y, the investigators were
naturally seriously handicapped; and inventions and discoveries were not
made with the same rapidity that they would undoubtedly have been had
the same men been receiving daily, weekly, or monthly communications
from fellow-laborers all over the world, as they do to-day. Neither did
they have the advantage of public or semi-public laboratories, where
they were brought into contact with other men, from whom to gather
fresh trains of thought and receive the stimulus of their successes or
failures. In the natural course of events, however, neighbors who were
interested in somewhat similar pursuits, not of the character of the
rivalry of trade or commerce, would meet more or less frequently and
discuss their progress. The mutual advantages of such intercourse would
be at once appreciated; and it would be but a short step from the
casual meeting of two neighborly scientists to the establishment of
"societies," meeting at fixed times, and composed of members living
within reasonable travelling distance. There would, perhaps, be the
weekly or monthly meetings of men in a limited area; and as the natural
outgrowth of these little local societies, with frequent meetings,
would come the formation of larger societies, meeting less often, where
members travelled a considerable distance to attend. And, finally,
with increased facilities for communication and travel, the great
international societies of to-day would be produced--the natural outcome
of the neighborly meetings of the primitive mediaeval investigators.

In Italy, at about the time of Galileo, several small societies were
formed. One of the most important of these was the Lyncean Society,
founded about the year 1611, Galileo himself being a member. This
society was succeeded by the Accademia del Cimento, at Florence, in
1657, which for a time flourished, with such a famous scientist as
Torricelli as one of its members.

In England an impetus seems to have been given by Sir Francis Bacon's
writings in criticism and censure of the system of teaching in
colleges. It is supposed that his suggestions as to what should be the
aims of a scientific society led eventually to the establishment of the
Royal Society. He pointed out how little had really been accomplished by
the existing institutions of learning in advancing science, and asserted
that little good could ever come from them while their methods of
teaching remained unchanged. He contended that