52 ACADEMY ing, sculpture, architecture, engraving in cop- per, and musical composition. It has its memoirs and transactions, and is busied in the discussion of the Dictfbnnaire general des beaux arts. The Academic des sciences morales et politiques numbers 50 members, 5 foreign associates, and 40 corresponding members. Its five sections are : philosophy ; moral philoso- phy; legislation, public law, and jurisprudence; political economy and statistics; and general history and philosophy. The whole institute has one regular session in common, on the 2d of May of each year. By an imperial decree of April, 1855, an annual prize of 10,000 francs is placed by the government at the disposal of the institute, for the most useful invention of the last five years. Academies also exist in many of the provincial cities of France, as at Soissons since 1675, NJmes (1682), Angers (1685), Lyons (1700), Bordeaux (1703), Caen (1705), Marseilles (1726), Rouen (1736), Dijon (1740), Montauban (1744), Amiens (1750), Toulouse (the first volume of whose transac- tions is dated 1782), and so on. There was also at Paris the Academic celtique, founded in 1807, for the elucidation of the history, cus- toms, antiquities, manners, and monuments of the Celts, particularly in France ; also for phi- lological researches by means of the Breton, Welsh, and Erse dialects, and for investigation into Druidism. This is now merged in the SocUt^ des antiquaires de France, and has published several volumes of interesting me- moirs. The French Opera is styled the Academic de musique. III. Spanish Academies. A society for the cultivation of physical science, called the Academia Naturte Uuriosorum, was established at Madrid in 1652, on the model of the Neapolitan Academia Secretorum Natu- rae, before described. Of those now existing, three are specially noteworthy, viz. : 1. The royal academy at Madrid, founded in 1714, on the model of the Delia Cnisca and the Academic francaise. It published the first edition of its dictionary in l726-'39. 2. The royal academy of Spanish history. This com- menced as a private association at Madrid, but was taken under royal protection in 1738. 3. The academy of painting and sculpture, at Madrid, dates from 1753. An academy of sciences was founded in 1847. IV. Portu- guese Academies. An academy of Portuguese history was established at Lisbon in 1720, by King John V. A still more flourishing though more recent institution is the academy of science, agriculture, arts, commerce, and gen- eral economy, founded by Queen Maria in 1779. It is liberally endowed by the state, and is divided into three sections: 1, natural science ; 2, mathematics ; 3, Portuguese litera- ture. The geographical academy at Lisbon has published a map of Portugal since the beginning of this century. V. German Acad- emies. The royal academy of sciences and belles-lettres at Berlin was founded in 1700, by the elector Frederick, partly on the model of the royal society of England, but not opened till 1711. Leibnitz was its first president. In 1744 Frederick the Great gave it a new organ- ization ; the king invited to Berlin many dis- tinguished foreigners, and placed Maupertuis at the head of the institution. Formerly the transactions were published in French, but since the revolution they have appeared in German. A yearly medal worth 50 Prussian ducats is distributed. The other noteworthy German associations of the kind are the acade- mies of Gottingen (founded in 1750), Munich (1759), Leipsic (1846), and Vienna (1846), chiefly devoted to historical studies and gen- eral scholarship. Prague, Cracow, and Pesth also possess creditable academies. VI. In Switzerland, there is an academy of medicine at Geneva, founded in 1715. VII. In Belgium, the academy of sciences and belles-lettres at Brussels was founded by Maria Theresa in 1772, suspended during the French revolution, re- vived in 1816, and reorganized in 1845 as the Academic royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux arts. VIII. Holland. The Academia Lugduno-Batava, at Leyden, was founded June 18, 1766, and publishes Annales. The academy of Amsterdam, founded in 1808, was devoted to fine arts only, but was converted in 1852 into an academy of sciences, literature, and fine arts. Rotterdam, Haarlem, Utrecht, and Middelburg have also learned associa- tions. IX. Scandinavian Academies. The royal academy of sciences at Stockholm was in- stituted by six men of science, among whom was Linnteus. Their first meeting was on June 2, 1739 ; in that year the first volume of memoirs appeared. On March 31, 1741, they were incorporated under the name of the royal Swedish academy. It is not supported by. public patronage like the academies of France, Spain, Italy, and Germany. It has, however, a large fund, the fruit of legacies by private individuals. The transactions are written in the Swedish language, but have also been translated into German. Annual premiums for the encouragement of agriculture and inland trade are distributed by the academy. The prize fund is indebted for its existence to volun- tary contributions. Stockholm contains also ;m academy of belles-lettres, established in 1753; and the literary academy of Sweden, founded in 1786, whose object is the cultivation of the national language. There is an academy of northern antiquities at Upsal, whose researches have done much toward elucidating the early condition and creeds of the Gothic race. The royal academy of sciences at Copenhagen <> -es its origin to six individuals. The count of IIol- stein was its first president, and the kin^r <>t' Denmark extended to it his patronage in 1743. It has published 15 volumes in the Danish language, which have been in part translated into Latin. The academy of the fine arts was established in 1733 at Stockholm, by the exer- tions of Charles Gustavus, count of IV and that of Copenhagen, founded in 1738,
Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/72
This page needs to be proofread.