REFLECTIONS ON THE DECLINE OF SCIENCE IN ENGLAND,
AND ON SOME OF ITS
CAUSES.
By Charles Babbage
DEDICATION.
HAD I INTENDED TO DEDICATE THIS VOLUME, I SHOULD HAVE INSCRIBED IT TO A
NOBLEMAN WHOSE EXERTIONS IN PROMOTING EVERY OBJECT THAT CAN ADVANCE
SCIENCE REFLECT LUSTRE UPON HIS RANK. BUT THE KINDNESS OF HIS NATURE MIGHT
HAVE BEEN PAINED AT HAVING HIS NAME CONNECTED WITH STRICTURES, PERHAPS TOO
SEVERELY JUST. I SHALL, THEREFORE, ABSTAIN FROM MENTIONING THE NAME OF ONE
WHO WILL FEEL THAT HE HAS COMMANDED MY ESTEEM AND RESPECT.
C. BABBAGE.
DORSET STREET, MANCHESTER SQUARE, 29th April, 1830.
PREFACE.
Of the causes which have induced me to print this volume I have little to
say; my own opinion is, that it will ultimately do some service to
science, and without that belief I would not have undertaken so thankless
a task. That it is too true not to make enemies, is an opinion in which I
concur with several of my friends, although I should hope that what I have
written will not give just reason for the permanence of such feelings. On
one point I shall speak decidedly, it is not connected in any degree with
the calculating machine on which I have been engaged; the causes which
have led to it have been long operating, and would have produced this
result whether I had ever speculated on that subject, and whatever might
have been the fate of my speculations.
If any one shall endeavour to account for the opinions stated in these
pages by ascribing them to any imagined circumstance peculiar to myself, I
think he will be mistaken. That science has long been neglected and
declining in England, is not an opinion originating with me, but is shared
by many, and has been expressed by higher authority than mine. I shall
offer a few notices on this subject, which, from their scattered position,
are unlikely to have met the reader’s attention, and which, when combined
with the facts I have detailed in subsequent pages, will be admitted to
deserve considerable attention. The following extract from the article
Chemistry, in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, is from the pen of a
gentleman equally qualified by his extensive reading, and from his
acquaintance with foreign nations, to form an opinion entitled to respect.
Differing from him widely as to the cause, I may be permitted to cite him
as high authority for the fact.
“In concluding this most circumscribed outline of the History of
Chemistry, we may perhaps be allowed to express a faint shade of regret,
which, nevertheless, has frequently passed over our minds within the space
of the last five or six years. Admiring, as we most sincerely do, the
electro-magnetic discoveries of Professor Oersted and his followers, we
still, as chemists, fear that our science has suffered some degree of
neglect in consequence of them. At least, we remark that, during this
period, good chemical analyses and researches have been rare in England;
and yet, it must be confessed, there is an ample field for chemical
discovery. How scanty is our knowledge of the suspected fluorine! Are we
sure that we understand the nature of nitrogen? And yet these are amongst
our elements. Much has been done by Wollaston, Berzelius, Guy-Lussac,
Thenard, Thomson, Prout, and others, with regard to the doctrine of
definite proportions; but there yet remains the Atomic Theory. Is it a
representation of the laws of nature, or is it not?”—-CHEMISTRY,
ENCYC. METROP. p.596.
When the present volume was considerably advanced, the public were
informed that the late Sir Humphry Davy had commenced a work, having the
same title as the present, and that his sentiments were expressed in the
language of feeling and of eloquence. It is to be hoped that it may be
allowed by his friends to convey his opinions to posterity, and that the
writings of the philosopher may enable his contemporaries to forget some
of the deeds of the President of the Royal Society.
Whatever may be the fate of that highly interesting document, we may infer
his opinions upon this subject from a sentiment expressed in his last
work:—
“—But we may in vain search the aristocracy now for philosophers.”——”There
are very few persons who pursue science with true dignity; it is followed
more as connected with objects of profit than those of fame.”—SIR H.
DAVY’S CONSOLATIONS IN TRAVEL.
The last authority which I shall adduce is more valuable, from the varied
acquirements of its author, and from the greater detail into which he
enters. “We have drawn largely, both in the present Essay, and in our
article on LIGHT, from the ANNALES DE CHEMIE, and we take this ONLY
opportunity distinctly to acknowledge our obligations to that most
admirably conducted work. Unlike the crude and undigested scientific
matter which suffices, (we are ashamed to say it) for the monthly and
quarterly amusement of our own countrymen, whatever is admitted into ITS
pages, has at least been taken pains with, and, with few exceptions, has
sterling merit. Indeed, among the original communications which abound in
it, there are few which would misbecome the first academical collections;
and if any thing could diminish our regret at the long suppression of
those noble memoirs, which are destined to adorn future volumes of that of
the Institute, it would be the masterly abstracts of them which from time
to time appear in the ANNALES, either from the hands of the authors, or
from the reports rendered by the committees appointed to examine them;
which latter, indeed, are universally models of their kind, and have
contributed, perhaps more than any thing, to the high scientific tone of
the French SAVANS. What author, indeed, but will write his best, when he
knows that his work, if it have merit, will immediately be reported on by
a committee, who will enter into all its meaning; understand it, however
profound: and, not content with MERELY understanding it, pursue the trains
of thought to which it leads; place its discoveries and principles in new
and unexpected lights; and bring the whole of their knowledge of
collateral subjects to bear upon it. Nor ought we to omit our
acknowledgement to the very valuable Journals of Poggendorff and
Schweigger. Less exclusively national than their Gallic compeer, they
present a picture of the actual progress of physical science throughout
Europe. Indeed, we have been often astonished to see with what celerity
every thing, even moderately valuable in the scientific publications of
this country, finds its way into their pages. This ought to encourage our
men of science. They have a larger audience, and a wider sympathy than
they are perhaps aware of; and however disheartening the general diffusion
of smatterings of a number of subjects, and the almost equally general
indifference to profound knowledge in any, among their own countrymen, may
be, they may rest assured that not a fact they may discover, nor a good
experiment they may make, but is instantly repeated, verified, and
commented upon, in Germany, and, we may add too, in Italy. We wish the
obligation were mutual. Here, whole branches of continental discovery are
unstudied, and indeed almost unknown, even by name. It is in vain to
conceal the melancholy truth. We are fast dropping behind. In mathematics
we have long since drawn the rein, and given over a hopeless race. In
chemistry the case is not much better. Who can tell us any thing of the
Sulfo-salts? Who will explain to us the laws of Isomorphism? Nay, who
among us has even verified Thenard’s experiments on the oxygenated acids,—Oersted’s
and Berzelius’s on the radicals of the earths,—Balard’s and
Serrulas’s on the combinations of Brome,—and a hundred other
splendid trains of research in that fascinating science? Nor need we stop
here. There are, indeed, few sciences which would not furnish matter for
similar remark. The causes are at once obvious and deep-seated; but this
is not the place to discuss them.”—MR. HERSCHEL’S TREATISE ON SOUND,
printed in the ENCYCLOPAEDIA METROPOLITANA.
With such authorities, I need not apprehend much doubt as to the fact of
the decline of science in England: how far I may have pointed out some of
its causes, must be left to others to decide.
Many attacks have lately been made on the conduct of various scientific
bodies, and of their officers, and severe criticism has been lavished upon
some of their productions. Newspapers, Magazines, Reviews, and Pamphlets,
have all been put in requisition for the purpose. Odium has been cast upon
some of these for being anonymous. If a fact is to be established by
testimony, anonymous assertion is of no value; if it can be proved, by
evidence to which the public have access, it is of no consequence (for the
cause of truth) who produces it. A matter of opinion derives weight from
the name which is attached to it; but a chain of reasoning is equally
conclusive, whoever may be its author.
Perhaps it would be better for science, that all criticism should be
avowed. It would certainly have the effect of rendering it more matured,
and less severe; but, on the other hand, it would have the evil of
frequently repressing it altogether, because there exists amongst the
lower ranks of science, a “GENUS IRRITABILE,” who are disposed to argue
that every criticism is personal. It is clearly the interest of all who
fear inquiries, to push this principle as far as possible, whilst those
whose sole object is truth, can have no apprehensions from the severest
scrutiny. There are few circumstances which so strongly distinguish the
philosopher, as the calmness with which he can reply to criticisms he may
think undeservedly severe. I have been led into these reflections, from
the circumstance of its having been stated publicly, that I was the author
of several of those anonymous writings, which were considered amongst the
most severe; and the assertion was the more likely to be credited, from
the fact of my having spoken a few words connected with one of those
subjects at the last anniversary of the Royal Society. [I merely observed
that the agreement made with the British Museum for exchanging the Arundel
MSS. for their duplicates, (which had just been stated by the President,)
was UNWISE;—because it was not to be expected that many duplicates
should be found in a library like that of the Museum, weak in the physical
and mathematical sciences: that it was IMPROVIDENT and UNBUSINESSLIKE;—because
it neither fixed the TIME when the difference was to be paid, in case
their duplicates should be insufficient; nor did it appear that there were
any FUNDS out of which the money could be procured: and I added, that it
would be more advantageous to sell the MSS., and purchase the books we
wanted with the produce.] I had hoped in that diminutive world, the world
of science, my character had been sufficiently known to have escaped being
the subject of such a mistake; and, in taking this opportunity of
correcting it, I will add that, in the present volume, I have thought it
more candid to mention distinctly those whose line of conduct I have
disapproved, or whose works I have criticised, than to leave to the reader
inferences which he might make far more extensive than I have intended. I
hope, therefore, that where I have depicted species, no person will be so
unkind to others and unjust to me, as to suppose I have described
individuals.
With respect to the cry against personality, which has been lately set up
to prevent all inquiry into matters of scientific misgovernment, a few
words will suffice.
I feel as strongly as any one, not merely the impropriety, but the
injustice of introducing private character into such discussions. There
is, however, a maxim too well established to need any comment of mine. The
public character of every public servant is legitimate subject of
discussion, and his fitness or unfitness for office may be fairly
canvassed by any person. Those whose too sensitive feelings shrink from
such an ordeal, have no right to accept the emoluments of office, for they
know that it is the condition to which all must submit who are paid from
the public purse.
The same principle is equally applicable to Companies, to Societies, and
to Academies. Those from whose pocket the salary is drawn, and by whose
appointment the officer was made, have always a right to discuss the
merits of their officers, and their modes of exercising the duties they
are paid to perform.
This principle is equally applicable to the conduct of a Secretary of
State, or to that of a constable; to that of a Secretary of the Royal
Society, or of an adviser to the Admiralty.
With respect to honorary officers, the case is in some measure different.
But the President of a society, although not recompensed by any pecuniary
remuneration, enjoys a station, when the body over which he presides
possesses a high character, to which many will aspire, who will esteem
themselves amply repaid for the time they devote to the office, by the
consequence attached to it in public estimation. He, therefore, is
answerable to the Society for his conduct in their chair.
There are several societies in which the secretaries, and other officers,
have very laborious duties, and where they are unaided by a train of
clerks, and yet no pecuniary remuneration is given to them. Science is
much indebted to such men, by whose quiet and unostentatious labours the
routine of its institutions is carried on. It would be unwise, as well as
ungrateful, to judge severely of the inadvertencies, or even of the
negligence of such persons: nothing but weighty causes should justify such
a course.
