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On becoming a fi'equent visitor at the meetings of learned Societies, I was astonished to find that the written records of their deeds were few and far between, and that, with the exception of Weld's "History of the Eoyal Society," but little connected narrative had been produced on a subject of great and increasing interest. Facts of inestimable value lay scattered through endless volumes of " Trans- actions" and "Proceedings," but these treasures were not arranged in a form accessible to the general reader. According to my lights I have striven, in unambitious fashion, to supply this gap in the literature of science, and in the little book now offered to the public have attempted to describe in a compact form the rise, progress, and present condition of those great Scientific Institutions of which London—and for that matter England—is justly proud. ; vi PREFACE. Both in the collection and arrangement of material for these papers—which originally appeared in the columns of Iron—I have received ready and valuable aid from the of&cers of various institutions, and I take this opportunity of tendering my heai-ty thanks to Pro- fessor Huxley, to Major Donnelly, to Mr. W. Spottis- woode, and to Mr. Henry Cole; to Mr. H. T. Wood and Walter Mr. Davenport, of the Society of Arts ; to Mr. of the White, of the Eoyal Society ; to Mr. Whittall, and Mr. G. Statistical Society ; to Mr. Latimer Clark E. Preece, of the Society of Telegraph Engineers; to Mr. Trenham Peeks, of the Eoyal School of Mines to Mr. Norris, of the Birkbeck Institute; to IMr. H. W. Bates, of the Eoyal Geographical Society; to Mr. Forrest, of the Institution of Civil Engineers; and especially to Colonel Charles Manby, to whose frequent counsel and friendly supervision I am deeply indebted. much It only remains for me to add that, however the the array of facts in this little volume is due to respon- courtesy of scientific friends, the only person sible for the opinions advanced is The Author. October IQtli, 18V4. CONTENTS. >o« I. PAGE The Eotal Society 1 II. The Eoyal Institution 27 ni. The Society of Arts 53 The Institution of Civil Engineers 72 V. The Chemical Society 136 VI. The Department of Science and Art . .149 Vm CONTENTS. VII. J'a<;e The London Institution 189 VIII. The Birkbeck Institute 201 IX. 215 The Gresham Lectures . • X. The Society or Telegraph Engineers .... 231 XL The Museum of Practical Geology 248 XII. The British Association for the Advancement of Science 266 XIII. The Statistical Society 278 XIV. The Eoyal Geographical Society 300 SCIENTIFIC LONDON. I. THE EOYAL SOCIETY. To England belongs the honour of being the first country after Italy to establish a society for the in- vestigation and advancement J of physical science. The Eoyal Society, the most ancient and illustrious of existmg scientific bodies, was founded in 1660. The troubles of the great Eebellion were healed—at least for a time— the by restoration of the Stuarts, and the minds of men, relieved for a while from pohtical anxiety, tm-ned with .ardour towards the study of science. " The period had arrived when that experi- mental philosophy to which Bacon had held the torch, and which had already made considerable progress,' especiaUy in Italy, was finally estabhshed on the ^ms of arbitrary figments and partial inductions," B 2 SCIENTIFIC LONDON. By degrees was formed a groui^ of philosophers who began to knock at the door of truth, " at that door which Newton was destined to force open." These were the founders of the Eoyal Society. The road had been admirably prepared by Bacon, and the disciples of the great master of inductive philosophy were not slow in carrying out the plan of a learned society as sketched in the " New Atlantis." Among these were Eobert Boyle, Lord Broimcker, Dr. WalHs, Elias Ashmole—who has given his name to a museum at Oxford—the celebrated Oldenburg, and last, but not least, that Christopher Wren who was destined to replace the old Gothic Cathedral of St. Paul's, which, at the period referred to, was the central spot of busy London, by the present noble structure. As early as 1645, and amid all the turmoil of civil war, a few choice spirits had been in the habit of assembling for the jpurpose of discoursing on experimental philosophy, sometimes at Dr. God- dard's lodgings in Wood Street, and occasionally at the Bull's Head Tavern in Cheapside, where the sacred fire was fanned by the intercourse of kindred spirits, but owing probably to the unsettled condition of public affairs, nothing was done in the way of organizing a learned body. It chanced, however, that on the 28th November, 1660, several of those who had been in the habit of THE EOYAL SOCIETY. 3 meeting from time to time were assembled at Gresham College, to hear a lecture on astronomy, by Christo- pher Wren, who at that time was one of the resident professors at the old Gresham mansion in Bishops- gate. • After the lectm:e a list of names was drawn up, and the number of members fixed at fifty-five. On the 6th March, 1661, the Society proceeded to the election of a president. The choice of the members fell upon Sir Eobert Moray, who, according to Burnet, was the life and soul of the mstitution. Sir Eobert bemg a member of the Privy Council, and m great favour with Charles II., was charged by the Mng, who, if he never said a foolish thing, certainly did a wise one on this occasion, to assure the growing Society of the royal sympathy and protection. A little more than a year after its foundation the Society was formed into a corporation by royal charter. It was soon found necessary to amend this document, and a second charter was obtained from the king, and sealed on the 22nd of AprU, 1663. A third charter, con- ceding to the Eoyal Society Chelsea College, and some additional privileges, was granted in 1669, but the charter of 1663 is still the fundamental law of the Society. This document declares the king him- self to be the founder and patron of the Society, which consists of a president, a council of twenty, and an unlimited number of Fellows. Lord Brouncker was 4 SCIENTIFIC LONDON. the first president, William Ball the treasurer, John WilMns and Henry Oldenburg the two secretaries. Sir Eobert Moray and the celebrated Boyle members of the council. Lord Brouncker was at this time Chancellor to the Queen, and had already made himself a name by his mathematical studies. Two remarkable discoveries were made by him. He was the first to introduce continued fractions, and to give a series for the quad- ratm-e of a portion of the equilateral hyperbola. The first meeting of the Council after the conces- sion of the new charter took place on the 13th May, 1663, the Society then consisting of 115 members. By the following November the number had increased to 130, of whom eighteen were noblemen, twenty-two baronets and knights, forty-seven esquires, thu'ty-two doctors, two bachelors of theology, two masters of arts, and eight were foreigners. In August, 1663, King Charles H. presented the Eoyal Society with the mace at jpresent in then' possession. This mace—which is made of silver, richly gilt, and weighs 190 oz. avoirdupois—fills an important office in the Society. No meeting can be legally held without it, and the same practice respect- ing it prevails in the Eoyal Society as in Parhament. In the House of Commons, when the Speaker is in the chair and the mace on the table, any member THE EOYAL SOCIETY. 5 may rise to address the House. When the Speaker leaves the chair the mace is taken off the table, and when it is carried out of the building the assembly is no longer a House.