Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

“ The fact is perhaps rather too much, than too little, forced upon one's notice, nowadays, that all this marvellous intellectual growth has a no less wonderful expression in practical life; and that, in this respect, if in no other, the movement symbolised by the progress of the Royal Society stands without a parallel in the history of mankind. ”

“ In imitation of our Royal Society, it comprises not only the sciences, literature, and the arts, but also arts and trades, mechanics, inventions, &c. Its members are not idle, and they are a useful body, as they excite emulation by medals, civic crowns, premiums, and rewards. Their number is considerable and unlimited; a condition which is an evil in the last-mentioned society, and a good in this, whose nature is not so much to shine as to encourage industry. ”

“ Lord Rosse seems to imagine that the minor Societies themselves transfer their best papers to the Royal Society; that if, for instance, the Astronomical Society were to receive from A.B. a paper of unusual merit, the Society would transfer it to the Royal Society. This is quite wrong: any preference of the Royal to another Society is the work of the contributor himself. But it shows how well hafted is the Royal Society's claim, that a President should acquire the notion that it is acknowledged and acted upon by the other Societies, in their joint and corporate capacities. ”

“ I think the Royal Society, by showing even still greater zeal and earnestness in the work for which it was founded, by co-operating with scholars and students throughout the Dominion, by showing every possible sympathy with all those engaged in the work of art, culture and education, can look forward hopefully to the future ”

“ Fully conceding that the Royal Society is entitled to preeminent rank and all the respect due to age and services, I could not, nor can I now, see any more obligation in a contributor to send his best to that Society than he can make out to be due to himself. This pretension, in my mind, was hooked on, by my historical mode of viewing things already mentioned, to my knowledge of the fact that the Royal Society—the chief fault, perhaps, lying with its President, Sir Joseph Banks—had sternly set itself against the formation of other societies ”

“ In a new country like this—I think you have touched upon it in your address—there is a great tendency to further one's material wants, to promote trade and commerce, and to put aside, as it were, literature and the sciences; but here the Royal Society has stepped in and done good work by uniting those who were scattered by distance and who find in the meetings of our Society a convenient opportunity of coming together for the exchanging of ideas and renewing of those friendships which, though perhaps only yearly meetings permit, are nevertheless enduring. ”

“ One of the inconveniences arising from having no historical portion in the volumes of the Royal Society is, that not only the public, but our own members are almost entirely ignorant of all its affairs. ”

“ And in short, if for no other End, yet certainly for this, a Relation of their first Original ought to be expos'd to the View of Men: That by laying down, on what course of Discovery they intend to proceed, the Gentlemen of the Society may be more solemnly engag'd, to prosecute the same. ”

“ The Royal Society and the British Association are types of the right way of organizing; and it is a way that should and must be applied throughout the whole structure. Every trade and business should be conducted by a society voluntarily formed of all those who choose to engage in it, electing and removing their own officials, determining their own policy, and co-operating by free arrangement with other similar bodies. ”

“ Any man who had published reliable papers in the Transactions of the Royal Society, might very properly be considered a fit candidate, and the selection and appointment might be made by the Government, with the advice of the Council of the Royal Society.
Probably there exists no class of persons upon whom the country might more rely for industry in office than eminent investigators, because they have pursued truth for its good effects alone. ”

“ Sir Thomas Brown, Wallis, Hook, Newton, and Boyle, together with a brilliant constellation of luminaries who adorned every department of our general literature. Science alone stagnated, and the construction of public works was chiefly conducted by foreign aid. The establishment of the Royal Society in 1660, however, gave promise of that improvement which has steadily gone on year by year to the present day. ”

“ I have not yet been able to meet with an instance of a similar phænomenon in any physiological papers, published before the year 1750. But accounts of two or three meteors somewhat resembling that above described, in our Philosophical Transactions [1] , then occurred. ”

“ I will not, if I can help it, allow the chair of the Royal Society to become the appanage of rich men, or have the noble old Society exploited by enterprising commercial gents who make their profit out of the application of science. ”

“ I told him that I had had the audacity to approach you on the subject of the Royal Society. He heartily approved, and expressed the strongest opinion that unless you had some insuperable objection you ought to yield. All of us who belong to the R.S. have but one wish, which is that it should stand before the public as containing all that is best and worthiest in British Science. As long as men like you stand aloof, that cannot be said. Lately we have been exposed to some very ill-natured attacks: we have been told that we are professional, and not discoverers. ”

“ The Royal Society, and its history under the rule of Sir Joseph Banks. The possessor of such manifold distinctions and of such habits of mind seemed, to most men, marked out as the natural head of a great scientific institution. Such a man would be sure to reflect honour on the Society, as well as to derive honour from his headship. ”

“ It is still doubtful whether the Royal Society, in the present advanced state of science, can derive advantage from possessing in its President, a philosopher actively engaged in any one branch of experimental enquiry. ”

“ Will there not be the same wild Condition in Learning, which had been amongst Men, if they had always been dispers'd, still preying upon and spoiling their Neighbours? If that had still continued, no Cities had been built, no Trades found out, no Civility taught: For all these noble Productions came from Men's joining in Compacts, and entring into Society. It is an usual saying, that where the natural Philosopher ends, the Physician must begin: And I will also add,, that the natural Philosopher is to begin, where the moral ends. ”

“ So much for the Royal Society as concerns myself. I must add that there is not a spark of party feeling against those who wilfully remain outside. The better minds of course know better; and the smaller savants look complacently on the idea of an outer world which makes élite of them. I have done such a thing as serve on a committee of the Society, and report on a paper: they had the sense to ask, and I had the sense to see that none of my opinions were compromised by compliance. ”