Whilst, however, I contend for the principle of discussion and inquiry in
its widest sense, because I consider it equally the safeguard of our
scientific as of our political institutions, I shall use it, I hope,
temperately; and having no personal feelings myself, but living in terms
of intercourse with almost all, and of intimacy with several of those from
whom I most widely differ, I shall not attempt to heap together all the
causes of complaint; but, by selecting a few in different departments,
endeavour to convince them that some alteration is essentially necessary
for the promotion of that very object which we both by such different
roads pursue.
I have found it necessary, in the course of this volume, to speak of the
departed; for the misgovernment of the Royal Society has not been wholly
the result of even the present race. It is said, and I think with justice,
in the life of Young, inserted amongst Dr. Johnson’s, that the famous
maxim, “DE MORTUIS NIL NISI BONUM,” “appears to savour more of female
weakness than of manly reason.” The foibles and the follies of those who
are gone, may, without injury to society, repose in oblivion. But, whoever
would claim the admiration of mankind for their good actions, must prove
his impartiality by fearlessly condemning their evil deeds. Adopt the
maxim, and praise to the dead becomes worthless, from its universality;
and history, a greater fable than it has been hitherto deemed.
Perhaps I ought to apologize for the large space I have devoted to the
Royal Society. Certainly its present state gives it no claim to that
attention; and I do it partly from respect for its former services, and
partly from the hope that, if such an Institution can be of use to science
in the present day, the attention of its members may be excited to take
steps for its restoration. Perhaps I may be blamed for having published
extracts from the minutes of its proceedings without the permission of its
Council. To have asked permission of the present Council would have been
useless. I might, however, have given the substance of what I have
extracted without the words, and no one could then have reproached me with
any infringement of our rules: but there were two objections to that
course. In the first place, it is impossible, even for the most candid, in
all cases, to convey precisely the same sentiment in different language;
and I thought it therefore more fair towards those from whom I differed,
as well as to the public, to give the precise words. Again: had it been
possible to make so accurate a paraphrase, I should yet have preferred the
risk of incurring the reproach of the Royal Society for the offence, to
escaping their censure by an evasion. What I have done rests on my own
head; and I shrink not from the responsibility attaching to it.
If those, whose mismanagement of that Society I condemn, should accuse me
of hostility to the Royal Society; my answer is, that the party which
governs it is not the Royal Society; and that I will only admit the
justice of the accusation, when the whole body, becoming acquainted with
the system I have exposed, shall, by ratifying it with their approbation,
appropriate it to themselves: an event of which I need scarcely add I have
not the slightest anticipation.
CONTENTS
REFLECTIONS ON THE DECLINE OF SCIENCE IN
ENGLANDCHAPTER I. ON THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCE OF
SCIENCE AND EDUCATION.CHAPTER II. OF THE INDUCEMENTS TO INDIVIDUALS
TO CULTIVATE SCIENCE.SECTION 1. PROFESSIONAL IMPULSES.
SECTION 2. OF NATIONAL ENCOURAGEMENT.
SECTION 3. Of Encouragement from Learned
Societies.CHAPTER III. GENERAL STATE OF LEARNED SOCIETIES
IN ENGLAND.CHAPTER IV. STATE OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY IN
PARTICULAR.SECTION 1. MODE OF BECOMING A FELLOW OF THE
ROYAL SOCIETY.SECTION 2. OF THE PRESIDENCY AND
VICE-PRESIDENCIES.SECTION 3. OF THE SECRETARISHIPS.
SECTION 4. OF THE SCIENTIFIC ADVISERS.
SECTION 5. OF THE UNION OF SEVERAL OFFICES IN
ONE PERSON.SECTION 6. OF THE FUNDS OF THE SOCIETY.
SECTION 7. OF THE ROYAL MEDALS.
SECTION 8. OF THE COPLEY MEDALS.
SECTION 9. OF THE FAIRCHILD LECTURE.
SECTION 10. OF THE CROONIAN LECTURE.
SECTION 11. OF THE CAUSES OF THE PRESENT STATE
OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.SECTION 12. OF THE PLAN FOR REFORMING THE
SOCIETY.SECTION 1. OF MINUTE PRECISION.
SECTION 2. ON THE ART OF OBSERVING.
SECTION 3. ON THE FRAUDS OF OBSERVERS.
CHAPTER VI. SUGGESTIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF
SCIENCE IN ENGLAND.SECTION 1. OF THE NECESSITY THAT MEMBERS OF THE
ROYAL SOCIETY SHOULDSECTION 2. OF BIENNIAL PRESIDENTS.
SECTION 3. OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE COLLEGES OF
PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONSSECTION 4. OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE ROYAL
INSTITUTION ON THE ROYAL SOCIETY.SECTION 5. OF THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL
SOCIETY.
REFLECTIONS ON THE DECLINE OF SCIENCE IN ENGLAND,
AND ON SOME OF ITS
CAUSES.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
It cannot have escaped the attention of those, whose acquirements enable
them to judge, and who have had opportunities of examining the state of
science in other countries, that in England, particularly with respect to
the more difficult and abstract sciences, we are much below other nations,
not merely of equal rank, but below several even of inferior power. That a
country, eminently distinguished for its mechanical and manufacturing
ingenuity, should be indifferent to the progress of inquiries which form
the highest departments of that knowledge on whose more elementary truths
its wealth and rank depend, is a fact which is well deserving the
attention of those who shall inquire into the causes that influence the
progress of nations.
To trace the gradual decline of mathematical, and with it of the highest
departments of physical science, from the days of Newton to the present,
must be left to the historian. It is not within the province of one who,
having mixed sufficiently with scientific society in England to see and
regret the weakness of some of its greatest ornaments, and to see through
and deplore the conduct of its pretended friends, offers these remarks,
with the hope that they may excite discussion,—with the conviction
that discussion is the firmest ally of truth,—and with the
confidence that nothing but the full expression of public opinion can
remove the evils that chill the enthusiasm, and cramp the energies of the
science of England.
The causes which have produced, and some of the effects which have
resulted from, the present state of science in England, are so mixed, that
it is difficult to distinguish accurately between them. I shall,
therefore, in this volume, not attempt any minute discrimination, but
rather present the result of my reflections on the concomitant
circumstances which have attended the decay, and at the conclusion of it,
shall examine some of the suggestions which have been offered for the
advancement of British science.
CHAPTER I. ON THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE AND EDUCATION.
That the state of knowledge in any country will exert a directive
influence on the general system of instruction adopted in it, is a
principle too obvious to require investigation. And it is equally certain
that the tastes and pursuits of our manhood will bear on them the traces
of the earlier impressions of our education. It is therefore not
unreasonable to suppose that some portion of the neglect of science in
England, may be attributed to the system of education we pursue. A young
man passes from our public schools to the universities, ignorant almost of
the elements of every branch of useful knowledge; and at these latter
establishments, formed originally for instructing those who are intended
for the clerical profession, classical and mathematical pursuits are
nearly the sole objects proposed to the student’s ambition.
Much has been done at one of our universities during the last fifteen
years, to improve the system of study; and I am confident that there is no
one connected with that body, who will not do me the justice to believe
that, whatever suggestions I may venture to offer, are prompted by the
warmest feelings for the honour and the increasing prosperity of its
institutions. The ties which connect me with Cambridge are indeed of no
ordinary kind.
Taking it then for granted that our system of academical education ought
to be adapted to nearly the whole of the aristocracy of the country, I am
inclined to believe that whilst the modifications I should propose would
not be great innovations on the spirit of our institutions, they would
contribute materially to that important object.
It will be readily admitted, that a degree conferred by an university,
ought to be a pledge to the public that he who holds it possesses a
certain quantity of knowledge. The progress of society has rendered
knowledge far more various in its kinds than it used to be; and to meet
this variety in the tastes and inclinations of those who come to us for
instruction, we have, besides the regular lectures to which all must
attend, other sources of information from whence the students may acquire
sound and varied knowledge in the numerous lectures on chemistry, geology,
botany, history, &c. It is at present a matter of option with the
student, which, and how many of these courses he shall attend, and such it
should still remain. All that it would be necessary to add would be, that
previously to taking his degree, each person should be examined by those
Professors, whose lectures he had attended. The pupils should then be
arranged in two classes, according to their merits, and the names included
in these classes should be printed. I would then propose that no young
man, except his name was found amongst the “List of Honours,” should be
allowed to take his degree, unless he had been placed in the first class
of some one at least of the courses given by the professors. But it should
still be imperative upon the student to possess such mathematical
knowledge as we usually require. If he had attained the first rank in
several of these examinations, it is obvious that we should run no hazard
in a little relaxing the strictness of his mathematical trial.
If it should be thought preferable, the sciences might be grouped, and the
following subjects be taken together:—
One 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 of the vessel.]
Other instances might, if necessary, be adduced, to show that long
intervals frequently elapse between the discovery of new principles in
science and their practical application: nor ought this at all to surprise
us. Those intellectual qualifications, which give birth to new principles
or to new methods, are of quite a different order from those which are
necessary for their practical application.
At the time of the discovery of the beautiful theorem of Huygens, it
required in its author not merely a complete knowledge of the mathematical
science of his age, but a genius to enlarge its boundaries by new
creations of his own. Such talents are not always united with a quick
perception of the details, and of the practical applications of the
principles they have developed, nor is it for the interest of mankind that
minds of this high order should lavish their powers on subjects unsuited
to their grasp.
In mathematical science, more than in all others, it happens that truths
which are at one period the most abstract, and apparently the most remote
from all useful application, become in the next age the bases of profound
physical inquiries, and in the succeeding one, perhaps, by proper
simplification and reduction to tables, furnish their ready and daily aid
to the artist and the sailor.
It may also happen that at the time of the discovery of such principles,
the mechanical arts may be too imperfect to render their application
likely to be attended with success. Such was the case with the principle
of the hydrostatic paradox; and it was not, I believe, until the
expiration of Mr. Bramah’s patent, that the press which bears his name
received that mechanical perfection in its execution, which has deservedly
brought it into such general use.
On the other hand, for one person who is blessed with the power of
invention, many will always be found who have the capacity of applying
principles; and much of the merit ascribed to these applications will
always depend on the care and labour bestowed in the practical detail.
If, therefore, it is important to the country that abstract principles
should be applied to practical use, it is clear that it is also important
that encouragement should be held out to the few who are capable of adding
to the number of those truths on which such applications are founded.
Unless there exist peculiar institutions for the support of such
inquirers, or unless the Government directly interfere, the contriver of a
thaumatrope may derive profit from his ingenuity, whilst he who unravels
the laws of light and vision, on which multitudes of phenomena depend,
shall descend unrewarded to the tomb.
Perhaps it may be urged, that sufficient encouragement is already afforded
to abstract science in our different universities, by the professorships
established at them. It is not however in the power of such institutions
to create; they may foster and aid the development of genius; and, when
rightly applied, such stations ought to be its fair and honourable
rewards. In many instances their emolument is small; and when otherwise,
the lectures which are required from the professor are not perhaps in all
cases the best mode of employing the energies of those who are capable of
inventing.
