Histories of Scientific Societies: Needs and Opportunities for Research

Ornstein Martha , The role of scientific societies in the seventeenth century (New York, 1913; second edition, New York, 1928; third edition, Chicago, 1938). I have used a copy of the third edition, acquired, in 1952, from the publisher, University of Chicago Press.

Such a survey is, of course, heavily dependent upon the more than eighty “critical bibliographies” of Isis, whose publication life, by happy coincidence, spans just those fifty years of research we wish to examine. To the citations of societies (other than medical) organised prior to the twentieth century, drawn from the critical bibliographies, I have added others from my own research and that of my students, but failure of a reference to appear in Isis generally means that it will not be noted here. This does not, it seems to me, constitute a serious limitation, for it suggests a lack of scholarly awareness of the research not so recorded—which essentially is what this paper complains about.

Fay Bernard , “Learned societies in Europe and America in the eighteenth century”, American historical review, xxxvii (1932) 255–66; McKie Douglas , “Scientific societies to the end of the eighteenth century”, Philosophical magazine, 150th Anniversary Commemoration Number (1948) 133–143.

Bartolotti Ettore , “Origine e progressi della R. Accademia delle Scienze dell' Istituto di Bologna”, Supplemento delle Memorie della R. Accademia delle Scienze dell' Istituto di Bologna, ser. 8, i (1923–24); “L'Accademia e l'Istituto di Bologna, nel settecento e nel periodo Napoleonico”, Estralto da l'Archigennasio, xix (1924); L'Accademia delle Scienze di Bologna durante l'epoca Napoleonica e la restaurazione pontificia (Bologna, 1936).

Brown Harcourt , “Martin Fogel e l'idea Accademia Lincea”, Reale Accademia nazionale de Lincei Estratto dal Rendiconti (della classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche) (Rome, 1936); Gabrieli Giuseppe , “Per la storia della prima romana Accademia dei Lincei”, Isis, xxiv (1935–36) 80–89; Il carteggio Linceo della Vecchia Accademia di Federico Cesi (1603–1630), Parte Prima (anni 1603–1609) (Roma, 1938), Parte II (1610–1624), Memorie della R. Accademia dei Lincei, classe di scienze morali, ser. 6, e filologische ser. 6a, vol. vii (1938) 1–121, (1939) 124–535, (1941) 538–993; Parte III, Memorie della R. Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, classe di scienze morali, storiche e fililogische, ser. 7, fasc. iv (1942) 999–1446.

Emamielli Pio , “La rotazione della terra e le esperienze dell' Accademia del Cimento”, Archeion, xi (1929) 210–215.

Tozzetti G. Targioni , Atti e memorie inedite dell' Accademia del Cimento (Fierenza, 1780), parts used by Ornstein.

Yates Frances A. , The French academies of the sixteenth century (London, 1947); Bigourdan Guillaume , “Les premières sociétés scientifique de Paris au xvii^e siècle. Les réunions du P. Mersenne et de l'Académie de Montmor”, Comptes rendu, clxiv (1917) 129–134, 159–162, 216–220; Les premières sociétés de Paris au xvii^e siècle et les origines de l'Académie des Sciences (Paris, 1920); Brown Harcourt , Scientific organizations in seventeenth-century France (Baltimore, 1934); George Albert J. , “The genesis of the Académie des Sciences”, Annals of science, iii (1938) 372–401.

Gauja Pierre , Les fondations de l'Académie des Sciences (1881–1915) (Paris, 1917); L'Académie des Sciences de l'Institut de France (Paris, 1934).

Taton R. , “Projet de publication des registres des séances de l'Académie royale des Sciences (Paris)”, Abstracts of the Xth International Congress of History of Science (Ithaca-Philadelphia, 1962) 100; see also Actes du X^e Congrès Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences (in press).

Marion Marcel , Dictionnaire des institutions de la France aux xvii^e et xviii^e siècles (Paris, 1923).