“ We have received a thousand pleasures and advantages from their disinterested endeavours, and it is incumbent on us, and on every generation succeeding us, to enhance the value and reputation of this institution to the latest ages.
The grand objects of this Society are:—Mutual improvement and the investigation of truth; the development of the seeds of genius, and the detection of falsehood; the emancipation of the mind from the fetters of prejudice, and the cultivation of true friendship by social and liberal intercourse.
Such were the views and feelings of the founders of this Society ”

“ Counter-societies, or, rather, societies with opposite purposes, were also started, and the original and private so-called Invisible Society, which was originated mainly by Milton, in 1645, and remodeled by Charles II in 1662, is now the flourishing Royal Society. ”

“ The best friends of the Royal Society have long admitted, whilst they regretted, its declining fame; and even those who support whatever exists, begin a little to doubt whether it might not possibly be amended. ”

“ It may be they are happier now, as they are: And they would only cry out with the Man in Horace, that their Friends, who had restor'd them to a perfect Sense, had murder'd them. But certainly, if they could be brought to content themselves with moderate Things, to grow rich by Degrees, and not to imagine, they shall gain the Indies out of every Crucible; there might be wonderful Things expected from them. And of this we have good assurance, by what is come abroad from diverse eminent Persons; amongst whom some are Members of the Royal Society. ”

“ VOL. LIV.
I. AN Account of a Mummy inspected at London 1763. In a Letter to William Heberden, M.D. F.R.S. from John Hadley, M.D. F.R.S. page 1
II. The Sequel of the Case of Mr. Butler, of Moscow, Printed in the Philosophical Transactions, Vol. L. p. 19. Communicated by Mr. Henry Baker, F.R.S. p. 15. III. The Description of a new and safe Crane, which has four different Powers; invented by Mr. James Ferguson, F.R.S. p. 24. IV. Of the: A Letter to Andrew Reid, Esq; from P. Murdoch, D.D. and F.R.S. 12 Nov. 1763. p. 29. ”

“ On the other hand, it may be urged with some force, that the Presidency of the Royal Society should be reserved as the fair reward of scientific 181 labours, and not as an appendage to rank or to wealth:—that in England, we may in vain search amongst the aristocracy for one who feels a dignified respect for the sciences, and who is willing to afford that time which the faithful discharge of its duties would require. ”

“ The great watchword to-day in intelligent and constructive philanthropy is the "ideal of the normal," and it is on this ground that the institution is declared to be removed from the standard of the highest interests of society. ”

“ There are certain duties which the Royal Society owes to its own character as well as to the public, which, having been on some occasions apparently neglected, it may be here the proper place to mention, since it is reasonable to suppose that attention to them is within the province of its Secretaries. ”

“ Thus, on a higher principle than that appealed to by the political moralists who direct the helm of State, may the best interests of morality be reconciled with those of their own country; for it is by maintaining the supremacy of England that the principle which is identified with her institutions, her traditions, and the aspirations of her people, can be best secured in the interests of that universal society of which she forms part, and towards which she undoubtedly has moral obligations and responsibilities. ”

“ It might be prudent for the present to confine one's self to a positive assurance that the Society will, at the worst, make as good a return as several other societies formed for the promotion and cultivation of other branches of knowledge. If subscribers will only be content to pay as much, and receive as little, as the fellows of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, the Church-History Society will thrive. ”

“ The Royal Institution will, I hope, be of some utility to society. It has undoubtedly the capability of becoming a great instrument of moral and intellectual improvement. Its funds are very great. It has attached to it the feelings of a great number of people of fashion and property, and consequently may be the means of employing to useful purposes money which would otherwise be squandered in luxury and in the production of unnecessary labour. ”

“ Alleine was no mere scholar or divine, but a man who associated on equal terms with the founders of the Royal Society. These scientific studies were, however, kept in subordination to his proper work. The extent of his influence was, in so young a man, unique, resting on the earnestness and force of his nature. ”

“ Hence, in a commercial and industrial society, a claim or want or demand of society that promises be kept and that undertakings be carried out in good faith, a social interest in the stability of promises as a social and economic institution, becomes of the first importance. This social interest in the security of transactions, as one might call it, requires that we secure the individual interest of the promisee, that is, his claim or demand to be assured in the expectation created, which has become part of his substance. ”

“ Inscribed upon the banners of the grandest Secret Societies recorded in history, as at once their motto and their vindication, we read the great words, Love, Truth, Justice. Love, when the Society has professed to discipline its members in fraternity, expanding and attuning their hearts to its cosmic laws, and thus gradually preparing an Age of Gold for the iron-bound earth. Truth, when the Society has professed to cherish for secure development some priceless germ of doctrine, too weak and tender as yet to bear the rough storms of the open air. ”

“ That it may long continue to flourish is no doubt the ardent wish of those who are connected with it, and also of all those who are acquainted with the principles on which it is founded, and who know how powerfully it must contribute to the general diffusion of an active spirit of inquiry and useful improvement among all the ranks of society. ”

“ Of the millions upon millions of acts of kindness and justice which go to make up civilized life, I take it that nine in ten would not be performed at all, if they were required by law.
John Stuart Mill has clearly defined the limit of individual “sovereignty”—as it is termed—and where the authority of society should begin. “Each will receive its proper share, if each has that which more particularly concerns it. To individuality should belong the part of life in which it is chiefly the individual that is interested; to society, the part which chiefly interests society. ”