I cannot resist the opportunity of supporting these opinions by the
authority of one of the greatest philosophers of a past age, and of
expressing my acknowledgments to the author of a most interesting piece of
scientific biography. In the correspondence which terminated in the return
of Galileo to a professorship in his native country, he remarks, “But,
because my private lectures and domestic pupils are a great hinderance and
interruption of my studies, I wish to live entirely exempt from the
former, and in great measure from the latter.”—LIFE OF GALILEO,
p.18. And, in another letter to Kepler, he speaks with gratitude of Cosmo,
the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who “has now invited me to attach myself to him
with the annual salary of 1000 florins, and with the title of Philosopher
and principal Mathematician to his Highness, without the duties of any
office to perform, but with most complete leisure; so that I can complete
my treatise on Mechanics, &c.”—p.31. [Life of Galileo, published
by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.]
Surely, if knowledge is valuable, it can never be good policy in a country
far wealthier than Tuscany, to allow a genius like Mr. Dalton’s, to be
employed in the drudgery of elementary instruction. [I utter these
sentiments from no feelings of private friendship to that estimable
philosopher, to whom it is my regret to be almost unknown, and whose
modest and retiring merit, I may, perhaps, have the misfortune to offend
by these remarks. But Mr. Dalton was of no party; had he ever moved in
that vortex which has brought discredit, and almost ruin, on the Royal
Society of England;—had he taken part with those who vote to each
other medals, and, affecting to be tired of the fatigues of office, make
to each other requisitions to retain places they would be most reluctant
to quit; his great and splendid discovery would long since have been
represented to government. Expectant mediocrity would have urged on his
claims to remuneration, and those who covered their selfish purposes with
the cloak of science, would have hastened to shelter themselves in the
mantle of his glory.—But the philosopher may find consolation for
the tardy approbation of that Society, in the applause of Europe. If he
was insulted by their medal, he escaped the pain of seeing his name
connected with their proceedings.] Where would have been the military
renown of England, if, with an equally improvident waste of mental power,
its institutions had forced the Duke of Wellington to employ his life in
drilling recruits, instead of planning campaigns?
If we look at the fact, we shall find that the great inventions of the age
are not, with us at least, always produced in universities. The doctrines
of “definite proportions,” and of the “chemical agency of electricity,”—principles
of a high order, which have immortalized the names of their discoverers,—were
not produced by the meditations of the cloister: nor is it in the least a
reproach to those valuable institutions to mention truths like these.
Fortunate circumstances must concur, even to the greatest, to render them
eminently successful. It is not permitted to all to be born, like
Archimedes, when a science was to be created; nor, like Newton, to find
the system of the world “without form and void;” and, by disclosing
gravitation, to shed throughout that system the same irresistible radiance
as that with which the Almighty Creator had illumined its material
substance. It can happen to but few philosophers, and but at distant
intervals, to snatch a science, like Dalton, from the chaos of indefinite
combination, and binding it in the chains of number, to exalt it to rank
amongst the exact. Triumphs like these are necessarily “few and far
between;” nor can it be expected that that portion of encouragement, which
a country may think fit to bestow on science, should be adapted to meet
such instances. Too extraordinary to be frequent, they must be left, if
they are to be encouraged at all, to some direct interference of the
government.
The dangers to be apprehended from such a specific interference, would
arise from one, or several, of the following circumstances:—That
class of society, from whom the government is selected, might not possess
sufficient knowledge either to judge themselves, or know upon whose
judgment to rely. Or the number of persons devoting themselves to science,
might not be sufficiently large to have due weight in the expression of
public opinion. Or, supposing this class to be large, it might not enjoy,
in the estimation of the world, a sufficiently high character for
independence. Should these causes concur in any country, it might become
highly injurious to commit the encouragement of science to any department
of the government. This reasoning does not appear to have escaped the
penetration of those who advised the abolition of the late Board of
Longitude.
The question whether it is good policy in the government of a country to
encourage science, is one of which those who cultivate it are not perhaps
the most unbiased judges. In England, those who have hitherto pursued
science, have in general no very reasonable grounds of complaint; they
knew, or should have known, that there was no demand for it, that it led
to little honour, and to less profit.
That blame has been attributed to the government for not fostering the
science of the country is certain; and, as far as regards past
administrations, is, to a great extent, just; with respect to the present
ministers, whose strength essentially depends on public opinion, it is not
necessary that they should precede, and they cannot remain long insensible
to any expression of the general feeling. But supposing science were
thought of some importance by any administration, it would be difficult in
the present state of things to do much in its favour; because, on the one
hand, the higher classes in general have not a profound knowledge of
science, and, on the other, those persons whom they have usually
consulted, seem not to have given such advice as to deserve the confidence
of government. It seems to be forgotten, that the money allotted by
government to purposes of science ought to be expended with the same
regard to prudence and economy as in the disposal of money in the affairs
of private life.
[Who, for instance, could have advised the government to incur the expense
of printing SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY copies of the Astronomical
Observations made at Paramatta, to form a third part of the Philosophical
Transactions for 1829, whilst of the Observations made at the Royal
Observatory at Greenwich, two hundred and fifty copies only are printed?
Of these seven hundred and fifty copies, seven hundred and ten will be
distributed to members of the Royal Society, to six hundred of whom they
will probably be wholly uninteresting or useless; and thus the country
incurs a constantly recurring annual expense. Nor is it easy to see on
what principle a similar destination could be refused for the observations
made at the Cape of Good Hope.]
To those who measure the question of the national encouragement of science
by its value in pounds, shillings, and pence, I will here state a fact,
which, although pretty generally known, still, I think, deserves
attention. A short time since it was discovered by government that the
terms on which annuities had been granted by them were erroneous, and new
tables were introduced by act of Parliament. It was stated at the time
that the erroneous tables had caused a loss to the country of between two
and three millions sterling. The fact of the sale of those annuities being
a losing concern was long known to many; and the government appear to have
been the last to be informed on the subject. Half the interest of half
that loss, judiciously applied to the encouragement of mathematical
science, would, in a few years, have rendered utterly impossible such
expensive errors.
To those who bow to the authority of great names, one remark may have its
weight. The MECANIQUE COELESTE, [The first volume of the first translation
of this celebrated work into our own language, has just arrived in England
from—America.] and the THEORIE ANALYTIQUE DES PROBABILITES, were
both dedicated, by Laplace, to Napoleon. During the reign of that
extraordinary man, the triumphs of France were as eminent in Science as
they were splendid in arms. May the institutions which trained and
rewarded her philosophers be permanent as the benefits they have conferred
upon mankind!
In other countries it has been found, and is admitted, that a knowledge of
science is a recommendation to public appointments, and that a man does
not make a worse ambassador because he has directed an observatory, or has
added by his discoveries to the extent of our knowledge of animated
nature. Instances even are not wanting of ministers who have begun their
career in the inquiries of pure analysis. As such examples are perhaps
more frequent than is generally imagined, it may be useful to mention a
few of those men of science who have formerly held, or who now hold, high
official stations in the governments of their respective countries.
M. Lindenau, the Minister from the King of Saxony to the King of the
Netherlands, commenced his career as astronomer at the observatory of the
Grand Duke of Gotha, by whom he was sent as his representative at the
German Diet. On the death of the late reigning Duke, M. Lindenau was
invited to Dresden, and filled the same situation under the King of
Saxony; after which he was appointed his minister at the court of the King
of the Netherlands. Such occurrences are not to be paralleled in our own
country, at least not in modern times. Newton was, it is true, more than a
century since, appointed Master of the Mint; but let any person suggest an
appointment of a similar kind in the present day, and he will gather from
the smiles of those to whom he proposes it that the highest knowledge
conduces nothing to success, and that political power is almost the only
recommendation.
SECTION 3. Of Encouragement from Learned Societies.
There are several circumstances which concur in inducing persons pursuing
science, to unite together, to form societies or academies. In former
times, when philosophical instruments were more rare, and the art of
making experiments was less perfectly known, it was almost necessary. More
recently, whilst numerous additions are constantly making to science, it
has been found that those who are most capable of extending human
knowledge, are frequently least able to encounter the expense of printing
their investigations. It is therefore convenient, that some means should
be devised for relieving them from this difficulty, and the volumes of the
transactions of academies have accomplished the desired end.
There is, however, another purpose to which academies contribute. When
they consist of a limited number of persons, eminent for their knowledge,
it becomes an object of ambition to be admitted on their list. Thus a
stimulus is applied to all those who cultivate science, which urges on
their exertions, in order to acquire the wished-for distinction. It is
clear that this envied position will be valued in proportion to the
difficulty of its attainment, and also to the celebrity of those who enjoy
it; and whenever the standard of scientific knowledge which qualifies for
its ranks is lowered, the value of the distinction itself will be
diminished. If, at any time, a multitude of persons having no sort of
knowledge of science are admitted, it must cease to be sought after as an
object of ambition by men of science, and the class of persons to whom it
will become an object of desire will be less intellectual.
Let us now compare the numbers composing some of the various academies of
Europe.-The Royal Society of London, the Institute of France, the Italian
Academy of Forty, and the Royal Academy of Berlin, are amongst the most
distinguished.
It appears then, that in France, one person out of 427,000 is a member of
the Institute. That in Italy and Prussia, about one out of 300,000 persons
is a member of their Academies. That in England, every 32,000 inhabitants
produces a Fellow of the Royal Society. Looking merely at these
proportions, the estimation of a seat in the Academy of Berlin, must be
more than nine times as valuable as a similar situation in England; and a
member of the Institute of France will be more than thirteen times more
rare in his country than a Fellow of the Royal Society is in England.
Favourable as this view is to the dignity of such situations in other
countries, their comparative rarity is by no means the most striking
difference in the circumstances of men of science. If we look at the
station in society occupied by the SAVANS of other countries, in several
of them we shall find it high, and their situations profitable. Perhaps,
at the present moment, Prussia is, of all the countries in Europe, that
which bestows the greatest attention, and most unwearied encouragement on
science. Great as are the merits of many of its philosophers, much of this
support arises from the character of the reigning family, by whose
enlightened policy even the most abstract sciences are fostered.
The maxim that “knowledge is power,” can be perfectly comprehended by
those only who are themselves well versed in science; and to the
circumstance of the younger branches of the royal family of Prussia having
acquired considerable knowledge in such subjects, we may attribute the
great force with which that maxim is appreciated.
In France, the situation of its SAVANS is highly respectable, as well as
profitable. If we analyze the list of the Institute, we shall find few who
do not possess titles or decorations; but as the value of such marks of
royal favour must depend, in a great measure, on their frequency, I shall
mention several particulars which are probably not familiar to the English
reader. [This analysis was made by comparing the list of the Institute,
printed for that body in 1827, with the ALMANACH ROYALE for 1823.]
We might, on turning over the list of the 685 members of the Royal
Society, find a greater number of peers than there are in the Institute of
France; but a fairer mode of instituting the comparison, is to inquire how
many titled members there are amongst those who have contributed to its
Transactions. In 1827, there were one hundred and nine members who had
contributed to the Transactions of the Royal Society; amongst these were
found:—
It should be observed, that five of these titles were the rewards of
members of the medical profession, and one only, that of Sir H. Davy,
could be attributed exclusively to science.
It must not be inferred that the titles of nobility in the French list,
were all of them the rewards of scientific eminence; many are known to
have been such; but it would be quite sufficient for the argument to
mention the names of Lagrange, Laplace, Berthollet, and Chaptal.
