Academy, a body of persons voluntarily associated to confer on questions of art, science, or literature. The term originated in connection with the school of Plato and his disciples, who walked and talked and learned and taught in the garden of Academus in Athens. In the sense of a school, academy is still used, especially in New England, for a grade of schools, frequently endowed and ably taught, corresponding in a general way to the public high school. The United States Government maintains a military academy at West Point and a naval academy at Annapolis. The preparatory department maintained by many colleges goes by the name of academy. The report of the United States Commissioner of Education for 1907 gives information regarding 1,434 academies having 8,956 instructors and 97,110 students. The number of academies seems to be falling off about one hundred a year. The general use of the term, however, is to designate a learned society holding meetings for the discussion of important, and especially recent, contributions to knowledge. The academy, using the word with this meaning, dates from the revival of learning in the fifteenth century. Over 20,000 associations now exist with the purpose, and usually the name, of an academy. Many, of course, and these are not to be despised, are merely local, organized to compare fossils, flowers, and birds' eggs; but the number of state, national, and international organizations that issue bulletins and proceedings containing additions to the world's knowledge is really large. Sometimes they are termed societies, associations, or institutions. The earliest organization of the sort in this country is the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia, founded by Benjamin Franklin and his associates in 1743. The American Academy of Boston (1780) has issued many costly volumes devoted to natural history. Similar work has been done by the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia (1814); the Lyceum of Natural History, New York (1818); the of Natural History, Albany (1824), and many others. The list of historical societies is a long one, and the number of societies organized to promote artistic development is still greater. Of American organizations the greatest is the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, D.C., with a large endowment and the general government behind it. The scientific societies of Montreal, Rio Janiero, and Santiago have published valuable reports. Across the Atlantic there is a long array of royal, imperial, and national academies, institutes, and societies of art, science, and literature. Florence, Rome, Milan, Venice, Paris, Dublin, Edinburgh, London, Berlin, Munich, Pesth, Vienna, Prague, Lisbon, Madrid, St. Petersburg, Christiania, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Tokio, Madras, and, in short, all considerable cities with claim to intelligence, possess from one to several academies or learned societies under one name or another. In literature "The Academy" refers especially to the French Academy founded in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu. It consists of forty members, each with a salary of $300 a year, and three salaried officers. The secretary receives $1,200 a year. The members are popularly called the "Forty Immortals." They fill vacancies in their ranks by ballot. Jealousy at times prevents the selection of the most fitting. Among the publications of the Academy, the chief in importance is an authoritative dictionary of the French language, the first edition of which was published in 1694. In art circles "The Academy" refers to the Royal Academy of Arts, a British institution founded in 1768 by George III. Sir Joshua Reynolds was the first president. The presiding officer is permitted to write P. R. A. after his name; forty members write R.A., and twenty associates write A.R.A. An annual exhibition of meritorious paintings, sculpture, and designs is held at London.