Decline of Science in England - Charles Babbage (reading well .txt) 📗

true that these are, or ought

to be, printed with the Statutes of the Society; but that volume

is only in the hands of members, and it is for the credit of the

medals themselves, that the laws which regulate their award

should be widely known, in order that persons, not members of the

Society, might enter into competition for them.

 

Information relative to the admissions and deaths amongst the

Society would also be interesting; a list of the names of those

whom the Society had lost, and of those members who had been

added to its ranks each year, would find a proper place in the

historical pages which ought to be given with each volume of our

Transactions.

 

The want of a distinction between the working members of the

Society, and those who merely honour it with their patronage,

renders many arrangements, which would be advantageous to

science, in some cases, injudicious, and in other instances,

almost impossible.

 

Collections of Observations which are from time to time given to

the Society, may be of such a nature, that but few of the members

are interested in them. In such cases, the expense of printing

above 800 copies may reasonably induce the Council to decline

printing them altogether; whereas, if they had any means of

discrimination for distributing them, they might be quite willing

to incur the expense of printing 250. Other cases may occur, in

which great advantage would accrue, if the principle were once

admitted. Government, the Universities, public bodies, and even

individuals might, in some cases, be disposed to present to the

Royal Society a limited number of copies of their works, if they

knew that they were likely to be placed in the hands of persons

who would use them. Fifty or a hundred additional copies might,

in some cases, not be objected to on the ground of expense, when

seven or eight hundred would be quite out of the question.

 

Let us suppose twenty copies of a description of some new

chemical process to be placed at the disposal of the Royal

Society by any public body; it will not surely be contended that

they ought all to remain on the Society’s shelves. Yet, with our

present rules, that would be the case. If, however, the list of

the Members of the Society were read over to the Council, and the

names of those gentlemen known to be conversant with chemical

science were written down; then, if nineteen copies of the work

were given to those nineteen persons on this list, who had

contributed most to the Transactions of the Society, they would

in all probability be placed in the fittest hands.

 

Complete sets of the Philosophical Transactions have now become

extremely bulky; it might be well worth our consideration,

whether the knowledge of the many valuable papers they contain

would not be much spread, by publishing the abstracts of them

which have been read at the ordinary meetings of the Society.

Perhaps two or three volumes octavo, would contain all that has

been done in this way during the last century.

 

Another circumstance, which would contribute much to the order of

the proceedings of the Council, would be to have a distinct list

made out of all the statutes and orders of the Council relating

to each particular subject.

 

Thus the President, by having at one view before him all that had

ever been decreed on the question under consideration, would be

much better able to prevent inconsistent resolutions, and to save

the time of the Council from being wasted by unnecessary

discussions.

 

SECTION 6.

 

ORDER OF MERIT.

 

Amongst the various proposals for encouraging science, the

institution of an order of merit has been suggested. It is

somewhat singular, that whilst in most of the other kingdoms of

Europe, such orders exist for the purpose of rewarding, by

honorary distinctions, the improvers of the arts of life, or

successful discoverers in science, nothing of the kind has been

established in England. [At the great meeting of the

philosophers at Berlin, in 1828, of which an account is given in

the Appendix; the respect in which Berzelius, Oersted, Gauss, and

Humboldt were held in their respective countries was apparent in

the orders bestowed on them by the Sovereigns of Sweden, of

Denmark, of Hanover, and of Prussia; and there were present many

other philosophers, whose decorations sufficiently attested the

respect in which science was held in the countries from which

they came.]

 

Our orders of knighthood are favourable only to military

distinction. It has been urged, as an argument for such

institutions, that they are a cheap mode of rewarding science,

whilst, on the other hand, it has been objected, that they would

diminish the value of such honorary distinctions by making them

common. The latter objection is of little weight, because the

numbers who pursue science are few, and, probably, will long

continue so. It would also be easily avoided, by restricting the

number of the order or of the class, if it were to form a

peculiar class of another order. Another objection, however,

appears to me to possess far greater weight; and, however strong

the disposition of the Government might be (if such an order

existed) to fill it properly, I do not believe that, in the

present state of public opinion respecting science, it could be

done, and, in all probability, it would be filled up through the

channels of patronage, and by mere jobbers in science.