The estimation in which the public hold literary claims in France and
England, was curiously illustrated by an incidental expression in the
translation of the debates in the House of Lords, on the occasion of His
Majesty’s speech at the commencement of the session of 1830. The Gazette
de France stated, that the address was moved by the Duc de Buccleugh,
“CHEF DE LA MAISON DE WALTER SCOTT.” Had an English editor wished to
particularize that nobleman, he would undoubtedly have employed the term
WEALTHY, or some other of the epithets characteristic of that quality most
esteemed amongst his countrymen.
If we turn, on the other hand, to the emoluments of science in France, we
shall find them far exceed those in our own country. I regret much that I
have mislaid a most interesting memorandum on this subject, which I made
several years since: but I believe my memory on the point will not be
found widely incorrect. A foreign gentleman, himself possessing no
inconsiderable acquaintance with science, called on me a few years since,
to present a letter of introduction. He had been but a short time in
London; and, in the course of our conversation, it appeared to me that he
had imbibed very inaccurate ideas respecting our encouragement of science.
Thinking this a good opportunity of instituting a fair comparison between
the emoluments of science in the two countries, I placed a sheet of paper
before him, and requested him to write down the names of six Englishmen,
in his opinion, best known in France for their scientific reputation.
Taking another sheet of paper, I wrote upon it the names of six Frenchmen,
best known in England for their scientific discoveries. We exchanged these
lists, and I then requested him to place against each name (as far as he
knew) the annual income of the different appointments held by that person.
In the mean time, I performed the same operation on his list, against some
names of which I was obliged to place a ZERO. The result of the comparison
was an average of nearly 1200L. per annum for the six French SAVANS whom I
had named. Of the average amount of the sums received by the English, I
only remember that it was very much smaller. When we consider what a
command over the necessaries and luxuries of life 1200L. will give in
France, it is underrating it to say it is equal to 2000L. in this country.
Let us now look at the prospects of a young man at his entrance into life,
who, impelled by an almost irresistible desire to devote himself to the
abstruser sciences, or who, confident in the energy of youthful power,
feels that the career of science is that in which his mental faculties are
most fitted to achieve the reputation for which he pants. What are his
prospects? Can even the glowing pencil of enthusiasm add colour to the
blank before him? There are no situations in the state; there is no
position in society to which hope can point, to cheer him in his laborious
path. If, indeed, he belong to one of our universities, there are some few
chairs in his OWN Alma Mater to which he may at some distant day pretend;
but these are not numerous; and whilst the salaries attached are seldom
sufficient for the sole support of the individual, they are very rarely
enough for that of a family. What then can he reply to the entreaties of
his friends, to betake himself to some business in which perhaps they have
power to assist him, or to choose some profession in which his talents may
produce for him their fair reward? If he have no fortune, the choice is
taken away: he MUST give up that line of life in which his habits of
thought and his ambition qualify him to succeed eminently, and he MUST
choose the bar, or some other profession, in which, amongst so many
competitors, in spite of his great talents, he can be but moderately
successful. The loss to him is great, but to the country it is greater. We
thus, by a destructive misapplication of talent which our institutions
create, exchange a profound philosopher for but a tolerable lawyer.
If, on the other hand, he possess some moderate fortune of his own; and,
intent on the glory of an immortal name, yet not blindly ignorant of the
state of science in this country, he resolve to make for that aspiration a
sacrifice the greater, because he is fully aware of its extent;—if,
so circumstanced, he give up a business or a profession on which he might
have entered with advantage, with the hope that, when he shall have won a
station high in the ranks of European science, he may a little augment his
resources by some of those few employments to which science leads;—if
he hope to obtain some situation, (at the Board of Longitude, for
example,) [This body is now dissolved] where he may be permitted to
exercise the talents of a philosopher for the paltry remuneration of a
clerk, he will find that other qualifications than knowledge and a love of
science are necessary for its attainment. He will also find that the high
and independent spirit, which usually dwells in the breast of those who
are deeply versed in these pursuits, is ill adapted for such appointments;
and that even if successful, he must hear many things he disapproves, and
raise no voice AGAINST them.
Thus, then, it appears that scarcely any man can be expected to pursue
abstract science unless he possess a private fortune, and unless he can
resolve to give up all intention of improving it. Yet, how few thus
situated are likely to undergo the labour of the acquisition; and if they
do from some irresistible impulse, what inducement is there for them to
deviate one step from those inquiries in which they find the greatest
delight, into those which might be more immediately useful to the public?
CHAPTER III. GENERAL STATE OF LEARNED SOCIETIES IN ENGLAND.
The progress of knowledge convinced the world that the system of the
division of labour and of cooperation was as applicable to science, as it
had been found available for the improvement of manufactures. The want of
competition in science produced effects similar to those which the same
cause gives birth to in the arts. The cultivators of botany were the first
to feel that the range of knowledge embraced by the Royal Society was too
comprehensive to admit of sufficient attention to their favourite subject,
and they established the Linnean Society. After many years, a new science
arose, and the Geological Society was produced. At an another and more
recent epoch, the friends of astronomy, urged by the wants of their
science, united to establish the Astronomical Society. Each of these
bodies found, that the attention devoted to their science by the parent
establishment was insufficient for their wants, and each in succession
experienced from the Royal Society the most determined opposition.
Instituted by the most enlightened philosophers, solely for the promotion
of the natural sciences, that learned body justly conceived that nothing
could be more likely to render these young institutions permanently
successful, than discouragement and opposition at their commencement.
Finding their first attempts so eminently successful, they redoubled the
severity of their persecution, and the result was commensurate with their
exertions, and surpassed even their wildest anticipations. The
Astronomical Society became in six years known and respected throughout
Europe, not from the halo of reputation which the glory of its vigourous
youth had thrown around the weakness of its declining years; but from the
sterling merit of “its unpretending deeds, from the sympathy it claimed
and received from every practical astronomer, whose labours it relieved,
and whose calculations it lightened.”
But the system which worked so well is now changed, and the Zoological and
Medico-Botanical Societies were established without opposition: perhaps,
indeed, the total failure of the latter society is the best proof of the
wisdom which guided the councils of the Royal. At present, the various
societies exist with no feelings of rivalry or hostility, each pursuing
its separate objects, and all uniting in deploring with filial regret, the
second childhood of their common parent, and the evil councils by which
that sad event has been anticipated.
It is the custom to attach certain letters to the names of those who
belong to different societies, and these marks of ownership are by many
considered the only valuable part of their purchase on entry. The
following is a list of some of these societies. The second column gives
the ready-money prices of the tail-pieces indicated in the third.
[* The Royal Society of Edinburgh now requires, for composition in lieu of
annual contributions, a sum dependent on the value of the life of the
member.]
Thus, those who are ambitious of scientific distinction, may, according to
their fancy, render their name a kind of comet, carrying with it a tail of
upwards of forty letters, at the average cost of 10L. 9s. 9d. per letter.
Perhaps the reader will remark, that science cannot be declining in a
country which supports so many institutions for its cultivation. It is
indeed creditable to us, that the greater part of these societies are
maintained by the voluntary contributions of their members. But, unless
the inquiries which have recently taken place in some of them should
rectify the SYSTEM OF MANAGEMENT by which several have been oppressed, it
is not difficult to predict that their duration will be short. Full
PUBLICITY, PRINTED STATEMENTS OF ACCOUNTS, and occasional DISCUSSIONS and
inquiries at GENERAL MEETINGS, are the only safeguards; and a due degree
of VIGILANCE should be exercised on those who DISCOURAGE these principles.
Of the Royal Society, I shall speak in a succeeding page; and I regret to
add, that I might have said more. My object is to amend it; but, like all
deeply-rooted complaints, the operation which alone can contribute to its
cure, is necessarily painful. Had the words of remonstrance or reproof
found utterance through other channels, I had gladly been silent, content
to support by my vote the reasonings of the friend of science and of the
Society. But this has not been the case, and after frustrated efforts to
introduce improvements, I shall now endeavour, by the force of plain, but
perhaps painful truths, to direct public opinion in calling for such a
reform, as shall rescue the Royal Society from contempt in our own
country, from ridicule in others.
On the next five societies in the list, I shall offer no remarks. Of the
Geological, I shall say a few words. It possesses all the freshness, the
vigour, and the ardour of youth in the pursuit of a youthful science, and
has succeeded in a most difficult experiment, that of having an oral
discussion on the subject of each paper read at its meetings. To say of
these discussions, that they are very entertaining, is the least part of
the praise which is due to them. They are generally very instructive, and
sometimes bring together isolated facts in the science which, though
insignificant when separate, mutually illustrate each other, and
ultimately lead to important conclusions. The continuance of these
discussions evidently depends on the taste, the temper, and the good sense
of the speakers. The things to be avoided are chiefly verbal criticisms—praise
of each other beyond its reasonable limits, and contest for victory. This
latter is, perhaps, the most important of the three, both for the
interests of the Society and of truth. With regard to the published
volumes of their Transactions, it may be remarked, that if members were in
the habit of communicating their papers to the Society in a more finished
state, it would be attended with several advantages; amongst others, with
that of lightening the heavy duties of the officers, which are perhaps
more laborious in this Society than in most others. To court publicity in
their accounts and proceedings, and to endeavour to represent all the
feelings of the Society in the Council, and to avoid permanent Presidents,
is a recommendation not peculiarly addressed to this Society, but would
contribute to the well-being of all.
Of the Astronomical Society, which, from the nature of its pursuits, could
scarcely admit of the discussions similar to those of the Geological, I
shall merely observe, that I know of no secret which has caused its great
success, unless it be attention to the maxims which have just been stated.
On the Zoological Society, which affords much rational amusement to the
public, a few hints may at present suffice. The largeness of its income is
a frightful consideration. It is too tempting as the subject for jobs, and
it is too fluctuating and uncertain in its amount, not to render
embarrassment in the affairs of the Society a circumstance likely to
occur, without the greatest circumspection. It is most probable, from the
very recent formation of this Institution, that its Officers and Council
are at present all that its best friends could wish; but it is still right
to mention, that in such a Society, it is essentially necessary to have
men of business on the Council, as well as persons possessing extensive
knowledge of its pursuits. It is more dangerous in such a Society than in
any other, to pay compliments, by placing gentlemen on the Council who
have not the qualifications which are requisite; a frequent change in the
members of the Council is desirable, in order to find out who are the most
regular attendants, and most qualified to conduct its business. Publicity
in its accounts and proceedings is, from the magnitude of its funds, more
essential to the Zoological than to any other society; and it is rather a
fearful omen, that a check was attempted to be given to such inquiries at
the last anniversary meeting. If it is to be a scientific body, the
friends of science should not for an instant tolerate such attempts.
It frequently happens, that gentlemen take an active part in more than one
scientific society: in that case, it may be useful to derive instruction
as to their merits, by observing the success of their measures in other
societies.
The Asiatic Society has, amongst other benefits, caused many valuable
works to be translated, which could not have otherwise been published.
The Horticultural Society has been ridden almost to death, and is now
rousing itself; but its constitution seems to have been somewhat impaired.
There are hopes of its purgation, and ultimate restoration,
notwithstanding a debt of 19,000L., which the Committee of Inquiry have
ascertained to exist. This, after all, will not be without its advantage
to science, if it puts a stop to HOUSE-LISTS, NAMED BY ONE OR TWO PERSONS,—to
making COMPLIMENTARY councillors,—and to auditing the accounts
WITHOUT EXAMINING EVERY ITEM, or to omitting even that form altogether.
