Notes

Abstract

AT the meeting of the Linnean Society on Thursday last, it was unanimously resolved to send a congratulatory letter to von Siebold on the occasion of his jubilee. This graceful act, however, brings into prominence the neglect of the Society to take any notice of the Linnean centenary, the celebration of which in Sweden, Holland, and Germany, were recently noticed in our columns. Of course the excuse may be urged with some force that such formalities are foreign to English habits, but perhaps an exception might have been allowed in the case of a Society which bears the name and jealously guards the collections, books, and manuscripts of the great naturalist. Perhaps, however, another reason may be found in the fact that the constitution of the Society places the initiative in every case in the hands of the officers whose tenure of office is practically indefinite, and who are not very accessible to any impulses of enthusiasm from the general body of the Society even if there were any permissible way by which expression could be given to them. Some disquieting rumours as to the present condition of the Society's business affairs, coupled with its rather troubled history during the past few years, seem to point to the desirability of some changes in its mode of government which would bring the executive into closer relation with the general body of Fellows.