Page:History of the Royal Astronomical Society (1923).djvu/282

 248 HISTORY OF THE [1880-1920 Newcomb, the tables of the moon of Hansen and Brown, and many other results of lengthy researches have been carried out without splitting up the work among a number of collaborators in different places. But even if it be admitted that co-operation is desirable in many cases, it is by international associations that it should be organised, and not by a Society which, like ours, has a national character, even though it does not exclude foreigners from the ranks of its members. The principal aims of the Royal Astro- nomical Society were therefore from the beginning, first, the publication of papers ; secondly, to encourage the study of Astronomy in this country and to guide it into proper channels, so as to produce work fruitful for the progress of astronomical science. For forty years previous to 1820, William Herschel had almost every year published one or more papers containing re- markable discoveries or brilliant ideas on the construction of the Universe. But his voice was that of one crying in the wilderness. His son wrote long afterwards of this period : " Mathematics were at the last gasp and Astronomy nearly so ; I mean in those members of its frame which depend upon precise measurement and systematic calculation." That our Society contributed greatly to change this state of things in the course of the first ten or fifteen years of its existence, cannot be disputed. The gradual formation of a steadily growing class of amateur astro- nomers, the reform of the Nautical Almanac, the new spirit infused into the public observatories, the valuable papers published in the Memoirs, showed very soon that the new Astronomical Society was successfully endeavouring to advance science. And through- out the century the Society has remained true to the ideals which animated its founders. It may certainly claim a fair share of the credit of the widely spread interest in Astronomy which was manifested by the foundation of the British Astronomical Association in 1890. On that occasion our Society did not copy the dog-in-the-manger policy of Sir Joseph Banks in 1820, but saw with pleasure the rise of another organisation binding together British amateur astronomers and others interested in Astronomy. The most conspicuous service which the Society has rendered to science is, however, the ready means it has offered for the publication of astronomical papers, lengthy as well as short ones. If the Society had not existed, these would have been scattered, and most of the longer ones would probably have found their way to the publications of provincial Societies and would not have been readily accessible to many students. Even under existing circumstances many astronomers prefer to send their most