The Medico-Botanical Society suddenly claimed the attention of the public;
its pretensions were great—its assurance unbounded. It speedily
became distinguished, not by its publications or discoveries, but by the
number of princes it enrolled in its list. It is needless now to expose
the extent of its short-lived quackery; but the evil deeds of that
institution will long remain in the impression they have contributed to
confirm throughout Europe, of the character of our scientific
establishments. It would be at once a judicious and a dignified course, if
those lovers of science, who have been so grievously deceived in this
Society, were to enrol upon the latest page of its history its highest
claim to public approbation, and by signing its dissolution, offer the
only atonement in their power to the insulted science of their country. As
with a singular inversion of principle, the society contrived to render
EXPULSION* the highest HONOUR it could confer; so it remains for it to
exemplify, in suicide, the sublimest virtue of which it is capable. [*
They expelled from amongst them a gentleman, of whom it is but slight
praise to say, that he is the first and most philosophical botanist of our
own country, and who is admired abroad as he is respected at home. The
circumstance which surprised the world was not his exit from, but his
previous entrance into that Society.]
CHAPTER IV. STATE OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY IN PARTICULAR.
As the venerable first parent of English, and I might perhaps say, of
European scientific societies; as a body in the welfare of which, in the
opinions of many, the interests of British science are materially
involved, I may be permitted to feel anxiously, and to speak more in
detail.
SECTION 1. MODE OF BECOMING A FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.
I have no intention of stating what ought to be the qualifications of a
Fellow of the Royal Society; but, for years, the practical mode of
arriving at that honour, has been as follows:—
A. B. gets any three Fellows to sign a certificate, stating that he (A.
B.) is desirous of becoming a member, and likely to be a useful and
valuable one. This is handed in to the Secretary, and suspended in the
meeting-room. At the end of ten weeks, if A. B. has the good fortune to be
perfectly unknown by any literary or scientific achievement, however
small, he is quite sure of being elected as a matter of course. If, on the
other hand, he has unfortunately written on any subject connected with
science, or is supposed to be acquainted with any branch of it, the
members begin to inquire what he has done to deserve the honour; and,
unless he has powerful friends, he has a fair chance of being
black-balled. [I understand that certificates are now read at the Council,
previously to their being hung up in the meeting-room; but I am not aware
that this has in the slightest degree diminished their number, which was,
at the time of writing this note, TWENTY-FOUR.]
In fourteen years’ experience, the few whom I have seen rejected, have all
been known persons; but even in such cases a hope remains;—perseverance
will do much, and a gentleman who values so highly the distinction of
admission to the Royal Society, may try again; and even after being twice
black-balled, if he will a third time condescend to express his desire to
become a member, he may perhaps succeed, by the aid of a hard canvass. In
such circumstances, the odds are much in favour of the candidate
possessing great scientific claims; and the only objection that could then
reasonably be suggested, would arise from his estimating rather too highly
a distinction which had become insignificant from its unlimited extension.
It should be observed, that all members contribute equally, and that the
sum now required is fifty pounds. It used, until lately, to be ten pounds
on entrance, and four pounds annually. The amount of this subscription is
so large, that it is calculated to prevent many men of real science from
entering the Society, and is a very severe tax on those who do so; for
very few indeed of the cultivators of science rank amongst the wealthy
classes. Several times, whilst I have been consulting books or papers at
Somerset House, persons have called to ask the Assistant-secretary the
mode of becoming a member of the Royal Society. I should conjecture, from
some of these applications, that it is not very unusual for gentlemen in
the country to order their agents in London to take measures for putting
them up at the Royal Society.
SECTION 2. OF THE PRESIDENCY AND VICE-PRESIDENCIES.
Why Mr. Davies Gilbert became President of the Royal Society I cannot
precisely say. Let him who penned, and those who supported this resolution
solve the enigma:
“It was Resolved,
“That it is the opinion of the Council that Davies Gilbert, Esq. is by far
the most fit person to be proposed to the Society at the approaching
anniversary as President, and that he be recommended accordingly.”
To resolve that he was a FIT person might have been sufficiently
flattering: to state that he was the most fit, was a little hard upon the
rest of the Society; but to resolve that he was “BY FAR THE MOST FIT” was
only consistent with that strain of compliment in which his supporters
indulge, and was a eulogy, by no means unique in its kind, I believe, even
at that very Council.
That Mr. Gilbert is a most amiable and kind-hearted man will be instantly
admitted by all who are, in the least degree, acquainted with him: that he
is fit for the chair of the Royal Society, will be allowed by few, except
those who have committed themselves to the above-quoted resolution.
Possessed of knowledge and of fortune more than sufficient for it, he
might have been the restorer of its lustre. He might have called round
him, at the council board, those most actively engaged in the pursuits of
science, most anxious for the improvement of the Royal Society. Instead of
himself proposing resolutions, he might have been, what a chairman ought
to be, the organ of the body over which he presides. By the firmness of
his own conduct he might have taught the subordinate officers of the
Society the duties of their station. Instead of paying compliments to
Ministers, who must have smiled at his simplicity, he might have
maintained the dignity of his Council by the dignity of knowledge.
But he has chosen a different path; with no motives of interest to allure,
or of ambition to betray him, instead of making himself respected as the
powerful chief of a united republic,—that of science,—he has
grasped at despotic power, and stands the feeble occupant of its desolated
kingdom, trembling at the force of opinions he might have directed, and
refused even the patronage of their names by those whose energies he might
have commanded.
Mr. Gilbert told the Society he accepted the situation for a year; and
this circumstance caused a difficulty in finding a Treasurer: an office
which he had long held, and to which he wished to return.
Another difficulty might have arisen, from the fact of the late Board of
Longitude comprising amongst its Members the PRESIDENT of the Royal
Society, and three of its Fellows, appointed by the President and Council.
Of course, when Mr. Gilbert accepted the higher situation, he became, EX
OFFICIO, a Member of the Board of Longitude; and a vacancy occurred, which
ought to have been filled up by the President and Council. But when this
subject was brought before them, in defiance of common sense, and the
plain meaning of the act of parliament, which had enacted that the Board
of Longitude should have the assistance of four persons belonging to the
Royal Society, Mr. Gilbert refused to allow it to be filled up, on the
ground that he should not be President next year, and had made no vacancy.
Next year Mr. Gilbert wished again to be President one other year; but the
Board of Longitude was dissolved, otherwise we might have had some LOCUM
TENENS to retire at Mr. Gilbert’s pleasure.
These circumstances are in themselves of trifling importance, but they
illustrate the character of the proceedings: and it is not becoming the
dignity of science or of the Society that its officers should be so
circumstanced as to have an apparent and direct interest in supporting the
existing President, in order to retain their own places; and if such a
system is once discovered, doubt immediately arises as to the frequency of
such arrangements.
SECTION 3. OF THE SECRETARISHIPS.
Whether the present Secretaries are the best qualified to aid in reforming
the Society, is a question I shall not discuss. With regard to the senior
Secretary, the time of his holding office is perhaps more unfortunate than
the circumstance. If I might be permitted to allude for a moment to his
personal character, I should say that the mild excellencies of his heart
have prevented the Royal Society from deriving the whole of that advantage
from his varied knowledge and liberal sentiments which some might perhaps
have anticipated; and many will agree with me in regretting that his
judgment has not directed a larger portion of the past deeds of the
Councils of the Royal Society. Of the junior Secretary I shall only
observe, that whilst I admit his industry, his perseverance, and his
talents, I regret to see such valuable qualities exerted at a
disadvantage, and that I sincerely wish them all the success they merit in
situations more adapted for their developement.
There are, however, some general principles which it may be important to
investigate, which relate to the future as well as to the past state of
the office of Secretary of the Royal Society. Inconvenience has already
arisen from having had at a former period one of our Secretaries the
conductor of a scientific journal; and this is one of the points in which
I can agree with those who now manage the affairs of the Society. [These
observations were written previous to the late appointment, to which I now
devote Section 6. Experience seems to be lost on the Council of the Royal
Society.] Perhaps it might be advantageous to extend the same
understanding to the other officers of the Society at least, if not to the
members of its Council.
Another circumstance worthy of the attention of the Society is, to
consider whether it is desirable, except in special cases, to have
military persons appointed to any of its offices. There are several
peculiarities in the military character, which, though they do not
absolutely unfit their possessors for the individual prosecution of
science, may in some degree disqualify such persons from holding offices
in scientific institutions. The habits both of obedience and command,
which are essential in military life, are little fitted for that perfect
freedom which should reign in the councils of science. If a military chief
commit an oversight or an error, it is necessary, in order to retain the
confidence of those he commands, to conceal or mask it as much as
possible. If an experimentalist make a mistake, his only course to win the
confidence of his fellow-labourers in science, and to render his future
observations of any use, is to acknowledge it in the most full and
explicit manner. The very qualifications which contribute to the
professional excellence of the soldier, constitute his defects when he
enters the paths of science; and it is only in those rare cases where the
force of genius is able to control and surmount these habits, that his
admission to the offices of science can be attended with any advantage to
it.
Another objection deserving notice, although not applying exclusively to
the military profession, is, that persons not imbued with the feelings of
men of science, when they have published their observations, are too apt
to view every criticism upon them as a personal question, and to consider
that it is as offensive to doubt the accuracy of their observations as it
is to doubt their word. Nothing can be more injurious to science than that
such an opinion should be tolerated. The most unreserved criticism is
necessary for truth; and those suspicions respecting his own accuracy,
which every philosophical experimenter will entertain concerning his own
researches, ought never to be considered as a reproach, when they are kept
in view in examining the experiments of others. The minute circumstances
and apparently trivial causes which lend their influence towards error,
even in persons of the most candid judgment, are amongst the most curious
phenomena of the human mind.
The importance of affording every aid to enable others to try the merits
of observations, has been so well expressed by Mayer, that I shall
conclude these remarks with an extract from the Preface to his
Observations:
“Officii enim cujusque observatoris ease reor, de habitu instrumenti sui,
de cura ac precautione, qua usus est, ad illud recte tractandum, deque
mediis in errores ejus inquirendi rationem reddere publice, ut aliis
quoque copia sit judicandi, quanta fides habenda conclusionibus ex nostris
observationibus deductis aut deducendis. Hoc cum minus fecissent
precedentis saeculi astronomi, praxin nimis secure, nimisque theoretice
tractantes, factum inde potissimum est, ut illorum observationes tot
vigiliis tantoque labore comparatae tam cito obsoleverint.” P. viii.
There are certain duties which the Royal Society owes to its own character
as well as to the public, which, having been on some occasions apparently
neglected, it may be here the proper place to mention, since it is
reasonable to suppose that attention to them is within the province of its
Secretaries.
The first to which I shall allude is the singular circumstances attending
the fact of the Royal Society having printed a volume of Astronomical
Observations which were made at the Observatory of Paramatta (New South
Wales), bearing the title of “The Third Part of the Philosophical
Transactions for the Year 1829.”
Now this Observatory was founded at the private expense of a British
officer; the instruments were paid for out of his purse; two observers
were brought from Europe, to be employed in making use of those
instruments, at salaries defrayed by him. A considerable portion of the
observations so printed were made by these astronomers during their
employment in his service, and some of them are personally his own. Yet
has the Royal Society, in adopting them as part of its Transactions,
omitted all mention, either in their title-page, preface, or in any part
of the volume, of the FACT that the world owed these valuable observations
to the enlightened munificence of Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Brisbane;
whose ardent zeal in the pursuit of science induced him to found, at his
own private expense, an establishment which it has been creditable to the
British Government to continue as a national institution. Had any kindred
feelings existed in the Council, instead of endeavouring to shift the
responsibility, they would have hastened to rectify an omission, less
unjust to the individual than it was injurious to English science.