 

Another proposal, of a similar kind, has also been talked of, one

which it may appear almost ridiculous to suggest in England, but

which would be considered so in no other country. It is, to

ennoble some of the greatest scientific benefactors of their

country. Not to mention political causes, the ranks of the

nobility are constantly recruited from the army, the navy, and

the bar; why should not the family of that man, whose name is

imperishably connected with the steam-engine, be enrolled amongst

the nobility of his country? In utility and profit, not merely

to that country, but to the human race, his deeds may proudly

claim comparison even with the most splendid of those achieved by

classes so rich in glorious recollections. An objection, in most

cases fatal to such a course, arises from the impolicy of

conferring a title, unless a considerable fortune exists to

support it; a circumstance very rarely occurring to the

philosopher. It might in some measure be removed, by creating

such titles only for life. But here, again, until there existed

some knowledge of science amongst the higher classes, and a sound

state of public opinion relative to science, the execution of the

plan could only be injurious.

 

SECTION 7.

 

OF THE UNION OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

 

This idea has occurred to several persons, as likely to lead to

considerable advantages to science. If the various scientific

societies could unite in the occupation of one large building,

considerable economy would result from the union. By properly

arranging their evenings of meeting, one meeting-room only need

be required. The libraries might either be united, or arranged

in adjoining rooms; and such a system would greatly facilitate

the inquiries of scientific persons.

 

Whether it would be possible to reunite in any way the different

societies to the Royal Society, might be a delicate question; but

although, on some accounts, desirable, that event is not

necessary for the purpose of their having a common residence.

 

The Medico-Botanical Society might, perhaps, from sympathy, be

the first to which the Royal Society would apply; and by a proper

interchange of diplomas, [A thing well understood by the

INITIATED, both at HOME and ABROAD.] the two societies might be

inoculated with each other. But even here some tact would be

required; the Medico-Botanical is a little particular about the

purity of its written documents, and lately attributed blame to

one of its officers for some slight tampering with them, a degree

of illiberality which the Council of the Royal Society are far

from imitating.

 

The Geological and the Astronomical Societies nourish no feelings

of resentment to the parent institution for their early

persecution; and though they have no inducement to seek, would

scarcely refuse any union which might be generally advantageous

to science.

 

CONCLUSION.

 

In a work on the Decline of Science, at a period when England has

so recently lost two of its brightest ornaments, I should hardly

be excused if I omitted to devote a few words to the names of

Wollaston and of Davy. Until the warm feelings of surviving

kindred and admiring friends shall be cold as the grave from

which remembrance vainly recalls their cherished forms, invested

with all the life and energy of recent existence, the volumes of

their biography must be sealed. Their contemporaries can expect

only to read their eloge.

 

In habits of intercourse with both those distinguished

individuals, sufficiently frequent to mark the curiously

different structure of their minds, I was yet not on such terms

even with him I most esteemed, as to view his great qualities

through that medium which is rarely penetrated by the eyes of

long and very intimate friendship.

 

Caution and precision were the predominant features of the

character of Wollaston, and those who are disposed to reduce the

number of principles, would perhaps justly trace the precision

which adorned his philosophical, to the extreme caution which

pervaded his moral character. It may indeed be questioned whether

the latter quality will not in all persons of great abilities

produce the former.

 

Ambition constituted a far larger ingredient in the character of

Davy, and with the daring hand of genius he grasped even the

remotest conclusions to which a theory led him. He seemed to

think invention a more common attribute than it really is, and

hastened, as soon as he was in possession of a new fact or a new

principle, to communicate it to the world, doubtful perhaps lest

he might not be anticipated; but, confident in his own powers, he

was content to give to others a chance of reaping some part of

that harvest, the largest portion of which he knew must still

fall to his own share.

 

Dr. Wollaston, on the other hand, appreciated more truly the

rarity of the inventive faculty; and, undeterred by the fear of

being anticipated, when he had contrived a new instrument, or

detected a new principle, he brought all the information that he

could collect from others, or which arose from his own

reflection, to bear upon it for years, before he delivered it to

the world.

 

The most singular characteristic of Wollaston’s mind was the

plain and distinct line which separated what he knew from what he

did not know; and this again, arising from his precision, might

be traced to caution.

 

It would, however, have been visible to such an extent in few

except himself, for there were very few so perfectly free from

vanity and affectation. To this circumstance may be attributed a

peculiarity of manner in the mode in which he communicated

information to those who sought it from him, which was to many

extremely disagreeable. He usually, by a few questions,

ascertained precisely how much the inquirer knew upon the

subject, or the exact point at which his ignorance commenced, a

process not very agreeable to the vanity of mankind; taking up

the subject at this point, he would then very clearly and shortly

explain it.

 

His acquaintance with mathematics was very limited. Many years

since, when I was an unsuccessful candidate for a professorship

of mathematics, I applied to Dr. W. for a recommendation; he

declined it, on the ground of its not being his pursuit. I told

him I asked it, because I thought it would have weight, to which

he replied, that it