Spurious reputations, it will generally be agreed, should in the
interests of truth and honesty be discouraged. That consideration might properly be commended to the attention of various societies, some learned, some more or less learned, which for reasons best known to themselves make a practice of styling persons whom they accept as members, not as members but as Fellows, thus enabling those concerned to append certain initials, very impressive to an untutored public, to their names. That would matter less if any rigorous discrimination in the admission were exercised. That may in fact be done in some cases, but it certainly is not in all, not even in the case of many societies in themselves entirely reputable. And the public, as I say, is, naturally, untutored in such matters, and lavishes indifferent admiration on John Jones, F.R.S. and Samuel Smith, F.Z.S., or Rober, Robinson, ER.C.S. and William Williamson, F.R.G.S. Actually, there is an ocean of difference. It
would matter little if the badges purchasable for an annual subscrip- tion were not so flagrantly exploited for commercial purposes or to gratify personal vanity. Nothing, I am afraid, can prevent the formation of bogus societies conferring on their members the right to assume whatever assortment of initials they please. But various societies which are anything but bogus might well consider whether some change in their rules and regulations is not desirable. * * * *
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