Another topic, which concerns most vitally the character and integrity of
the Royal Society, I hardly know how to approach. It has been publicly
stated that confidence cannot be placed in the written minutes of the
Society; and an instance has been adduced, in which an entry has been
asserted to have been made, which could not have been the true statement
of what actually passed at the Council.
The facts on which the specific instance rests are not difficult to verify
by members of the Royal Society. I have examined them, and shall state
them before I enter on the reasoning which may be founded upon them. In
the minutes of the Council, 26th November, 1829, we find—
“Resolved, that the following gentlemen be recommended to be put upon the
Council for the ensuing year.” [Here follows a list of persons, amongst
whom the name of Sir John Franklin occurs [Sir John Franklin was absent
from London, and altogether unacquainted with this transaction, until he
saw it stated in the newspapers some months after it had taken place. That
his name was the one substituted for that of Captain Beaufort I know, from
other evidence which need not be produced here, as the omission of the
latter name is the charge that has been made.], and that of Captain
Beaufort is not found. [Any gentleman may satisfy himself that this is not
a mistake of the Assistant Secretary’s, in copying, by consulting the
rough minutes of that meeting of the Council, which it might perhaps be as
well to write in a rough minute-book, instead of upon loose sheets of
paper; nor can it be attributed to any error arising from accidentally
mislaying the real minutes, for in that case the error would have been
rectified immediately it was detected; and this has remained uncorrected,
although publicly spoken of for months. As there is no erasure in the
list, one is reluctantly compelled to conjecture that the real minutes of
that meeting have been destroyed.]]
Now this could not be the list actually recommended by the Council on the
morning of the 26th of November, because the President himself, on the
evening of that day, informed Capt. Beaufort that he was placed on the
house list; and that officer, with the characteristic openness of his
profession, wrote on the next or the following day to the President,
declining that situation, and stating his reasons for the step.
Upon the fact, therefore, of the suppression of part of a resolution of
the Council, on the 26th of November, there can be no doubt; but in order
to understand the whole nature of the transaction, other information is
necessary. It has been the wish of many members of the Society, that the
President should not absolutely name his own Council, but that the subject
should be discussed fairly at the meeting previous to the Anniversary—this
has always been opposed by Mr. Gilbert, and those who support him. Now, it
has been stated, that, at the meeting of the Council on the 26th of
November, the President took out of his pocket a bit of paper, from which
he read the names of several persons as fit to be on the Council for the
ensuing year;—that it was not understood that any motion was made,
and it is certain that none was seconded, nor was any ballot taken on such
an important question; and it was a matter of considerable surprise to
some of those present, to discover afterwards that it was entered on the
minutes as a resolution. This statement I have endeavoured to verify, and
I believe it to be substantially correct; if it was a resolution, it was
dictated, not discussed. It is also important to observe, that no similar
resolution stands on the council-books for any previous year.
On examining the minutes of the succeeding Council, no notice of the
letter of Captain Beaufort to the President is found. Why was it omitted?
If the first entry had been truly made, there would have been no necessity
for the omission; and after the insertion of that letter, a resolution
would naturally have followed, recommending another name instead of the
one withdrawn. Such was the natural and open course; but this would have
exposed to the Society the weakness of those who manage it. If the rough
minutes of each meeting of the Council were read over before it separated,
and were copied previously to the next meeting, such a substitution could
hardly have occurred; but, unfortunately, this is not the case, and the
delay is in some cases considerable. Thus, the minutes of the three
Councils, held on February 4, on February 11, and on March 11, were not
entered on the minute-books of the Council on Tuesday, the 16th March; nor
was this the fault of the Assistant-secretary, for up to that day the
rough minutes of no one of those Councils had been transmitted to him.
Deeply as every friend to the Royal Society must regret such an
occurrence, one slight advantage may accrue. Should that resolution be
ever quoted hereafter to prove that the Council of 1829 really discussed
the persons to be recommended as their successors, the detection of this
suppression of one portion of it, will furnish better means of estimating
the confidence due to the whole.
SECTION 4. OF THE SCIENTIFIC ADVISERS.
Whether it was feared by the PARTY who govern the Royal Society, that its
Council would not be sufficiently tractable, or whether the Admiralty
determined to render that body completely subservient to them, or whether
both these motives concurred, I know not; but, low as has been for years
its character for independence, and fallen as the Royal Society is in
public estimation, it could scarcely be prepared for this last insult. In
order to inform the public and the Society, (for I believe the fact is
known to few of the members,) it will be necessary to trace the history of
those circumstances which led to the institution of the offices of
Scientific Advisers, from the time of the existence of the late Board of
Longitude.
That body consisted, according to the act of parliament which established
it, of certain official members, who usually possessed no knowledge of the
subjects it was the duty of the Board to discuss—of certain
professors of the two universities, and the Astronomer Royal, who had some
knowledge, and who were paid 100L. a year for their attendance;—of
three honorary members of the Royal Society, who combined the
qualifications of the two preceding classes; and, lastly, of “three other
persons,” named Resident Commissioners, who were supposed to be “WELL
VERSED IN THE SCIENCES OF MATHEMATICS, ASTRONOMY, OR NAVIGATION,” and who
were paid a hundred a year to do the work of the Board.
The first three classes were permanent members, but the “three other
persons” only held the appointment for ONE YEAR, and were renewable at the
pleasure of the Admiralty. This Board was abolished by another act of
parliament, on the ground that it was useless. Shortly after, the
Secretary of the Admiralty communicated to the Council of the Royal
Society, the copy of an Order in Council:
ADMIRALTY OFFICE,
November 1, 1828.
SIR, I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, to send
herewith, for the information of the President and Council of the Royal
Society, a copy of His Majesty’s Order in Council of the 27th of last
month; explaining that the salaries heretofore allowed to the Resident
Commissioners of the Board of Longitude, and to the Superintendents of the
Nautical Almanac, and of Chronometers, shall be continued to them,
notwithstanding the abolition of the Board of Longitude. And I am to
acquaint you, that the necessary orders have been given to the Navy Board
for the payment of the said salaries.
I am, Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant,
JOHN BARROW. AT THE COURT AT WINDSOR,
27th October, 1828.
PRESENT,
The King’s most Excellent Majesty in Council,
Whereas, there was this day read at the Board a Memorial from the Right
Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, dated 4th of this
instant, in the words following, viz.—
Whereas, by an Act of the 58th of his late Majesty’s reign, cap. 20,
instituted “An Act for the more effectually discovering the Longitude at
sea, and encouraging attempts to find a Northern passage between the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and to approach the North Pole,” three
persons well versed in the sciences of Mathematics, Astronomy, or
Navigation, were appointed as a Resident Committee of the Board of
Commissioners for discovery of the Longitude at sea, and a Superintendent
of the Nautical Almanac and of Chronometers was also appointed, with such
salaries for the execution of those services as his Majesty might, by any
Order in Council, be pleased to direct; and, whereas, your Majesty was in
consequence, by your Order in Council of the 27th of May, 1828, most
graciously pleased to direct, that the three said Resident Commissioners
should be paid at the rate of 100L. a year each; and by your further Order
in Council, of the 31st October, 1818, that the Superintendent of the
Nautical Almanac should be allowed a salary of 300L., and the
Superintendent of Chronometers 100L. a year; and, whereas, the act above
mentioned has been repealed, and the Board of Longitude abolished; and
doubts have therefore arisen, whether the said Orders in Council shall
still continue in force; and whereas it is expedient that the said
appointments be continued; We beg leave most humbly to submit to your
Majesty, that your Majesty may be graciously pleased, by your Order in
Council, to direct that the said offices of Superintendent of the Nautical
Almanac, and of Superintendent of Chronometers; and also the three persons
before-mentioned as a Resident Committee, to advise with the Commissioners
for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral, on all questions of
discoveries, inventions, calculations, and other scientific subjects, be
continued, with the same duties and salaries, and under the same
regulations as heretofore; and further beg most humbly to propose, that
such three persons to form the Resident Committee, be chosen annually by
the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral, from
among the Council of the Royal Society.
His Majesty, having taken the said Memorial into consideration, was
pleased, by and with the advice of his Privy Council, to approve thereof
and the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty are to
give the necessary directions herein accordingly.
(Signed) JAMES HILLER.
Thus, it appeared that the Admiralty were to choose three persons from
among the Council of the Royal Society, who were to have a hundred a year
each during the pleasure of the Admiralty.
Such an open attack on the independence of the Council could not escape
the remarks of some of the members, and a kind of mild remonstrance was
made, in which the real ground of complaint was omitted.
MINUTE OF COUNCIL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY. December 18, 1823.
RESOLVED, That in acknowledging the communication of the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty, made to the Council of the Royal Society,
on the 20th of November last, it be represented to them that inconvenience
may arise from the plan therein specified, from the circumstance of all
the members of the Council being annually elected by the Society at large;
and that body being consequently subject to continual changes from year to
year.
This was answered by the following letter from the Secretary of the
Admiralty:
ADMIRALTY OFFICE, DEC. 30, 1828.
SIR, Having submitted to my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty your
Letter of the 18th instant, subjoining an extract from the Minutes of the
proceedings of the Council of the Royal Society, arising out of the
communication made to them by their Lordships, on the subject of his
Majesty’s Order in Council, of the fifth of October last, I have their
Lordships’ command to acquaint you, for the information of the President
and Council, and with reference to what they have stated as to the
inconvenience which may arise from the intended plan of limiting their
Lordships’ choice of members of the Resident Committee of Scientific
Advice to the Council of the Royal Society, that their Lordships were
induced to recommend this plan to his Majesty as a mark of respect to the
Society, and as a pledge to the public of the qualification of the persons
chosen. Nor did their Lordships apprehend any inconvenience from the
circumstance stated in the Minute of the Council, of the Members being
annually elected, as the Resident Committee is also annually appointed;
and, in point of fact, no practical inconvenience has been felt during the
ten years that the Committee has been in existence, as four of the
distinguished gentlemen whom their Lordships have successively appointed
to this office, have continued during the whole period to be members of
the Council; and if any such difficulty or inconvenience should hereafter
arise, their Lordships will be ready to take proper measures for remedying
it.
Their Lordships’ intention therefore is, to propose to Captain Kater and
Mr. Herschel, to continue to fill this office; and to Dr. Young, who had
resigned it, on receiving the appointment of Secretary to the late Board
of Longitude, to be appointed.
I am, Sir, Your obedient servant,
JOHN BARROW.
The representation made by the Council was not calculated to produce much
effect; but the Secretary of the Admiralty, who knew well the stuff of
which Councils of the Royal Society are composed, might have spared the
bitter irony of making their Lordships say, that they recommended this
plan “AS A MARK OF RESPECT TO THE SOCIETY,” and “AS A PLEDGE TO THE PUBLIC
OF THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PERSONS CHOSEN,” whilst he delicately hints
to them their dependent situation, by observing, that the “RESIDENT
COMMITTEE IS ALSO ANNUALLY APPOINTED.”
