it when he was made a cardinal, and it lasted only ten
years, but the grand folio published in Italian (afterwards
translated into Latin) in 1667 is a landmark in the history of
science. It contains experiments on the pressure of the
air (Torricelli and Borelli were among its members), on
the incompressibility of water and on universal gravity.
Science in Italy is now represented by the Reale Accademia
delle Scienze (Royal Academy of Sciences), founded in 1757
as a private society, and incorporated under its present name
by royal warrant in 1783. It consists of 40 full members,
who must be residents of Turin, 20 non-resident, and 20
foreign members. It publishes a yearly volume of proceedings
and awards prizes to learned works. There are, besides,
royal academies of science at Naples, Lucca and Palermo.
Portugal.--The Academia Real das Sciencias (Royal
Academy of Sciences) at Lisbon dates from 1779. It was
reorganized in 1851 and since then has been chiefly occupied
in the publication of Portugaliae Monumenta Historica.
Russia.--The Academie Imperiale des sciences de
Saint-Petersbourg, Imperatorskaya Akademiya nauk, was projected
by Peter the Great. The advice of Wolff and Leibnitz was
sought, and several learned foreigners were invited to become
members. Peter himself drew the plan, and signed it on the
10th of February 1724; but his sudden death delayed its
fulfilment. On the 21st of December 1725, however, Catherine
I. established it according to his plan, and on the 27th
the society met for the first time. On the 1st of August
1726, Catherine honoured the meeting with her presence, when
Professor G. B. Bilfinger, a German scientist, delivered an
oration upon the determination of magnetic variations and
longitude. Shortly afterwards the empress settled a fund
of L. 4982 per annum for the support of the academy; and
15 eminent members were admitted and pensioned, under the
title of professors in the various branches of science and
literature. The most distinguished of these were Nicholas and
Daniel Bernouilli, the two Delisles, Bilfinger, and Wolff.
During the short reign of Peter II. the salaries of members
were discontinued, and the academy neglected by the Court;
but it was again patronized by the empress Anne, who added a
seminary under the superintendence of the professors. Both
institutions flourished for some time under the direction
of Baron Johann Albrecht Korin (1697--1766). At the
accession of Elizabeth the original plan was enlarged and
improved; learned foreigners were drawn to St Petersburg;
and, what was considered a good omen for the literature of
Russia, two natives, Lomonosov and Rumovsky, men of genius
who had prosecuted their studies in foreign universities,
were enrolled among its members. The annual income was
increased to L. 10,659, and sundry other advantages were
conferred upon the institution. Catherine II. utilized
the academy for the advancement of national culture. She
altered the court of directors greatly to the advantage
of the whole body, corrected many of its abuses, added to
its means, and infused a new vigour and spirit into its
researches. By her recommendation the most intelligent
professors visited all the provinces of her vast dominions,
with most minute and ample instructions to investigate the
natural resources, conditions and requirements, and report
on the real state of the empire. The result was that no
country at that time could boast, within so few years, such
a number of excellent official publications on its internal
state, its natural productions, its topography, geography and
history, and on the manners, customs and languages of the
different tribes that inhabited it, as came from the press
of this academy. In its researches in Asiatic languages,
oriental customs and religions, it proved itself the worthy
rival of the Royal Asiatic Society in England. The first
transactions, Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis
Petropolitanae ad annum 1726, with a dedication to Peter
II., were published in 1728. This was continued until
1747, when the transactions were called Novi Commentarii
Academiae, &c.; and in 1777, Acta Academiae Scientiarum
Imperialis Petropolitanae, with some alteration in the
arrangements and plan of the work. The papers, hitherto
in Latin only, were now written indifferently in Latin or
in French, and a preface added, Partie Historique, which
contains an account of the society's meetings. Of the
Commentaries, fourteen volumes were published: of the New
Commentaries (1750--1776) twenty. Of the Acta Academiae
two volumes are printed every year. In 1872 there was
published at St Petersburg in 2 vols., Tableau general des
matieres contenues dans les publieations de l'Academie
Imperiale des Sciences de St Petersbourg. The academy is
composed, as at first, of fifteen professors, besides the
president and director. Each of the professors has a house
and an annual stipend of from L. 200 to L. 600. Besides the
professors, there are four pensioned adjuncts, who are present
at the meetings of the society, and succeed to the first
vacancies. The buildings and apparatus of this academy are
on a vast scale. There is a fine library, of 36,000 books and
manuscripts; and an extensive museum, considerably augmented
by the collections made by Pallas, Gmelin, Guldenstadt
and other professors, during their expeditions through the
Russian empire. The motto of the society is Paulatim.
Spain.---The Real Academia Espanola at Madrid (see
below) had a predecessor in the Academia Naturae curiosorum
(dating from 1657) modelled on that of Naples. It was
reconstituted in 1847 after the model of the French academy.
