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* SOCIETY. 304 SOCIETY OF AMERICAN AUTHORS. through developing communication and assimila- tion, increasingly liUe-niinded. Through develop- ing cooperation, cultural, economic, legal, and political, it hecomes highly organized. Such a socially developed and organized population is a natural society, and it is within a natural society that all lesser or subordinate societies appear, as incidents of its evolution. These are of two broadly distinguished kinds, the com- ponent and the constituent. The component society is a group in which both sexes and all ages dwell together. The name is indicative of the fact that all the larger natural societies, like modern nations, are compound, having been pro- duced by the federation of smaller component groups. The series of component societies is, in uncivilized or ethnic communities, the family, the horde, the tribe, the federation of tribes; and in civilized societies, the family, the village, the commune or city, tlie county, the common- wealth, the federal nation, the federated em- pire. The constituent society is an association of selected persons, formed to carry on a particular work. It represents the principle of division of labor, of specialization. The name is expressive of the fact that society a.s a whole is constituted of such specialized associations. Collectively they are the social constitution. They include all societies for amusement, religion, education, philanthropy, business, the promotion of justice, and political activity. See Sociology. SOCIETY. An assemblage of plants growing in a common hal)itat under similar life condi- tions. .See EcoLOoY. SOCIETY ISLANDS, or Tahiti Archi- pelago. A colonial possession of France in the South Pacific, consisting of an archipelago of eleven islands, extending from 16° to 18° south latitude, and from 148° to 153° w-est longi- tude (Map: The World, Western Hemisphere, L 6). It is divided into the Leeward and Wind- ward groups, the former including the islands of Raiatea. Huahinc. Tahaa, liorabora, ilaupiti. Tubal, and a few smaller islets, and the latter groi|) comprising Tahiti (q.v.), Jlorca. and a few others. Total area, estinuited at 050 square miles, of which Tahiti covers about 000. The islands are volcanic, mountainous, and surrounded with coral reefs which form coast lagoons. The high- est peak, on the island of Tahiti, h.as an ele- vation of over 7,000 feet. The climate is hot and moist, but not unhealthful. The flora is luxuriant and especially rich in trees. Bananas grow in abundance and are found in altitudes of from .3000 to 5000 feet. The fauna is rather poor. The chief agricultural products are cocoanuts, bananas, sugar, and vanilla. Only a small part of the agricultural land is tilled, and the colony is in a general state of backwardness. The exports are mainly copra, mother-of-pearl, vanilla, and fruits, the com- merce amounting to a little over $1,000,000 a year. Administratively, the group forms the chief of the French establishments in Oceania. The discovery of the Society Islands d.ates proljably from 1006, when they were visited by the Spaniard Pedro Fernandez de Quiros. Al- though several explorers visited the group before Captain Cook, it is chiefly the latter who gave to the world the first detailed description of the islands. At the time of Cook's visits (1769, 1773, 1774, and 1777) the islands were under the rule of a king w-ho exercised both civil and ec- clesiastical authority, and the government had more or less of ii feudal character. The natives, who all belong to the Christian faith, are of a stately and tine Polynesian type. They are kind and very mild, and were readily inclined to adopt Western civilization. The discoverers found that they built comfortable dwellings and manufac- tured iron. They were ruled formerly by minor hereditary kings, whose inllucnce was curbed by an infiuential nobility. In 1788 the island of Tahiti was visited by the Bounty, and soon after became the place of refuge for the muti- neers of that vessel, some of whom were sub- sequently taken to Great Britain by the Ptin- dnra. The first attempt toward introducing the Gospel among the natives was made by Spain in 1774. The opposition of the natives to the doc- trines of Christianity was partly overcome by the conversion of the King, Pomare II., and the new religion soon gained a firm foothold among the natives. The rivalry between the French and English missionaries led to the interference of France in 1838 and to the subsequent official annexation of the group in 1880. Consult: Jleinecke, Die Inseln dcs HtiUen Oceans (Leip- zig. 1875-70) : Brassey. Tahiti (London, 1882) ; Biissler, Xeue Siidseebitdcr (Berlin, 1900). SOCIETY OF AMERICAN ARTISTS, The. An organization of painters and sculptors, rep- resenting ratlicr advanced and radical ideas in art. as opposed to the more conservative ten- dencies of the National Academy of Design (q.v.). It was founded in 1877 by some of the younger American artists Avho had been trained abroad. It has more than a hundred members governed by a president, a board of control made up of the officers, and an advisory board. An- nual exhibitions are held in New York City. The work of both members and outsiders is passed .upon by a committee on selection. The Webb prize of $300 for landscape or marine, the Carnegie prize of $500 for an oil paint- ing, portraits excepted, and the .Julia A. Shaw Memorial prize, for the best work produced by an American woman, are awarded each year. The Shaw Fund of $1500 is devoted to buying one or more works of art by American artists. The society originally stood for development and breadth, and the expression of personality, which it was maintained had been previously hampered by academic traditions. The line of division between the Society and the Academy is now less marked. A number of artists exhibit at both, and belong to both organizations. The Society of the Ten American Painters is com- posed of members of the Society of American Artists, who organized themselves into an inde- pendent body in 1898. They hold annual ex- hibitions in New York City, the note of which exhibitions is impressionistic. SOCIETY OF AMERICAN AUTHORS. A society incorporated in ilay. 1802. in New York City, for the purpose of assisting authors in their dealings with publishers and generally im- proving the condition of the craft. It is formed on the same basis as. and is in close touch with, English, French, and Spanish societies of au- thors. The society is also committed to the agi- tation for the transmission of authors' manu- scripts through the mails at printed matter rates,