The Secretary knew that, PRACTICALLY speaking, it had been the custom for
years for the President of the Royal Society to nominate the Council, and
consequently he knew that every scientific adviser must first be indebted
to the President for being qualified to advise, and then to the Admiralty
for deriving profit from his counsel. Thus then their Lordships, as a
“MARK OF RESPECT FOR THE SOCIETY” confirm the dependence of the Council on
the President, by making his nomination a qualification for place, and
establish a new dependence of the same Council on themselves, by giving a
hundred pounds each year to such three members of that Council as they may
select. “THE PLEDGE” they offer “TO THE PUBLIC, OF THE QUALIFICATIONS OF
THE PERSONS CHOSEN,” is, that Mr. Davies Gilbert had previously thought
they would do for his Council.
What the Society, when they are acquainted with it, may think of this mark
of respect, or what value the public may put upon this pledge, must be
left to themselves to express.
In looking over the list of officers and Council of the Royal Society the
weakest perhaps (for purposes of science) which was ever made, a
consolation arises from the possibility of some of those who were placed
there by way of compliment, occasionally attending. In that contracted
field Lord Melville’s penetration may not be uselessly employed; and the
soldier who presides over our colonies may judge whether the principles
which pervade it are open and liberal as his own.
The inconvenience to the public service from such an arrangement is, that
the number out of which the advisers are selected must, in any case, be
very small; and may, from several circumstances, be considerably reduced.
In a council fairly selected, to judge of the merits of the various
subjects likely to be brought under the consideration of the Society,
anatomy, chemistry, and the different branches of natural history, will
share with the numerous departments of physical science, in claiming to be
represented by persons competently skilled in those subjects. These claims
being satisfied, but few places will be left to fill up with
mathematicians, astronomers, and persons conversant with nautical
astronomy.
Let us look at the present Council. Is there a single mathematician
amongst them, if we except Mr Barlow, whose deservedly high reputation
rests chiefly on his physical and experimental inquiries, and whom the
President and the Admiralty have clearly shown they do not look upon as a
mathematician, by not appointing him an adviser?
Small as the number of those persons on the Council, who are conversant
with the three subjects named in the Act of Parliament, must usually be,
it may be still further diminished. The President, when he forms his
Council, may decline naming those members who are most fit for such
situations. Or, on the other hand, some of those members who are best
qualified for them, from their knowledge, may decline the honour of being
the nominees of Mr. Gilbert, as Vice Presidents, Treasurers, or
Councillors, and thus lending their names to support a system of which
they disapprove.
Whether the first of these causes has ever operated can be best explained
by those gentlemen who have been on the Council. The refusals are,
notwithstanding the President’s taciturnity on the subject, better known
than he is willing that they should be.
Having discussed the general policy of the measure, with reference both to
the Society and to the public, and without the slightest reference to the
individuals who may have refused or accepted those situations, I shall now
examine the propriety of the appointments that have been made.
Doubtless the gentlemen who now hold those situations either have never
considered the influence such a mode of selection would have on the
character of the Council; or, having considered it, they must have arrived
at a different conclusion from mine. There may, however, be arguments
which I have overlooked, and a discussion of them must ultimately lead to
truth: but I confess that it appears to me the objections which have been
stated rest on principles of human nature, too deeply seated to be easily
removed.
That I am not singular in the view I have taken of this subject, appears
from several circumstances. A question was asked respecting these
appointments at the Anniversary before the last; and, from the nature of
the answer, many of the members of the Society have been led to believe
the objections have been removed. Several Fellows of the Society, who knew
these facts, thought it inexpedient ever to vote for placing any gentleman
on the Council who had accepted these situations; and, having myself the
same view of the case, I applied to the Council to be informed of the
names of the present Scientific Advisers. But although they remonstrated
against the PRINCIPLE, they replied that they had “NO COGNIZANCE” of the
fact.
The two first members of the Council, Mr. Herschel and Captain Kater, who
were so appointed, and who had previously been Resident Commissioners
under the Act, immediately refused the situations. Dr. Young became one of
the Advisers; and Captain Sabine and Mr. Faraday were appointed by the
Admiralty as the two remaining ones. Of Dr. Young, who died shortly after,
I shall only observe that he possessed knowledge which qualified him for
the situation.
Whether those who at present fill these offices can be said to belong to
that class of persons which the Order in Council and the Act of Parliament
point out, is a matter on which doubt may reasonably be entertained. The
Order in Council speaks of these three persons as being the same, and
having the “SAME DUTIES” as those mentioned in the Act; and it recites the
words of the Act, that they shall be persons “WELL VERSED IN THE SCIENCES
OF MATHEMATICS ASTRONOMY, AND NAVIGATION.” Of the fitness of the gentlemen
who now hold those situations to pronounce judgment on mathematical
questions, the public will be better able to form an opinion when they
shall have communicated to the world any of their own mathematical
inquiries. Although it is the practice to consider that acceptance of
office is alone necessary to qualify a man for a statesman, a similar
doctrine has not yet prevailed in the world of science. One of these
gentlemen, who has established his reputation as a chemist, stands in the
same predicament with respect to the other two sciences. It remains then
to consider Captain Sabine’s claims, which must rest on his skill in
“PRACTICAL ASTRONOMY AND NAVIGATION,”—a claim which can only be
allowed when the scientific world are set at rest respecting the
extraordinary nature of those observations contained in his work on the
Pendulum.
That volume, printed under the authority of the Board of Longitude,
excited at its appearance considerable attention. The circumstance of the
Government providing instruments and means of transport for the purpose of
these inquiries, placed at Captain Sabine’s disposal means superior to
those which amateurs can generally afford, whilst the industry with which
he availed himself of these opportunities, enabled him to bring home
multitudes of observations from situations rarely visited with such
instruments, and for such purposes.
The remarkable agreement with each other, which was found to exist amongst
each class of observations, was as unexpected by those most conversant
with the respective processes, as it was creditable to one who had devoted
but a few years to the subject, and who, in the course of those voyages,
used some of the instruments for the first time in his life.
This accordance amongst the results was such, that naval officers of the
greatest experience, confessed themselves unable to take such lunars;
whilst other observers, long versed in the use of the transit instrument,
avowed their inability to take such transits. Those who were conversant
with pendulums, were at a loss how to make, even under more favourable
circumstances, similarly concordant observations. The same opinion
prevailed on the continent as well as in England. On whatever subject
Captain Sabine touched, the observations he published seemed by their
accuracy to leave former observers at a distance. The methods of using the
instruments scarcely differed in any important point from those before
adopted; and, but for a fortunate discovery, which I shall presently
relate, the world must have concluded that Captain Sabine possessed some
keenness of vision, or acuteness of touch, which it would be hopeless for
any to expect to rival.
The Council of the Royal Society spared no pains to stamp the accuracy of
these observations with their testimony. They seem to have thrust Captain
Sabine’s name perpetually on their minutes, and in a manner which must
have been almost distressing: they recommend him in a letter to the
Admiralty, then in another to the Ordnance; and several of the same
persons, in their other capacity, as members of the Board of Longitude,
after voting him a THOUSAND POUNDS for these observations, are said to
have again recommended him to the Master-General of the Ordnance. That an
officer, commencing his scientific career, should be misled by such
praises, was both natural and pardonable; but that the Council of the
Royal Society should adopt their opinion so heedlessly, and maintain it so
pertinaciously, was as cruel to the observer as it was injurious to the
interests of science.
It might have been imagined that such praises, together with the Copley
medal, presented to Captain Sabine by the Royal Society, and the medal of
Lalande, given to him by the Institute of France, had arisen from such a
complete investigation of his observations, as should place them beyond
the reach even of criticism. But, alas! the Royal Society may write, and
nobody will attend; its medals have lost their lustre; and even the
Institute of France may find that theirs cannot confer immortality. That
learned body is in the habit of making most interesting and profound
reports on any memoirs communicated to it; nothing escapes the penetration
of their committees appointed for such purposes. Surely, when they enter
on the much more important subject of the award of a medal, unusual pains
must be taken with the previous report, and it might, perhaps, be of some
advantage to science, and might furnish their admirers with arguments in
their defence, if they would publish that on which the decree of their
Lalande’s medal to Captain Sabine was founded.
It is far from necessary to my present object, to state all that has been
written and said respecting these pendulum experiments: I shall confine
myself merely to two points; one, the transit observations, I shall allude
to, because I may perhaps show the kind of feeling that exists respecting
them, and possibly enable Captain Sabine to explain them. The other point,
the error in the estimation of the division of the level, I shall discuss,
because it is an admitted fact.
Some opinion may be formed of transit observations, by taking the
difference of times of the passage of any star between the several wires;
supposing the distances of those wires equal, the intervals of time
occupied by the star in passing from one to the other, ought to be
precisely the same. As those times of passing from one wire to another are
usually given to seconds and tenths of seconds, it rarely happens that the
accordance is perfect.
The transit instrument used by Captain Sabine was thirty inches in length,
and the wires are stated to be equi-distant. Out of about 370 transits,
there are eighty-seven, or nearly one-fourth, which have the intervals
between all the wires agreeing to the same, the tenth of a second. At
Sierra Leone, nineteen out of seventy-two have the same accordance; and of
the moon culminating stars, p. 409, twelve out of twenty-four are equally
exact. With larger instruments, and in great observatories, this is not
always the case.
Captain Kater has given, in the Philosophical Transactions, 1819, p. 427,
a series of transits, with a three and a half foot transit, in which about
one-eleventh part of them only have this degree of accuracy; and it should
be observed that not merely the instrument, but the stars selected, have,
in this instance, an advantage over Captain Sabine’s.
The transit of M. Bessel is five feet in length, made by Frauenhofer, and
the magnifying power employed is 182; yet, out of some observations of his
in January, 1826, only one-eleventh have this degree of accordance. In
thirty-three of the Greenwich observations of January, 1828, fifteen have
this agreement, or five-elevenths; but this is with a ten-feet transit.
Now in none of these instances do the times agree within a tenth of a
second between all the wires; but I have accounted those as agreeing in
all the wires in which there is not more than four-tenths of a second
between the greatest and least.
This superior accuracy of the small instrument requires some explanation.
One which has been suggested is, that Captain Sabine employs a chronometer
to observe transits with; and that since it beats five times in two
seconds, each beat will give four-tenths of a second; and this being the
smallest quantity registered, the agreement becomes more probable than if
tenths were the smallest quantities noticed. In general, the larger the
lowest unity employed the greater will be the apparent agreement amongst
the differences. Thus, if, in the transit of stars near the pole, the
times of passing the wires were only registered to the nearest minute, the
intervals would almost certainly be equal. There is another circumstance,
about which there is some difficulty. It is understood that the same
instrument,—the thirty-inch transit, was employed by Lieutenant
Foster; and it has not been stated that the wires were changed, although
this has most probably been the case. Now, in the transits which the later
observer has given, he has found it necessary to correct for a
considerable inequality between the first and second wires (See Phil.
Trans. 1827). If an erroneous impression has gone abroad on this subject,
it is doing a service to science to insure its correction, by drawing
attention to it.
Should these observations be confirmed by other observers, it would seem
to follow that the use of a chronometer renders a transit more exact, and
therefore that it ought to be used in observatories.
Among the instruments employed by Captain Sabine, was a repeating circle
of six inches diameter, made by order of the Board of Longitude, for the
express purpose of ascertaining how far repeating instruments might be
diminished in size:—a most important subject, on which the Board
seem to have entertained a very commendable degree of anxiety.
