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INTRODUCTION.

THE

HE Council of the VICTORIA INSTITUTE having deemed it advisable to republish, in the first number of its Journal of Transactions, the Pamphlet which I ventured to issue in September, 1865 (in the first instance entirely upon my own responsibility), with the title "Scientia Scientiarum: being some account of the Origin and Objects of the Victoria Institute, or Philosophical Society of Great Britain, by a Member;" but which was afterwards circulated by order of the Provisional Committee, and is referred to with commendation both in the Vice-President's Inaugural Address and in the President's Speech at the Inaugural Festival, on 24th May, 1866; it is now here reprinted (with the Preface and Postscript which were added to it upon the publication of the third thousand), as being thus connected with the history of the Society's foundation,

The original Circular of 24th May, 1865, in which I roughly sketched the first idea of the Victoria Institute, and which is referred to in Scientia Scientiarum (p. 5), and in the Report of the Provisional Committee and Council (p. 40), will be found on p. 33; but the Circular of July, 1865 (No. 4), also referred to at the same places, has not been here reproduced, because it contained the names of some gentlemen who, though they had at first generally approved of the formation of the Society, did not afterwards make formal application to be admitted as Members or Associates, when its objects had been agreed upon and made public. Circular No. 4 was originally issued by itself, to make these objects known; and it was also appended to the first two editions of the Scientia Scientiarum; but it was omitted from the third edition, published in February last, after the First List of the Foundation

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Members and Associates had been printed-it being considered that the names of gentlemen who had known of the formation of the Society for about nine months, and had not in that time regularly joined it, should no longer appear as if connected with its foundation, when they had not qualified to be enrolled in the Foundation List of its Members and Associates.

The Council being also aware that some of the Members who have joined the Society, even after two hundred names had been enrolled, had only recently heard of its existence and understood what its objects were; and, knowing that many persons, both in the United Kingdom and the Colonies, cannot probably be made aware of its establishment for several months to come; they, therefore, recommended to the first general meeting, that the Foundation Lists should be kept open till 31st December, 1866, in order that as large a number as possible might have the opportunity of sharing with them in the honour of being Foundation Members and Associates of the Victoria Institute.

I would here, also, beg leave to call especial attention to the Sixth Recommendation of the Committee's Report (p. 43), and to what I have said in the Preface to Scientia Scientiarum (pp. 3, 4), relating to the Sixth and Seventh Objects of the Society. And I venture confidently to entertain the hope that, through Christian munificence and liberality, the Seventh Object will not long be left unrealized, when once the great importance of the work which the Society aims at accomplishing is fully appreciated.

JUNE, 1866.

J. REDDIE, Hon. Sec.

PRELIMINARY AND INAUGURAL

PROCEEDINGS.

SCIENTIA SCIENTIARUM: Being some Account of the Origin and Objects of the VICTORIA INSTITUTE, or Philosophical Society of Great Britain. By a MEMBER.

"We have all agreed to accept that kind of knowledge which we class as Scientific, without very much difficulty. If any new proposition comes with the authority of an established professor of the Science, we accept it with the confidence with which a Roman Catholic might take the decision of the infallible Church."-Saturday Review, Oct. 21st, 1865.

"Cujusvis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare."-CICERO.

"Prevailing studies are of no small consequence to a state,-the religion, manners, and civil government of a country, ever taking some bias from its philosophy, which affects not only the minds of its professors and students, but also the opinions of all the better sort and the practice of the whole people-remotely and consequently indeed-though not inconsiderably."-BERKELEY.

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PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION.

IN

N preparing a Third Edition of this Pamphlet, the author begs leave to say, that, although it has been circulated by order of the Provisional Committee of the Victoria Institute, he alone is responsible for its contents. In the "Objects of the Society," "Terms of Membership," &c., will be found all that is strictly "official," if I may use the term; and as this pamphlet has not touched upon either of the last four Objects of the Society, I would beg special attention to them briefly here.

The Fourth Object merely explains that our proceedings are to be conducted like those of other Scientific Societies, by the reading of Papers or Memoirs, and discussing them afterwards. It is, however, intended that our reports of discussions are to be more than usually full, as is signified by their being described as "verbatim reports," instead of mere brief abstracts. In some Societies-as, for instance, the Royal Society-discussions are not reported at all; and in the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the Papers read are never discussed. The advantages of the course proposed in the Victoria Institute, as a Society for the study of General Science and Philosophy, must at once be evident.

The Fifth Object is distinctively peculiar to this Society. The Royal Institution, indeed, has various courses of Lectures, some of which are strictly scientific and educational, delivered by Professors attached to the Institution; but its popular Lectures on miscellaneous subjects are not the results of studies or discussions carried on under its auspices, and. cannot be compared with the kind of Lectures here proposed.

Sixth Object.-The intended publication of translations of important foreign works, of real scientific and philosophical value, is similar to what the Anthropological Society of London is doing, with marked success, for Anthropology. By this means, it is hoped that subscribers will not only receive a full return for their subscriptions, but that valuable books will be placed in their hands which otherwise it might not have been easy to procure in this country, and not at all in an English

form.

The Seventh Object also goes beyond the scope of what most

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