ABSTRACT
Based on a lecture given at Coimbra University in November, 1990, as a contribution to a conference commemorating the two hundredth anniversary of J. H. Magellan (J. H. de Magalhaes, 1722-90) and the seven hundredth anniversary of the University. Magellan was elected an Honorary Member of the Society in 1782; Professor Cardwell represented the Society at the commemoration. A visitor to the world of eighteenth century science would, therefore, find as many ideas and aspirations that were not to be fulfilled as those that were to prove lasting. He would visit, among others, the Academie at Dijon for, in the void left by the universities, moribund in France as elsewhere, a large number of voluntary scientific societies had sprung up to supplement the great national academies. The voluntary scientific society was typically an eighteenth century institution. Many such societies were formed in France during the century, far more than in any other country.
