I am satisfied that many keen observers of climatic changes and other scientific phenomena, and many old residents of this country who are in possession of historical information of pioneer times which should be preserved, would communicate what they know to societies interested in such matters if The Inter Ocean would only publish a list of some of the most important of such societies. “Will not Our Curiosity Shop favor us with such a list? Also, give the names of a few of the most noted societies or academies of Europe.
Amateur.
Answer.—Taking the world at large there are many hundreds of societies for the promotion of science, literature, or the arts. It is not worth while to enumerate more than a few of those in foreign countries. In France they have the famous Institute of France, with its four academies, viz: The French Academy, the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Fine Arts. There is the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin; the Academy of Science at Manheim; the Electoral Bavarian Academy of Sciences at Munich; the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg; the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm; the Royal Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen; the Royal Academy of Sciences at Amsterdam; the Academy of Sciences at Madrid; the de Screti. or Academia Secretorum Naturæ, at Naples; the Royal Academy of Sciences at Turin; the Academy of Sciences at Lisbon; the Royal Academy, London; and the Royal Irish Academy. Then there are academies for the advancement of literature in nearly all European countries. There were no fewer than 171 of these in Italy alone as early as the sixteenth century, many of which still exist. Then there are many academies of archæology and history, such as the Academy of Herculaneum, Italy; the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, constituting one of the four academies of the Institute of France, as above shown; the Celtic Academy, and others. There are academies of medicine and surgery in various parts of the old world. As to painting, sculpture, and music, they have such powerful auxiliary societies as the Royal Academy of Arts, the Royal Academy of Music, and the Academy of Ancient Music, in London; the Academy of Painting and Sculpture and the Royal Academy of Music, in Paris; and similar academies at Rome, Turin, Madrid, Berlin, Munich, and elsewhere. There are geographical societies at all the principal capitals of Europe. Of these the most conspicuous are the Royal Geographical Society, London, the Geographical Society of France, Paris, the Geographical Society of Berlin, and the Royal Asiatic Society, London, with branches at Calcutta and Shanghai.
For the practical purposes stated above, and other laudable causes, which are certainly worthy of encouragement, the following list of some of the most important societies in the United States is of much greater consequence to readers of The Inter Ocean:
Academy of Sciences, Chicago.
Albany Institute, Albany, N. Y.
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston, Mass.
American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass.
American Association for Advancement of Science, Salem, Mass.
American Association for Advancement of Social Science, Boston, Mass.
American Bible Society, New York.
American Colonization Society, Washington.
American Geographical Society, New York.
American Institute, New York.
American Museum of Natural History, New York.
American Numismatic and Archæological Society, New York.
American Oriental Society, New Haven, Conn.
American Peace Society, Boston, Mass.
American Philological Society, New York.
American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia.
American Public Health Association, Washington.
American Society of Civil Engineers and Architects, New York.
American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, New York.
Anthropological Society, Washington.
Board of Trustees of Peabody Academies and Model Schools, New Orleans.
Buffalo Historical Society, Buffalo, N. Y.
Chicago Historical Society, Chicago.
Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Conn.
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York.
Essex Institute, Salem, Mass.
Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pa.
Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Ga.
Iowa Historical Society, Iowa City, Iowa.
Lowell Institute, Boston, Mass.
Maine Historical Society, Brunswick, Me.
Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, Md.
Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Mass.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minn.
National Academy of Design, New York.
National Academy of Sciences, Washington.
New England Historic-Geneological Society, Boston, Mass.
New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, N. H.
New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, N. J.
New York Academy of Sciences, New York.
New York Historical Society, New York.
Ohio Philosophical and Historical Society, Cincinnati.
Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.
Peabody Academy of Sciences, Salem, Mass.
Peabody Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia.
Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence, R. I.
Smithsonian Institute, Washington,
South Carolina Historical Society, Charleston, S. C.
Southern Historical Society, Richmond, Va.
Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society, Richmond, Va.
Vermont Historical Society, Montpelier, Vt.
Washington Philosophical Society, Washington.
Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio.
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wis.
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE.
Chicago, Ill.
Please give a short biography of William E. Gladstone.
C. B.