Hooker refers to the Academia Caesarea Leopoldino-Carolina Germanica Naturae Curiosorum (the German academy of sciences), known as Leopoldina. The new rules were introduced in order to establish a permanent home for the academy, which, since its inception, had moved its location to wherever the current president was based. As part of the reorganisation, in 1872 the new post of deputy (Stellvertreter) was created and Alexander Carl Heinrich Braun was chosen for the post (see Berg und Kaasch 2010).

CD became a member of Leopoldina in 1857; it was the first foreign society to elect CD to membership (see Correspondence vol. 6, letter to Secretary, Academia Caesarea Leopoldino-Carolina, 8 September [1857] and n. 2).