Page:History of the Royal Astronomical Society (1923).djvu/31

 1820-30] ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 17 it was on the mathematical side that it was defective : on the observational side the period mentioned was precisely that of the immortal work of Sir John's own father, and was not likely to be overlooked. We can the better understand why the early activities of our Society were chiefly concerned with the stimulation of progress where it was most needed. But we were fortunately not the only new Society, nor even the first. The facts may be briefly recalled by quoting from an article in the Quarterly Review for June 1826 : From the institution of the Royal Society in 1663, to the year 1788, when the Linnean was founded, no subdivision of scientific labour was attempted in our metropolis. The Royal Society continued, without assistance, to embrace within its aim the cultivation of every department of natural philosophy ; but a further subdivision of labour, as inseparable a consequence of the progress of the sciences as of the arts, was at length effected with the concurrence and co-operation of the Royal Society itself ; and the prosecution of the studies of zoology and botany in all their details was the chief object of the institution of the Linnean Society, which received a royal charter in 1802, and has now published fourteen volumes of Transactions, containing a variety of most valuable memoirs. The Royal Institution, the next in order of date, was founded in 1799, and the College of Surgeons in 1800. The Horticultural Society, established in 1804, although designed to promote luxury rather than science, must not be omitted here. . . . The London Institution, " for the advancement of Literature and the diffusion of Useful Knowledge," was founded in 1805 and chartered in 1807. . . . The Geological Society of London, estab- lished in 1807 and chartered in 1825, has been eminently successful in giving the impulse to the study of geology in Great Britain. . . . The institution of the Astronomical Society of London in 1821 (sic) was actively promoted by many of the most distinguished fellows of the Royal Society. Besides the excellent volume of Trans- actions already published, we have pleasure in being able to state other important benefits which have resulted from their efforts. A valuable set of tables for reducing the observed to the true places of the stars is preparing at the expense of the Society, including above 3000 stars, and comprehending all known to those of the fifth magnitude inclusive, and all the most useful of the sixth and seventh. In addition to this the reviewer mentions the machine called Babbage's Calculating Machine, which had already secured Government encouragement, and continues : After this brief enumeration of the chief scientific institutions of the metropolis, which the reader cannot peruse without being