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

of the great advantages of such a system would be, that no

young person would have an excuse for not studying, by stating,

as is most frequently done, that the only pursuits followed at

Cambridge, classics and mathematics, are not adapted either to

his taste, or to the wants of his after life. His friends and

relatives would then reasonably expect every student to have

acquired distinction in SOME pursuit. If it should be feared

that this plan would lead to too great a diversity of pursuits in

the same individual, a limitation might be placed upon the number

of examinations into which the same person might be permitted to

enter. It might also be desirable not to restrict the whole of

these examinations to the third year, but to allow the student to

enter on some portion of them in the first or second year, if he

should prefer it.

 

By such an arrangement, which would scarcely interfere seriously

with our other examinations, we should, I think, be enabled

effectually to keep pace with the wants of society, and retaining

fully our power and our right to direct the studies of those who

are intended for the church, as well as of those who aspire to

the various offices connected with our academical institutions;

we should, at the same time, open a field of honourable ambition

to multitudes, who, from the exclusive nature of our present

studies, leave us with but a very limited addition to their stock

of knowledge.

 

Much more might be said on a subject so important to the

interests of the country, as well as of our university, but my

wish is merely to open it for our own consideration and

discussion. We have already done so much for the improvement of

our system of instruction, that public opinion will not reproach

us for any unwillingness to alter. It is our first duty to be

well satisfied that we can improve: such alterations ought only

to be the result of a most mature consideration, and of a free

interchange of sentiments on the subject, in order that we may

condense upon the question the accumulated judgment of many

minds.

 

It is in some measure to be attributed to the defects of our

system of education, that scientific knowledge scarcely exists

amongst the higher classes of society. The discussions in the

Houses of Lords or of Commons, which arise on the occurrence of

any subjects connected with science, sufficiently prove this

fact, which, if I had consulted the extremely limited nature of

my personal experience, I should, perhaps, have doubted.

 

CHAPTER II.

 

OF THE INDUCEMENTS TO INDIVIDUALS TO CULTIVATE SCIENCE.

 

Interest or inclination form the primary and ruling motives in

this matter: and both these exert greater or less proportionate

influence in each of the respective cases to be examined.

 

SECTION 1.

 

PROFESSIONAL IMPULSES.

 

A large portion of those who are impelled by ambition or

necessity to advance themselves in the world, make choice of some

profession in which they imagine their talents likely to be

rewarded with success; and there are peculiar advantages

resulting to each from this classification of society into

professions. The ESPRIT DE CORPS frequently overpowers the

jealousy which exists between individuals, and pushes on to

advantageous situations some of the more fortunate of the

profession; whilst, on the other hand, any injury or insult

offered to the weakest, is redressed or resented by the whole

body. There are other advantages which are perhaps of more

importance to the public. The numbers which compose the learned

professions in England are so considerable, that a kind of public

opinion is generated amongst them, which powerfully tends to

repress conduct that is injurious either to the profession or to

the public. Again, the mutual jealousy and rivalry excited

amongst the whole body is so considerable, that although the rank

and estimation which an individual holds in the profession may be

most unfairly appreciated, by taking the opinion of his rival;

yet few estimations will be found generally more correct than the

opinion of a whole profession on the merits of any one of its

body. This test is of great value to the public, and becomes the

more so, in proportion to the difficulty of the study to which

the profession is devoted. It is by availing themselves of it

that men of sense and judgment, who have occasion for the

services of professional persons, are, in a great measure, guided

in their choice.

 

The pursuit of science does not, in England, constitute a

distinct profession, as it does in many other countries. It is

therefore, on that ground alone, deprived of many of the

advantages which attach to professions. One of its greatest

misfortunes arises from this circumstance; for the subjects on

which it is conversant are so difficult, and require such

unremitted devotion of time, that few who have not spent years in

their study can judge of the relative knowledge of those who

pursue them. It follows, therefore, that the public, and even

that men of sound sense and discernment, can scarcely find means

to distinguish between the possessors of knowledge, in the

present day, merely elementary, and those whose acquirements are

of the highest order. This remark applies with peculiar force to

all the more difficult applications of mathematics; and the fact

is calculated to check the energies of those who only look to

reputation in England.

 

As there exists with us no peculiar class professedly devoted to

science, it frequently happens that when a situation, requiring

for the proper fulfilment of its duties considerable scientific

attainments, is vacant, it becomes necessary to select from among

amateurs, or rather from among persons whose chief attention has

been bestowed on other subjects, and to whom science has been

only an occasional pursuit. A certain quantity of scientific

knowledge is of course possessed by individuals in many

professions; and when added to the professional acquirements of

the army, the navy, or to the knowledge of the merchant, is

highly meritorious: but it is obvious that this may become, when

separated from the profession, quite insignificant as the basis

of a scientific reputation.

