This extension of knowledge and the great discoveries upon which it was based, naturally led those who were interested in the study of the remains of antique civilisation, to feel the necessity of organisation, of division of labour, and of the importance of ensuring a steady supply of the best and most trustworthy information. Societies were therefore founded in many different centres with the express object of meeting those wants. We cannot, of course, enumerate them here, nor attempt to estimate their various claims to our gratitude, but we may be permitted to allude to the good work accomplished, during fifty years of incessant activity, by the Association which has perhaps done more than any other for the progress of archæology, we mean the _Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica_, founded in Rome in 1829, by Bunsen, Gerhard, and the Duc de Luynes. Thanks to the breadth of view which characterised its founders, this society has been, ever since its inauguration, an international one in the best sense of the word; it brings together for a common end the most eminent European _savants_ and their best pupils; it finds fellow-labourers and correspondents in every country. With their aid it soon established a _Bullettino_, where, month by month, all discoveries of interest made at any point of the Mediterranean basin were registered; and volumes, called sometimes _Annali_, sometimes _Memorie_, in which really important discoveries, and the problems to which they give rise, were discussed. Some of these dissertations are so elaborate and so full of valuable matter as to have formed epochs in the history of science. They are accompanied by fine plates, which, by their size, permit the reproduction of objects of art on a grander scale, and with more fidelity, than had been previously attempted.[21] [21] For the history of the _Instituto Archeologico_, the notice written for the celebration, in 1879, of the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation, may be consulted. It is from the pen of Michaëlis, one of the most learned of modern German archæologists, and bears the following title: _Storia dell' Instituto Archeologico Germano, 1829-1879, strenna pubblicata nell' occasione della festa del 21 Aprile, 1879, dalla direzione centrale dell' Instituto Archeologico_, 8vo. Roma, 1879. It was also published in German. An article by M. Ernest Vinet in the volume entitled _L'Art et l'Archéologie_ (pp. 74-91, 8vo. Didier, 1874), upon the origin and labours of the _Instituto_, will also be found interesting.