Brown Harcourt , “L'Académie de Physique de Caen (1666–1675) d'après les lettres d'André de Graindorge”, Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres de Caen, ix (Nouvelle series, 1938) 117–208.

For example: Tresse R. , “Le Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers et la Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie nationale au debut du 19^e siècle”, Revue d'histoire des sciences, v (1952) 246–264; Le livre du cinquantenaire de la Société Française de Physique (Paris, 1925); Centenaire de la Société Chemique de France 1857–1957 (Paris, 1957).

Merton R. K. , “Science, technology, and society in seventeenth-century England”, Osiris, iv (1938) 360–632.

Johnson Francis R. , Astronomical thought in renaissance England (Baltimore, 1937); Cope Jackson I. Jones Harold Whitmore (editors), History of the Royal Society of London by Thomas Sprat (St. Louis and London, 1959); Gunther Robert T. , Early science at Oxford, The Philosophical Society (Oxford, 1925), Dr. Plot and the correspondence of the Philosophical Society of Oxford (Oxford, 1939).

Stimson Dorothy , Scientists and amateurs. A history of the Royal Society (New York, 1948); Edward N. da C. Andrade , A brief history of the Royal Society (London, 1960); Hartley Harold Sir (editor), The Royal Society. Its origin and founders (London, 1960).

Bluhm R. K. , “A guide to the archives of the Royal Society and to other manuscripts in its possession”, Notes and records of the Royal Society, xii (1956) 21–39.

Robinson H. W. , “Gleanings from the library—I. A note on the early minutes”, Notes and records of the Royal Society, No. 2 (1938) 92–95; Kaye I. , “Unrecorded meetings of the Royal Society”, Notes and records of the Royal society, viii (1951) 149–166.

Hudson Derek Luckhurst Kenneth W. , The Royal Society of Arts 1754–1954 (London, 1954).

Woodward H. B. , The history of the Geological Society of London (London, 1907); Gage A. T. , History of the Linnean Society of London (London, 1938); Dreyer J. L. E. Turner H. H. , History of the Royal Astronomical Society 1820–1920 (London, 1923); Moore Tom S. Philip James C. , The Chemical Society, 1841–1941 (London, 1947).

Appleyard Rollo , History of the Institution of Electrical Engineers 1871–1931 (London, 1939).

See, for example, Kendell James , “Some eighteenth-century chemical societies”, Endeavour, i (1942) 106–109; Kendall also has written a short paper “The Royal Society of Edinburgh”, Endeavour, v (1946), but that society needs more than a four-page article.

Winter H. J. J. , “Scientific notes from the early minutes of the Peterborough Society, 1730–40”, Isis, xxxi (1939) 51–59; “Scientific associations of Spalding Gentleman's Society 1710–1750”, Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences, xxix (1950) 77–88.

The Herschel papers read before the Bath Philosophical Society have been printed in the introduction to the first volume of J. L. E. Dreyer's edition of The Scientific Papers of Sir William Herschel (London, 1912); the original copies, in the hand of the Society's secretary, reveal more information about members of the Society. I have seen these originals through the courtesy of the owner, Mr. Wesley C. Williams, of Cleveland, Ohio.

Brindley W. H. Willett F. , “Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society”, Isis, xlvii (1956) 56.

See, e.g., Robinson Eric , “The Lunar Society and the improvement of scientific instruments”, I & II, Annals of science, xii (1956) 296–304, xiii (1957) 1–8; Schofield Robert E. , The Lunar Society of Birmingham (Clarendon Press, Oxford, in press); Robinson Eric , “Derby Philosophical Society”, Annals of science, ix (1953) 359–367; Clark E. Kitson , History of 100 years of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society (Leeds, 1924); Watson Robert Spence , History of the Literary and Philosophic Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (London, 1897).