 

To those who have chosen the profession of medicine, a knowledge

of chemistry, and of some branches of natural history, and,

indeed, of several other departments of science, affords useful

assistance. Some of the most valuable names which adorn the

history of English science have been connected with this

profession.

 

The causes which induce the selection of the clerical profession

are not often connected with science; and it is, perhaps, a

question of considerable doubt whether it is desirable to hold

out to its members hopes of advancement from such acquirements.

As a source of recreation, nothing can be more fit to occupy the

attention of a divine; and our church may boast, in the present

as in past times, that the domain of science has been extended by

some of its brightest ornaments.

 

In England, the profession of the law is that which seems to hold

out the strongest attraction to talent, from the circumstance,

that in it ability, coupled with exertion, even though unaided by

patronage, cannot fail of obtaining reward. It is frequently

chosen as an introduction to public life. It also presents great

advantages, from its being a qualification for many situations

more or less remotely connected with it, as well as from the

circumstance that several of the highest officers of the state

must necessarily have sprung from its ranks.

 

A powerful attraction exists, therefore, to the promotion of a

study and of duties of all others engrossing the time most

completely, and which is less benefited than most others by any

acquaintance with science. This is one amongst the causes why it

so very rarely happens that men in public situations are at all

conversant even with the commonest branches of scientific

knowledge, and why scarcely an instance can be cited of such

persons acquiring a reputation by any discoveries of their own.

 

But, however consistent other sciences may be with professional

avocations, there is one which, from its extreme difficulty, and

the overwhelming attention which it demands, can only be pursued

with success by those whose leisure is undisturbed by other

claims. To be well acquainted with the present state of

mathematics, is no easy task; but to add to the powers which that

science possesses, is likely to be the lot of but few English

philosophers.

 

SECTION 2.

 

OF NATIONAL ENCOURAGEMENT.

 

The little encouragement which at all previous periods has been

afforded by the English Government to the authors of useful

discoveries, or of new and valuable inventions, is justified on

the following grounds:

 

1. The public, who consume the new commodity or profit by the

new invention, are much better judges of its merit than the

government can be.

 

2. The reward which arises from the sale of the commodity is

usually much larger than that which government would be justified

in bestowing; and it is exactly proportioned to the consumption,

that is, to the want which the public feel for the new article.

 

It must be admitted that, as general principles, these are

correct: there are, however, exceptions which flow necessarily

from the very reasoning from which they were deduced. Without

entering minutely into these exceptions, it will be sufficient to

show that all abstract truth is entirely excluded from reward

under this system. It is only the application of principles to

common life which can be thus rewarded. A few instances may

perhaps render this position more evident. The principle of the

hydrostatic paradox was known as a speculative truth in the time

of Stevinus; [About the year 1600] and its application to raising

heavy weights has long been stated in elementary treatises on

natural philosophy, as well as constantly exhibited in lectures.

Yet, it may fairly be regarded as a mere abstract principle,

until the late Mr. Bramah, by substituting a pump instead of the

smaller column, converted it into a most valuable and powerful

engine.—The principle of the convertibility of the centres of

oscillation and suspension in the pendulum, discovered by Huygens

more than a century and a half ago, remained, until within these

few years, a sterile, though most elegant proposition; when,

after being hinted at by Prony, and distinctly pointed out by

Bonenberger, it was employed by Captain Kater as the foundation

of a most convenient practical method of determining the length

of the pendulum.—The interval which separated the discovery, by

Dr. Black, of latent heat, from the beautiful and successful

application of it to the steam engine, was comparatively short;

but it required the efforts of two minds; and both were of the

highest order.—The influence of electricity in producing

decompositions, although of inestimable value as an instrument of

discovery in chemical inquiries, can hardly be said to have been

applied to the practical purposes of life, until the same

powerful genius which detected the principle, applied it, by a

singular felicity of reasoning, to arrest the corrosion of the

copper-sheathing of vessels. That admirably connected chain of

reasoning, the truth of which is confirmed by its very failure as

a remedy, will probably at some future day supply, by its

successful application, a new proof of the position we are

endeavouring to establish.

 

[I am authorised in stating, that this was regarded by Laplace as

the greatest of Sir Humphry Davy’s discoveries. It did not fail

in producing the effect foreseen by Sir H. Davy,—the preventing

the corrosion of the copper; but it failed as a cure of the evil,

by producing one of an OPPOSITE character; either by preserving

too perfectly from decay the surface of the copper, or by

rendering it negative, it allowed marine animals and vegetables

to accumulate on its surface, and thus impede the progress