ese in no way to be distinguished by dress
or location from the fellows themselves. It may be added that the custom
of the French Academy of Sciences is intermediate between these two.
There the visitors occupy seats apart, at the side of the beautiful
hall, the main floor being reserved for members. But the members
themselves are not otherwise distinguishable, and they come and go and
converse together even during the reading of a paper almost as if this
were a mere social gathering. As it is thus the least formal, the
French meeting is also by far the most democratic of great scientific
gatherings. Its doors are open to whoever may choose to enter. The
number who avail themselves of this privilege is not large, but it
includes, on occasions, men of varied social status and of diverse races
and colors--none of whom, so far as I could ever discern, attracts the
slightest attention.

At the German meeting, again, absolute silence reigns. No one thinks
of leaving during the session, and to make any sound above a sigh would
seem almost a sacrilege. But at the Royal Society an occasional auditor
goes or comes, there are repeated audible signs of appreciation of the
speaker's words, and at the close of the discourse there is vigorous
and prolonged applause. There is also a debate, of the usual character,
announced by the president, in which "strangers" are invited to
participate, and to which the lecturer finally responds with a brief
_Nachwort_, all of which is quite anomalous from the German or French
stand-points. After that, however, the meeting is declared adjourned
with as little formality in one case as in the others, and the fellows
file leisurely out, while the attendant speedily removes the mace, in
official token that the seance of the Royal Society is over.

THE LIBRARY AND READING-ROOM

But the "stranger" must not leave the building without mounting to the
upper floor for an inspection of the library and reading-room. The rooms
below were rather bare and inornate, contrasting unfavorably with the
elegant meeting-room of the French institute. But this library makes
full amends for anything that the other rooms may lack. It is one of the
most charming--"enchanting" is the word that the Princess Christian is
said to have used when she visited it recently--and perhaps quite the
most inspiring room to be found in all London. It is not very large as
library rooms go, but high, and with a balcony supported by Corin