societies, learned and literary, associations of individuals with a common professional interest, intended to promote learning. Many societies publish the proceedings of their meetings as well as journals, reports, and outstanding investigations by their members. They often award prizes, encourage or subsidize research, and maintain libraries.

A forerunner of the modern society was the Museum, founded c.300 B.C. in Alexandria by Ptolemy I. The earliest important medieval society was established by Charlemagne under the guidance of Alcuin. Learned societies of the modern type originated in Italy as literary academies during the revival of classical learning. The short-lived Accademia Platonica, founded in the 15th cent. by Cosimo de' Medici, served as a model. The most widely known extant society of the early period is the Accademia della Crusca, founded (1582) in Florence and several times reorganized. The Accademia Secretorum Naturae (Naples, c.1560) is believed to have been the earliest scientific society.

Outstanding among European societies are the French Academy (1635), now a section of the Institut de France; the Royal Society (1662); the Prussian Academy of Sciences, founded by Frederick I in 1700 as the Societas Regia Scientarum; and the Russian Academy of Sciences, founded at St. Petersburg in 1725. Many countries have national academies, councils, or institutes. Among them are the Royal Canadian Institute (1849), the Indian Academy of Sciences (1934), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (1949), the Science Council of Japan (1949), the Polish Academy of Sciences (1952), the Australian Academy of Science (1954), the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (1959), and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities (1959). Local and regional societies have also flourished.

Many societies cover a broad field, among them the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1831), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1847), the National Academy of Sciences (established in 1863 by the U.S. Congress), the American Philosophical Society (incorporated under its present name in 1769), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (chartered in 1780 in Boston). However, the specialization of knowledge has resulted in the establishment of literary, historical, archaeological, and scientific societies covering very restricted fields. The specialization of fields and the geographical distribution of societies necessitate methods of coordination including informal cooperation and formal affiliations, as in the American Medical Association (1847), in which local medical organizations are represented.

Marcy, William Learned, 1786-1857, American politician, b. Southbridge, Mass. He settled in Troy, N.Y., where he practiced law and, after serving in the War of 1812, held local offices. A Democrat and a partisan of Martin Van Buren, Marcy entered the political group known as the Albany Regency, of which he soon became a dominant figure. He served as state comptroller (1823-29) and as justice of the state supreme court (1829-31) before he entered (1831) the U.S. Senate. There he made a famous speech supporting the nomination of Van Buren as minister to England: his defense of Van Buren's methods of patronage with the claim that "to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy" supposedly gave rise to the term "spoils system." Marcy served (1833-39) as governor of New York for three terms and was a member (1840-42) of the Mexican Claims Commission. He was Secretary of War (1845-49) under President Polk and conducted that office efficiently during the Mexican War. He had drifted into opposition to Van Buren and headed the Hunkers, a faction of the New York Democratic party. The peak of Marcy's career was reached when he served as Secretary of State (1853-57) under President Pierce. He handled many delicate problems, including the Gadsden Purchase, negotiations concerning the Black Warrior affair with Spain, and the trouble arising from the filibustering expedition of William Walker in Nicaragua. He condemned the Ostend Manifesto, but he managed to maintain a neutral attitude in the rising dispute over slavery.

Hand, Learned, 1872-1961, American jurist, b. Albany, N.Y. He received his law degree from Harvard in 1896. He was a judge of the U.S. District Court for New York's Southern District (1909-24) and of the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals (1924-51). Often called the "tenth justice of the Supreme Court," and regarded as one of the finest jurists in American history, Hand delivered more than 2,000 opinions, and was noted especially as a defender of free speech. He is the author of The Spirit of Liberty, a collection of papers and addresses (1952), and of The Bill of Rights, a series of lectures (1958).

(born Dec. 12, 1786, Southbridge, Mass., U.S.—died July 4, 1857, Ballston Spa, N.Y.) U.S. politician. From 1823 to 1829 he was comptroller of New York state and a leading member of the “Albany Regency,” a group of powerful state Democrats. He was a justice of the state supreme court from 1829 to 1831. In the U.S. Senate (1831–33), he championed the spoils system, remarking that “To the victor belong the spoils of the enemy.” He served as governor of New York (1833–39), as U.S. secretary of war (1845–49), and as U.S. secretary of state (1853–57).

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(born Dec. 12, 1786, Southbridge, Mass., U.S.—died July 4, 1857, Ballston Spa, N.Y.) U.S. politician. From 1823 to 1829 he was comptroller of New York state and a leading member of the “Albany Regency,” a group of powerful state Democrats. He was a justice of the state supreme court from 1829 to 1831. In the U.S. Senate (1831–33), he championed the spoils system, remarking that “To the victor belong the spoils of the enemy.” He served as governor of New York (1833–39), as U.S. secretary of war (1845–49), and as U.S. secretary of state (1853–57).

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(born Jan. 27, 1872, Albany, N.Y., U.S.—died Aug. 18, 1961, New York, N.Y.) U.S. jurist. He attended Harvard University, where he studied philosophy (under William James, Josiah Royce, and George Santayana) and law; thereafter he practiced law in Albany and New York City. In 1909 he was appointed a federal district judge, and in 1924 he was elevated to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, becoming chief judge in 1939. He sat in many cases after his official retirement in 1951. His 52-year tenure on the federal bench (from 1909 to his death in 1961) represents a record. Several of his decisions, especially in the antitrust suit known as the Alcoa case (1945) and in a 1950 case involving charges of communist conspiracy, are considered landmarks. Although he never reached the Supreme Court of the United States, his reputation surpasses that of all but a few who have sat there.

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