SOCIETIES, LEARNED

are a ociations for the promotion and propagation of lit., science, and art, through the converse of learned men and from purely disinterested motives. Soc’s originated with the schools of Greece and notabl y the Academy. The first or ‘old’ Academy, 347-270 |p rat ON mainly Pythagorean in doctrine, was said to embrace all culture and learning. Its leaders were Spensippus, and Crates. The second or ‘middle’ Academy dates from 316-241 B. C., and was founded by Arcesilaus. It emphasized probability rather than reality, and this tendency ultimately produced the extreme scepticism of the third or ‘new’ under Carneades. The Museum of Alexandria, founded at the beginning of the III. cent. B. C. by the first of the Ptolemies, became the meeting-place of the votaries of all the arts and sciences. At Constantinople in the early [LX cent. A. D. Cesar Bardas founded a State institute for the promotion of science, in rivalry probably of the Western centers of learning at Granada, Corduba, etc. In 782 Charlemagne founded his Palatine Academy, with Alcuin at the head; it was instituted to foster the studies cf math’s, history, and _ letters. The Academy founded by Alfred the Great at Oxford is now an exploded myth. More modern in organization were the soc’s of the Troubadours in the early XIV. cent., of which the Academie des Jeux Floraux is a direct descendant. In Italy of the Renai ance we see the nearest approach to the modern learned soc. The most celebrated a ociation was the Academia Platonic a, founded 1442, by Cosimo de’ Medici. In 1582 the Academia dell a Crusca was founded at Florence with the specific aim of purifying the Ital. language. Most | celebrated of all Academies is the famous Institut de France. In Germany the most famous a ociations are the Collegium Curiosum, 1672, and the Akademie der Wi enschaften. Amer. societies are: Amer. Philosophical, 1748; Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1799; New York Academy of Sciences, 1817; Boston Soc. of Natural History, 1830; Smithsonian Institution, 1846; Amer. A ociation for Advancement of Science, 1847; Amer. Geographical, 1852; National Academy of Sciences, 1863; Social Science A ociation, 1865; Amer. Chemical, 1876; Amer. Folklore, 1888. The chief Brit. learned soc’s are the Royal Society of London, founded by the followers of Bacon, 1660; the Dublin Philosophical (or Royal Dublin), 1684; the Royal Physical of Edinburgh, 1771; Highland and Agricultural, 1784; the Linnean (for the promotion of Bot. and Zool.,) 1788; Royal Medical and Chirurgical, 1805; Royal Geographical, 1830; Brit. A ociation, 1831; the Brit. A ociation for the Advancement of Sciences, 1831; Brit. Medical A ociation, 1832; Royal Botanical, 1834; Royal Soc. of Arts, 1847. Since the XVIII. cent. the tendency has been towards specialization. See ACADEMY.: