f the
numerous members of the Society will show, by his conduct, that the
paths of science are less likely than any others to interfere with those
of politics.

ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT CONGRESS OF PHILOSOPHERS AT BERLIN, ON THE 18TH OF
SEPTEMBER 1828. FROM THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, APRIL, 1829.

The existence of a large society of cultivators of the natural sciences
meeting annually at some great capital, or some central town of Europe,
is a circumstance almost unknown to us, and deserving of our attention,
from the important advantages which may arise from it.

About eight years ago, Dr. Okens, of Munich, suggested a plan for an
annual meeting of all Germans who cultivated the sciences of medicine
and botany. The first meeting, of about forty members, took place at
Leipsic, in 1822, and it was successively held at Halle, Wurtzburg,
Frankfort on the Maine, Dresden, Munich, and Berlin. All those who had
printed a certain number of sheets of their inquiries on these subjects
were considered members of this academy.

The great advantages which resulted to these sciences from the
communication of observations from all quarters of Germany, soon induced
an extension of the plan, and other departments of natural knowledge
were admitted, until, at the last meeting, the cultivators even of pure
mathematics were found amongst the ranks of this academy.

Several circumstances, independent of the form and constitution of the
academy, contributed to give unwonted splendour to the last meeting,
which took place at Berlin in the middle of September of the last year.

The capital selected for its temporary residence is scarcely surpassed
by any in Europe in the number and celebrity of its savans.

The taste for knowledge possessed by the reigning family, has made
knowledge itself fashionable; and the severe sufferings of the Prussians
previous to the war, by which themselves and Europe were freed, have
impressed on them so strongly the lesson that "knowledge is power," that
its effects are visible in every department of the government; and there
is no country in Europe in which talents and genius so surely open for
their possessors the road to wealth and distinction.

Another circumstance also contributed its portion to increase the
numbers of the meeting of the past year. The office of president, which
is annually changed, was assigned to M. Alexander de Humboldt. The
universality of his acquirements, which have left no