is struck by its direction every year in honour of some illustrious
Swede. This academy does not publish its transactions.
III. ACADEMIES OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY France.---The old
Academie des inscriptions et belles-lettres (or ``Petite
Academie,'' founded in 1663) was an offshoot of the French
Academy, which then at least contained the elite of French
learning. Louis XIV. was of all French kings the one most
occupied with his own aggrandisement. Literature, and even
science, he only encouraged so far as they redounded to his
own glory. Nor were literary men inclined to assert their
independence. Boileau well represented the spirit of the age
when, in dedicating his tragedy Berenice to Colbert, he
wrote: ``The least things become important if in any degree
they can serve the glory and pleasure of the king.'' Thus it
was that the Academy of Inscriptions arose. At the suggestion
of Colbert a company (a committee we should now call it) had
been appointed by the king, chosen from the French Academy,
charged with the office of furnishing inscriptions, devices
and legends for medals. It consisted of four academicians:
Chapelain, then considered the poet laureate of France, one
of the authors of the critique on the Cid; the abbe Amable
de Bourzeis (1606-1671); Francois Charpentier (1620-1702),
an antiquary of high repute among his contemporaries; and
the abbe Jacques de Cassagnes (1636-1679), who owed his
appointment more to the fulsome flattery of his odes than
to his really learned translations of Cicero and Sallust.
This company used to meet in Colbert's library in the winter,
at his country-house at Sceaux in the summer, generally on
Wednesdays, to serve the convenience of the minister, who was
always present. Their meetings were principally occupied with
discussing the inscriptions, statues and pictures intended for
the decoration of Versailles; but Colbert, a really learned
man and an enthusiastic collector of manuscripts, was often
pleased to converse with them on matters of art, history and
antiquities. Their first published work was a collection of
engravings, accompanied by descriptions, designed for some
of the tapestries at Versailles. Louvois, who succeeded
Colbert as a superintendent of buildings, revived the
company, which had begun to relax its labours. Felibien,
the learned architect, and the two great poets Racine and
Boileau, were added to their number. A series of medals
was commenced, entitled Medailles de la Grande Histoire,
or, in other words, the history of the Grand Monarque.
But it was to M. de Pontchartrain, comptroller-general of
finance and secretary of state, that the academy owed its
institution. He added to the company Renaudot and Jacques
Tourreil, both men of vast learning, the latter tutor to his
son, and put at its head his nephew, the abbe Jean Paul
Bignou. librarian to the king. By a new regulation, dated
the 16th of July 1701, the Academie royale des inscriptions
et medailles was instituted, being composed of ten honorary
members, ten pensioners, ten associates, and ten pupils. Its
constitution was an almost exact copy of that of the Academy of
Sciences. Among the regulations we find the following, which
indicates clearly the transition from a staff of learned
officials to a learned body: ``The academy shall concern
itself with all that can contribute to the perfection of
inscriptions and legends, of designs for such monuments and
decorations as may be submitted to its judgment; also with
the description of all artistic works, present and future,
and the historical explanation of the subject of such works;
and as the knowledge of Greek and Latin antiquities. and
of these two languages, is the best guarantee for success
in labours of this class, the academicians shall apply
themselves . to all that this division of learning includes,
as one of the most worthy objects of their pursuit.''
Among the first honorary members we find the indefatigable
Mabillon (excluded from the pensioners by reason of his orders),
Pere La Chaise, the king's confessor, and Cardinal Rohan;
among the associates Fontenelle and Rollin, whose Ancient
History was submitted to the academy for revision. In 1711
they completed L'Histoire metallique du roi, of which
Saint-Simon was asked to write the preface. In 1716 the regent
changed its title to that of the Academie des inscriptions et
belleslettres, a title which better suited its new character.
In the great battle between the Ancients and the Moderns
which divided the learned world in the first half of the 18th
century, the Academy of Inscriptions naturally espoused the
cause of the Ancients, as the Academy of Sciences did that of the
Moderns. During the earlier years of the French Revolution
the academy continued its labours uninterruptedly; and on the
22nd of January 1793, the day after the death of Louis XVI,
we find in the Proceedinigs that M. Brequigny read a paper
on the projects of marriage between Queen Elizabeth and the
dukes of Anjou and Alencon. In the same year were published
the 45th and 46th vols. of the Memoires de l'academie.
On the 2nd of August of the same year the last seance of
the old academy was held. More fortunate than its sister
Academy of Sciences, it lost only three of its members by
the guillotine. One of these was the astronomer Sylvain
Bailly. Three others sat as members of the Convention;
but for the honour of the academy, it should be added
that all three were distinguished by their moderation.
