of the Moderns. During the earlier years of the French Revolution the academy continued its labours uninterruptedly ”

“ A society was formed in Dublin, similar to the Royal Society in London, as early as 1683; but the distracted state of the country proved unpropitious to the cultivation of philosophy and literature. The Royal Irish Academy grew from a society established in Dublin about 1782 by a number of gentlemen, most of whom belonged to the university. They held weekly meetings, and read, in turn, essays on various subjects. They professed to unite the advancement of science with the history of mankind and polite literature. ”

“ The officers were, a president and a vice-president, named by the king from among the honorary members, and a secretary and treasurer chosen from the pensionaries, who held office for life. Fontenelle, a man of wit, and rather a popularizer of science than an original investigator, succeeded Duhamel as secretary. The constitution was purely aristocratical, differing in that respect from that of the French Academy, in which the principle of equality among the members was never violated. Science was not yet strong enough to dispense with the patronage of the great. ”

“ In the first draft of the new Institute, October 25, 1795, no class corresponded exactly to the old Academy of Inscriptions; but most of the members who survived found themselves re-elected either in the class of moral and political science, under which history and geography were included as sections, or more generally under the class of literature and fine arts, which embraced ancient languages, antiquities and monuments.
In 1816 the academy received again its old name. The Proceedings of the society embrace a vast field, and are of very various merits. ”

“ Great Britain.—The British Academy was the outcome of a meeting of the principal European and American academies, held at Wiesbaden in October 1899. A scheme was drawn up for an international association of the academies of the world under the two sections of natural science and literary science, but while the Royal Society adequately represented England in science there was then no existing institution that could claim to represent England in literature, and at the first meeting of the federated academies this chair was vacant. ”

“ Science in Italy is now represented by the Reale Accademia delle Scienze (Royal Academy of Sciences) , founded in 1757 as a private society, and incorporated under its present name by royal warrant in 1783. It consists of 40 full members, who must be residents of Turin, 20 non-resident, and 20 foreign members. It publishes a yearly volume of proceedings and awards prizes to learned works. There are, besides, royal academies of science at Naples, Lucca and Palermo. ”

“ Italy.—In 1778 an academy of painting and sculpture was established at Turin. The meetings were held in the palace of the king, who distributed prizes among the most successful members. In Milan an academy of architecture was established so early as 1380, by Gian Galeazzo Visconti. About the middle of the 18th century an academy of the arts was established there, after the example of those at Paris and Rome. The pupils were furnished with originals and models, and prizes were distributed by competent judges annually. ”

“ The Accademia del Cimento was founded at Florence in 1657 by Leopold de' Medici, brother of the grand duke Ferdinand II., at the instigation of Vincenzo Viviani, the geometrician. It was an academy of experiment, a deliberate protest against the deductive science of the quadrivium. Its founder left it when he was made a cardinal, and it lasted only ten years, but the grand folio published in Italian (afterwards translated into Latin) in 1667 is a landmark in the history of science. ”

“ In 1694 the Académie des Jeux Floraux was constituted an academy by letters patent of Louis XIV.; its statutes were reformed and the number of members raised to 36. Suppressed during the Revolution it was revived in 1806, and still continues to award amaranths of gold and silver lilies, for which there is keen competition.
Provence led the way, but Italy of the Renaissance is the soil in which academies most grew and flourished. The Accademia Pontaniana, to give it its subsequent title, was founded at Florence in 1433 by Antonio Beccadelli of Palermo and fostered by Laurentius Valla. ”

“ The labours of the academicians were diverted from the pursuit of pure science to such works as the construction of fountains and cascades at Versailles, and the mathematicians were employed to calculate the odds of the games of lansquenet and basset. In 1699 the academy was reconstituted by Louis Phelypeaux, comte de Pontchartrain, under whose department as secretary of state the academies came. By its new constitution it consisted of twenty-five members, ten honorary, men of high rank interested in science, and fifteen pensionaries, who were the working members. ”

“ It was, as the name implies, chiefly occupied with Plato, but it added to its objects the study of Dante and the purification of the Italian language, and though it lived for barely half a century, yet its influence as a model for similar learned societies was great and lasting.
Modern Academies.—Academies have played an important part in the revival of learning and in the birth of scientific inquiry. They mark an age of aristocracies when letters were the distinction of the few and when science had not been differentiated into distinct branches, each with its own specialists. ”