Musson A. E. Robinson E. , “Science and industry in the late eighteenth century”, Economic history review, xiii (2nd ser., 1960) 222–244.

v. Bruun Walter , “Zum 250 jahrigen Bestehen der Kaiserlich Leopoldinische-Carolinisch Deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher”, Forschugen und Fortschritte, xiii (1937) 1791 Abderhalder Emil , Festgabe aus Anlass der 250 Wiederkehr des Tages der Erhebung der am 1 Jan. 1652 gegrundeten privaten Akademie zur Sacri Romani Imperii Academia Caesaro-Leopoldina Naturae curiosorum durch Leopold I (Halle, 1937).

Sudhoff Karl , Hundert Jahre Deutscher Naturforscher Versammlungen (Leipsig, 1922); Heuss Theodor , “Ansprache Anlasslich der 200-Jahr-Feierder Akademie der Wissenschaften in Gottingen”, Abhandlungen zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte und Wissenschaftslehre (Bremen), Heft iv (1952).

Dahlgren E. W. , Kungl Svenska Vetenskapsakademien Personforteckningar 1739–1915 (Stockholm, 1915); Svenska Vetenskapsakademien Protokoll for aren 1739, 1740, och 1741. Med Anmarkningar ut gifna (Stockholm, 1918) 2 vols.

Pelseneer Paul , L'Académie royale de Belgique depuis sa fondation (1772–1922) (Bruxelles, 1922); “Proceedings of the centenary (1815–1915) of the Société helvétique des Sciences Naturelles”, Nouveaux mémoires de la société, 1 (1915); Teich M. , Royal Bohemian Society (Prague, 1959); Bologa V. L. , “Le 90ème anniversaire de la Société des médecins et naturalistes de Jussy”, Cultura, i (1924) 392–93.

Luibimenko I. , “La fondation de l'Académie russe”, Archives of the History of Science and Technology, vi (1935) 97–116 (in Russian, with French summary); Predtechenskii A. V. Kol'tsov A. V. , “History of the Academy of Sciences, U.S.S.R.”, Voprosy Istorii Estestvoznaniia i Tekhniki, vi (1958) 151–159 (in Russian); Lipski Alexander , “The foundation of the Russian Academy of Sciences”, Isis, xliv (1953) 349–354.

Goode G. B. , “The origin of the national scientific and educational institutions of the United States”, Annual report of the American Historical Society for 1889 (New York, 1890).

Bates R. S. , The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1780–1940 (Boston, 1940).

Fairchild Herman L. , “History of the American Association for the Advancement of Science”, Science, lix (1924) 365–369, 385–390, 410–415; Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, from Jan. 1934 to Jan. 1940 (Washington, D.C., 1940).

Thomson Elihu , “One hundred years of the Franklin Institute”, Science, lx (1924) 343–51.

National Academy of Sciences. A History of the First Half-century, 1863–1913 (Washington, D.C., 1913).

Archibald Raymond Clare , A semicentennial history of the American Mathematical Society 1888–1938 (New York, 1938); Hunt C. W. , Historical sketch of the American Society of Civil Engineers (New York, 1897), “The first fifty years of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 1852–1962”, Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, xlviii (1902) 220–226.

Baldwin S. , “The first century of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1799–1899”, Transactions of the Connecticut Academy, Centennial Volume (1901).

True Rodney H. , “The early development of agricultural societies in the United States”, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1920 (1925); Bolton H. C. , “Early American chemical societies”, Popular Science Monthly, li (1847) 819; Miles Windham , “Early American chemical societies”, Chymia, iii (1950) 95–113.

Beltran Enrique , “Datos y documentos para la historia di las ciencias naturales en Mexico, I. Los estatutos de la primitiva Sociedad Mexicana de Historia Natural”, Revista de la Sociedad Mexicana de Historia Natural, iv (1943) 115–21; Moreno Besio Nicolas , “Sociedad Cientifica Argentina, fundada en 1872. Resena historica”, Archeion, xxv (1943) 172–94.