Abstract
(Extracted from the President's Address at the Anniversary Meeting.) IT has been represented to me that, the Royal Society being now, after eighteen years of temporary accommodation, settled in quarters ot which we hope to retain undisturbed occupation for some generations to come, an account of the present posiri m of the Socieiy in respect of our more important possessions, foundations, and functions, and our relations to the Government, would not only be generally acceptable, but might even be required of me by that large and increasing class 01 Fellows who live far from our doors. This class now numbers as nearly as possible one half of the Society, few of whom can be evtn occasional attendants at our meetings; and if to this class of absentees be added the large number of residents within the metropolitan district whose avocations prevent their attending, it will not surprise you to hear that (as I have ascertained by careful inquiry) a very large proportion of our fellow members know little of the Society's proceedings beyond What appears in our periodical publications, nor of our collections, nor of the tenure under which we occupy our apartments under the Crown-and that many have never heard of the funds we administer, whether our own or those voted by Parliament in aid of scientific research, nor of the fund for relief of the necessitous, nor of the gratuitous services rendered by the Society to various departments of the Government.
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The Present Condition of the Royal Society . Nature 11, 175–178 (1874). https://doi.org/10.1038/011175a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/011175a0