In the first draft of the new Institute, October 25, 1795, no
class corresponded exactly to the old Academy of Inscriptions;
but most of the members who survived found themselves re-elected
either in the class of moral and political science, under
which history and geography were included as sections, or
more generally under the class of literature and fine arts,
which embraced ancient languages, antiquities and monuments.
In 1816 the academy received again its old name. The Proceedings
of the society embrace a vast field, and are of very various
merits. Perhaps the subjects on which it has shown most
originality are comparative mythology, the history of science
among the ancients, and the geography and antiquities of
France. The old academy has reckoned among its members De
Sacy the orientalist, Dansse de Villoison (1750-1805) the
philologist, Anquetil du Perron the traveller, Guillaume J.
de C. L. Sainte-Croix and du Theil the antiquaries, and Le
Beau, who has been named the last of the Romans. The new
academy has inscribed on its lists the names of Champollion,
A. Remusat, Raynouard, Burnout and Augustin Thierry.
In consequence of the attention of several literary men in
Paris having been directed to Celtic antiquities, a Celtic
Academy was established in that city in 1805. Its objects were,
first, the elucidation of the history, customs, antiquities,
manners and monuments of the Celts, particularly in France;
secondly, the etymology of all the European languages, by
the aid of the Celto-British, Welsh and Erse; and, thirdly,
researches relating to Druidism. The attention of the members
was also particularly called to the history and settlements
of the Galatae in Asia. Lenoir, the keeper of the museum of
French monuments, was appointed president. The academy still
exists as La societe nationale des antiquaires de France.
Great Britain.---The British Academy was the outcome of
a meeting of the principal European and American academies,
held at Wiesbaden in October 1899. A scheme was drawn up
for an international association of the academies of the
world under the two sections of natural science and literary
science, but while the Royal Society adequately represented
England in science there was then no existing institution
that could claim to represent England in literature, and at
the first meeting of the federated academies this chair was
vacant. A plan was proposed by Professor H. Sidgwick to add a
new section to the Royal Society, but after long deliberation
this was rejected by the president and council. The promoters
of the plan thereupon determined to form a separate society,
and invited certain persons to become the first members of a
new body, to be cailed ``The British Academy for the promotion
of historical, philosophical and philological studies.'' The
unincorporated body thus formed petitioned for a charter,
and on the 8th of August 1902 the royal charter was granted
and the by-laws were allowed by order in council. The objects
of the academy are therein defined--``the promotion of the
study of the moral and political sciences, including history,
philosophy, law, politics and economics, archaeology and
philology.'' The number of ordinary fellows (so all members
are entitled) is restricted to one hundred, and the academy
is governed by a president (the first being Lord Reay)
and a council of fifteen elected annually by the fellows.
Italy.--Under this class the Accademia Ercolanese (Academy
of Herculaneum) properly ranks. It was established at
Naples about 1755, at which period a museum was formed of
the antiquities found at Herculaneum, Pompeii and other
places, by the marquis Tanucci, who was then minister of
state. Its object was to explain the paintings, &c., discovered
at those places. For this purpose the members met every
fortnight, and at each meeting three paintings were submitted
to three academicians, who made their report at their next
sitting. The first volume of their labours appeared in 1775,
and they have been continued under the title of Antichita di
Ercolano. They contain engravings of the principal paintings,
statues, bronzes, marble figures, medals, utensils, &c., with
explanations. In the year 1807 an academy of history and
antiquities, on a new plan, was established at Naples by Joseph
Bonaparte. The number of members was limited to forty, twenty
of whom were to be appointed by the king; and these twenty
were to present to him, for his choice, three names for each
of those needed to complete the full number. Eight thousand
ducats were to be annually allotted for the current expenses,
and two thousand for prizes to the authors of four works
which should be deemed by the academy most deserving of such a
reward. A grand meeting was to be held every year, when
the prizes were to be distributed and analyses of the works
read. The first meeting took place on the 25th of April
1807; but the subsequent changes in the political state
of Naples prevented the full and permanent establishment
of this institution. In the same year an academy was
established at Florence for the illustration of Tuscan
antiquities, which published some volumes of memoirs.
IV. ACADEMIES OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY Austria.---The
defunct Academy of Surgery at Vienna was instituted in
1784 by the emperor Joseph II. under the direction of the
distinguished surgeon, Giovanni Alessandro Brambilla ( 1728-
1800) . For many years it did important work, and though closed
in 1848 was reconstituted by the emperor Francis Joseph in
1854. In 1874 it ceased to exist; its functions had become
mainly military, and were transferred to newer schools.
France.---Academie de Medecine. Medicine is a science
which has always engaged the attention of the kings of
France. Charlemagne established a school of medicine in the
Louvre, and various societies have been founded, and privileges
granted to the faculty by his successors. The Acadimie de
medecine succeeded to the old Academie royale de chirurgie
et societe royale de medecine. It was erected by a royal