Sweden.--The Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps Akademien owes
its institution to six persons of distinguished learning,
among whom was Linnaeus. They met on the 2nd of June 1739,
and formed a private society, the Collegium Curiosorum;
and at the end of the year their first publication made
its appeamnce. As the meetings continued and the members
increased the society attracted the notice of the king; and
on the 31st of March 1741 it was incorporated as the Royal
Swedish Academy. Though under royal patronage and largely
endowed, it is, like the Royal Society in England, entirely
self-governed. Each of the members resident at Stockholm
becomes in turn president, and continues in office for
three months. The dissertations read at each meeting
are published in the Swedish language, quarterly, and
make an annual volume. The first forty volumes, octavo,
completed in 1779, are called the Old Transactions.
United States of America.--The oldest scientific association
in the United States is the American Philosophical Society
Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge. It owed
its origin to Benjamin Franklin, who in 1743 published ``A
Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge among the British
Plantations in America,'' which was so favourably received
that in the same year the society was organized, with
Thomas Hopkinson (1709-1751) as president and Franklin as
secretary. In 1769 it united with another scientific society
founded by Franklin, called the American Society Held at
Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge, and adopted its
present name, adding the descriptive phrase from the title
of the American Society, and elected Franklin president,
an office which he held until his death (1790). The
American Philosophical Society is national in scope and is
exclusively scientific; its Transactions date from 1771, and
its Proceedings from 1838. It has a hall in Philadelphia,
with meeting-rooms and a valuable library and collection
of interesting portraits and relics. David Rittenhouse was
its second and Thomas Jefferson was its third president.
In 1786 John Hyacinth de Magellan, of London, presented a
fund, the income of which was to supply a gold medal for
the author of the most important discovery ``relating to
navigation, astronomy or natural philosophy (mere natural
history excepted).'' An annual general meeting is held.
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Boston), the
second oldest scientific organization in the United States,
was chartered in Massachusetts in 1780 by some of the most
prominent men of that time. James Bowdoin was its first
president, John Adams its second. The Academy published
Memoirs beginning in 1785, and Proceedings from 1846. The
Rumford Premium awarded through it for the most ``important
discovery or useful improvement on Heat, or on Light'' is
the income of $5000 given to the Academy by Count Rumford.
The National Academy of Sciences (1863) was incorporated
by Congress with the object that it ``shall, whenever called
upon by any department of the Government, investigate,
examine, experiment and report upon any subject of science
or art.'' Its membership was first limited to 50; after
the amendment of the act of incorporation in 1870 the limit
was placed at 100; and in 1907 it was prescribed that the
resident membership should not exceed 150 in number, that
not more than 10 members be elected in any one year, and
that the number of foreign associates be restricted to 50.
The Academy is divided into six committees: mathematics
and astronomy; physics and engineering; chemistry;
geology and palaeontology; biology; and anthropology. It
gives several gold medals for meritorious researches and
discoveries. It publishes scientific monographs (at the
expense of the Federal Government). Its presidents have been
Alexander D. Bache, Joseph Henry, Wm. B. Rogers, Othuiel C.
Marsh, Wolcott Gibbs, Alexander Agassiz and Ira Remsen.
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia was organized in
1812. It has a large library, very rich in natural history,
and its museum, with nearly half a million specimens, is
particularly strong in conchology and ornithology. The
society has published Journals since 1817, and Proceedings
since 1841; it also has published the American Journal
of Conchology. The American Entomological Society (in
1859-1867 the EntomoIogical Society of Philadelphia, and
since 1876 part of this academy) has published Proceedings
since 1861, and the Entomological news (a monthly).
There are also other scientific organizations like the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (chartered in 1874,
as a continuation of the American Association of Geologists,
founded in 1840 and becoming in 1842 the American Association
of Geologists and Naturalists), which publishes its proceedings
annually; the American Geographical Society (1852), with
headquarters in New Ynrk: the National Geographic Society
(1888), with headquarters in Washington, D.C.; the Geological
Society of America (1888), the American Ornithologists' Union
(1883), the American Society of naturalists (1883), the
Botanical Society of America (1893), the American Academy of
Medicine (1876); and local academies of science, or of special
sciences, in many of the larger cities. The Smithsonian
Institution at Washington is treated in a separate article.
II. ACADEMIES OF BELLES LETTRES Belgium.-- Belgium
has always been famous for its literary societies. The
little town of Diest boasts that it possessed a society
of poets in 1302, and the Catherinists of Alost date from
1107. It is at least certain that numerous Chambers
of Rhetoric (so academies were then called) existed in
the first years of the rule of the house of Burgundy.
France.---The French Academy (l'Academie Francaise) was
established by order of the king in the year 1635, but in its