“ Prizes are annually distributed, and from those who have obtained four prizes, twelve are selected, who are sent abroad at the charge of the crown. A certain sum is paid to defray their travelling expenses; and when they are settled in any town, they receive during four years an annual salary of £60. The academy has a small gallery of paintings for the use of the scholars; and those who have made great progress are permitted to copy the pictures in the imperial collection. For the purpose of design, there are full-size models of the best antique statues in Italy. ”

“ The academy is composed, as at first, of fifteen professors, besides the president and director. Each of the professors has a house and an annual stipend of from £200 to £600. Besides the professors, there are four pensioned adjuncts, who are present at the meetings of the society, and succeed to the first vacancies. The buildings and apparatus of this academy are on a vast scale. There is a fine library, of 36,000 books and manuscripts ”

“ French language and literature, (3) ancient history and literature, (4) fine arts. The class of moral and political science was restored on the proposal of M. Guizot in 1832, and the present Institute consists of the five classes named above. Each class or academy has its own special jurisdiction and work, with special funds; but there is a general fund and a common library, which, with other common affairs, are managed by a committee of the Institute—two chosen from each academy, with the secretaries. ”

“ Hobbes, the author of Leviathan, was presented to it during his visit to Paris in 1640. Colbert conceived the idea of giving an official status to this learned club. A number of chemists, physicians, anatomists and eminent mathematicians, among whom were Christian Huyghens and Bernard Frenicle de Bessy (1605–1675) , the author of a famous treatise on magic squares, were chosen to form the nucleus of the new society. Pensions were granted by Louis XIV. to each of the members, and a fund for instruments and experiment was placed at their disposal. ”

“ The Italian nobility, excluded as they mostly were from politics, and living in cities, found in literature a consolation and a career. Such academies were oligarchical in their constitution; they encouraged culture, but tended to hamper genius and extinguish originality. ”

“ They are clothed, fed and lodged at the expense of the crown; and are instructed in reading, writing, arithmetic, French, German and drawing. At the age of fourteen they are at liberty to choose any of the following arts; first, painting in all its branches, architecture, mosaic, enamelling, &c.; second, engraving on copper-plates, seal-cutting, &c.; third, carving on wood, ivory and amber; fourth, watch-making, turning, instrument-making, casting statues in bronze and other metals, imitating gems and medals in paste and other compositions, gilding and varnishing. ”

“ The number of ordinary fellows (so all members are entitled) is restricted to one hundred, and the academy is governed by a president (the first being Lord Reay) and a council of fifteen elected annually by the fellows.
Italy.—Under this class the Accademia Ercolanese (Academy of Herculaneum) properly ranks. It was established at Naples about 1755, at which period a museum was formed of the antiquities found at Herculaneum, Pompeii and other places, by the marquis Tanucci, who was then minister of state. ”

“ To judge by the titles and specimens which have come down to us, these possessed no special originality or merit, but resembled the ἐπιδείξεις of the Greek rhetoricians. Next, at the instance of Cardinal Richelieu, they undertook a criticism of Corneille’s Cid, the most popular work of the day. It was a rule of the academy that no work could be criticized except at the author’s request, and fear of incurring the cardinal’s displeasure wrung from Corneille an unwilling consent. The critique of the academy was re-written several times before it met with the cardinal’s approbation. ”

“ Spain.—In Madrid an academy for painting, sculpture and architecture, the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, was founded by Philip V. The minister for foreign affairs is president. Prizes are distributed every three years. In Cadiz a few students are supplied by government with the means of drawing and modelling from figures ”

“ It originally consisted of twenty members, and continued to flourish long after the death of its founder. The early labours of the society were devoted to the repetition (under varied conditions) of the most notable experiments of the day, or to the discussion of the results. Two volumes (1676–1685) of proceedings were published by Sturm. The former, Collegium Experimentale sive Curiosum, begins with an account of the diving-bell, “a new invention”; next follow chapters on the camera obscura, the Torricellian experiment, the air-pump, microscope, telescope, &c. ”