The following extract from the “Pendulum Experiments” is important:
“The repeating circle was made by the direction, and at the expense of the
Board of Longitude, for the purpose of exemplifying the principle of
repetition when applied to a circle of so small a diameter as six inches,
carrying a telescope of seven inches focal length, and one inch aperture;
and of practically ascertaining the degree of accuracy which might be
retained, whilst the portability of the instrument should be increased, by
a reduction in the size to half the amount which had been previously
regarded by the most eminent artists as the extreme limit of diminution to
which repeating circles, designed for astronomical purposes, ought to be
carried.
“The practical value of the six-inch repeating circle may be estimated, by
comparing the differences of the partial results from the mean at each
station, with the correspondence of any similar collection of observations
made with a circle, on the original construction, and of large dimensions;
such, for instance, as the latitudes of the stations of the French are,
recorded in the Base du Systeme Metrique: when, if due allowance be made
for the extensive experience and great skill of the distinguished persons
who conducted the French observations, the comparison will scarcely appear
to the disadvantage of the smaller circle, even if extended generally
through all the stations of the present volume; but if it be particularly
directed to Maranham and Spitzbergen,—at which stations the partial
results were more numerous than elsewhere, and obtained with especial
regard to every circumstance by which their accuracy might be affected,
the performance of the six-inch circle will appear fully equal to that of
circles of the larger dimension. The comparison with the two stations, at
which a more than usual attention was bestowed, is the more appropriate,
because it was essential to the purposes for which the latitudes of the
French stations were required, that the observations should always be
conducted with the utmost possible regard to accuracy.
“It would appear, therefore, that in a repeating circle of six inches, the
disadvantages of a smaller image enabling a less precise contact or
bisection, and of an arch of less radius admitting of a less minute
subdivision, may be compensated by the principle of repetition.”
Captain Sabine has pointed out Maranham and Spitzbergen as places most
favourable to the comparison. Let us take the former of these places, and
compare the observations made there with the small repeating instrument of
six inches diameter, with those made by the French astronomers at
Formentera, with a repeating circle of forty-one centi-metres, or about
sixteen inches in diameter, made by Fortin. It is singular that this
instrument was directed, by the French Board of Longitude, to be made
expressly for this survey, and the French astronomers paid particular
attention to it, from the circumstance of some doubts having been
entertained respecting the value of the principle of repetition.
The following series of observations were made with the two instruments.
[I have chosen the inferior meridian altitude of Polaris, merely because
the number of sets of observations are rather fewer. The difference
between the extremes of the altitude of Polaris, deduced from sets taken
above the pole by the same observers, amounts to seven seconds and a
half.]
Latitude deduced from Polaris, with a repeating circle, 16 inches
diameter.—BASE DU SYSTEME METRIQUE, tom. iv. p. 376. 1807.
Sets of Observations made with a six-inch repeating circle, at Maranham.
In comparing these results, although the French observations were more
than twenty times as numerous as the English, yet the deviations of the
individual sets from the mean are greater. One second and three-tenths is
the greatest deviation from the mean of the Maranham observations; whilst
the greatest deviation of those of Formentera, is two seconds and
two-tenths. If this mode of comparison should be thought unfair, on
account of the greater number of the sets in the French observations, let
any six, in succession, of those sets be taken, and compared with the six
English sets; and it will be found that in no one instance is the greatest
deviation from the mean of the whole of the observations less than in
those of Maranham. It must also be borne in mind, that by the latitude
deduced by the mean of 1250 superior culminations of Polaris by the same
observers, the latitude of Formentera was found to be 38deg. 39min
57.07sec., a result differing by 2.14sec. from the mean of the 1318
inferior culminations given above. [This difference cannot be accounted
for by any difference in the tables of refraction, as neither the
employment of those of Bradley, of Piazzi, of the French, of Groombridge,
of Young, of Ivory, of Bessel, or of Carlini, would make a difference of
two-tenths of a second.]
These facts alone ought to have awakened the attention of Captain Sabine,
and of those who examined and officially pronounced on the merits of his
observations; for, supposing the skill of the observers equal, it seems a
necessary consequence that “the performance of the six-inch circle is” not
merely “fully equal to that of circles of larger dimensions,” but that it
is decidedly SUPERIOR to one of sixteen inches in diameter.
This opinion did indeed gain ground for a time; but, fortunately for
astronomy, long after these observations were made, published, and
rewarded, Captain Kater, having borrowed the same instrument, discovered
that the divisions of its level, which Captain Sabine had considered to be
equal to one second each, were, in fact, more nearly equal to eleven
seconds, each one being 10.9sec. This circumstance rendered necessary a
recalculation of all the observations made with that instrument: a
re-calculation which I am not aware Captain Sabine has ever thought it
necessary to publish. [Above two hundred sets of observations with this
instrument are given in the work alluded to. It can never be esteemed
satisfactory merely to state the mean results of the corrections arising
from this error: for the confidence to be attached to that mean will
depend on the nature of the deviations from it.]
This is the more to be regretted, as it bears upon a point of considerable
importance to navigation; and if it should have caused any alteration in
his opinion as to the comparative merits of great and small instruments,
it might have been expected from a gentleman, who was expressly directed
by the Board of Longitude, to try the question with an instrument
constructed for that especial purpose.
Finding that this has not been done by the person best qualified for the
task, perhaps a few remarks from one who has no pretensions to familiarity
with the instrument, may tend towards elucidating this interesting
question.
The following table gives the latitudes as corrected for the error of
level:
This presents a very different view of the latitudes as determined by the
small repeating circle, from that in Captain Sabine’s book; and confining
ourselves still to Maranham, where the latitudes “WERE OBTAINED, WITH
ESPECIAL REGARD TO EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE BY WHICH THEIR ACCURACY MIGHT BE
AFFECTED,” and where “A MORE THAN USUAL ATTENTION WAS BESTOWED,” it
appears, that if we take Captain Sabine’s own test, namely, “the
differences of the partial results from the mean at each station,” the
deviations become nearly ten times as large as they were before; a
circumstance which might be expected to have some influence in the
decision of the question.
There is, however, another light in which it is impossible to avoid
looking at this singular oversight. The second column of the table of
latitudes must now be considered the true one, as that which really
resulted from the observations. Now, on examining the column of true
latitudes, the differences between the different sets of observations is
so considerable as naturally to excite some fear of latent error, more
especially as nearly the greatest discordance arises from the same star,
Alph.Lyrae, observed after an interval of only three days. It becomes
interesting to every person engaged in making astronomical observations,
to know what is the probability of his being exposed to an error so little
to be guarded against, and so calculated to lull the suspicions of the
unfortunate astronomer to whom it may happen.
In fact, the question resolves itself into this: the true latitude of a
place being determined by sets of observations as in the first of the
following columns—
what are the chances that, by one error all the latitudes in the first
column should be brought so nearly to an agreement as they are in the
second column? The circumstance of the number of divisions of the level
being almost arbitrary within limits, might perhaps be alleged as
diminishing this extraordinary improbability: but let any one consider, if
he choose the error of each set, as independent of the others, still he
will find the odds against it enormous.
When it is considered that an error, almost arbitrary in its law, has thus
had the effect of bringing discordant observations into an almost
unprecedented accordance, as at Maranham; and not merely so, but that at
eight of the nine stations it has uniformly tended to diminish the
differences between the partial results, and that at the ninth station it
only increased it by a small fraction of a second, I cannot help feeling
that it is more probable even that Captain Kater, with all his admitted
skill, and that Captain Sabine himself, should have been both mistaken in
their measures of the divisions of the level, than that so singular an
effect should have been produced by one error; and I cannot bring myself
to believe that such an anticipation is entirely without foundation.
Whatever may be the result of a re-examination, it was a singular
oversight NOT TO MEASURE the divisions of a level intended to be used for
determining so important a question; more particularly as, in the very
work to which reference was made by Captain Sabine for the purpose of
comparing the observations, it was the very first circumstance which
occupied the French philosophers, and several pages [See pages 265 to 275
of the RECUEIL D’OBSERVATIONS GEODESIQUES, &c. PAR MM. BIOT ET ARAGO,
which forms the fourth volume of the BASE DU SYSTEME METRIQUE.] are filled
with the details relative to the determination of the value of the
divisions of the level. It would also have been satisfactory, with such an
important object in view, to have read off some of the sets after each
pair of observations, in order to see how far the system of repetition
made the results gradually converge to a limit, and in order to know how
many repetitions were sufficient. Such a course would almost certainly
have led to a knowledge of the true value of the divisions of the level;
for the differences in the altitude of the same star, after a few minutes
of time, must, in many instances, have been far too great to have arisen
from the change of its altitude: and had these been noticed, they must
have been referred to some error in the instrument, which could scarcely,
in such circumstances, have escaped detection.
I have now mentioned a few of the difficulties which attend Captain
Sabine’s book on the pendulum, difficulties which I am far from saying are
inexplicable. He would be bold indeed who, after so wonderful an instance
of the effect of chance as I have been just discussing, should venture to
pronounce another such accident impossible; but I think enough has been
said to show, that the feeling which so generally prevails relative to it,
is neither captious nor unreasonable.
Enough also has appeared to prove, that the conduct of the Admiralty in
appointing that gentleman one of their scientific advisers, was, under the
peculiar circumstances, at least, unadvised. They have thus lent, as far
as they could, the weight of their authority to support observations which
are now found to be erroneous. They have thus held up for imitation
observations which may induce hundreds of meritorious officers to throw
aside their instruments, in the despair of ever approaching a standard
which is since admitted to be imaginary; and they have ratified the
doctrine, for I am not aware their official adviser has ever even modified
it, that diminutive instruments are equal almost to the largest.
To what extent this doctrine is correct, may perhaps yet admit of doubt.
It cannot, however, admit of a doubt, that it is unwise to crown it with
official authority, and thus expose the officers of their service to
depend on means which may be quite insufficient for their purpose.
How the Board of Longitude, after EXPRESSLY DIRECTING THIS INSTRUMENT TO
BE MADE AND TRIED, could come to the decision at which they arrived,
appears inexplicable. The known difference of opinion amongst the best
observers respecting the repeating principle, ought to have rendered them
peculiarly cautious, nor ought the opinion of a Troughton, that
instruments of less than one foot in diameter may be considered, “FOR
ASTRONOMY, AS LITTLE BETTER THAN PLAYTHINGS,” [Memoirs of the Astronomical
Society, Vol.I. p.53.] to have been rejected without the most carefully
detailed experiments. There were amongst that body, persons who must have
examined minutely the work on the Pendulum. Captain Kater must have felt
those difficulties in the perusal of it which other observers have
experienced; and he who was placed in the Board of Longitude especially
for his knowledge of instruments, might, in a few hours, have arrived at
more decisive facts. But perhaps I am unjust. Captain Kater’s knowledge
rendered it impossible for him to have been ignorant of the difficulties,
and his candour would have prevented him from concealing them: he must,
therefore, after examining the subject, have been outvoted by his
lay-brethren who had dispensed with that preliminary.
It would be unjust, before quitting this subject, not to mention with
respect the acknowledgment made by an officer of the naval service of the
errors into which he also fell from this same level. Lieutenant Foster,
aware of the many occasions on which Captain Sabine had employed this
instrument, and knowing that he considered each division as equal to one
second, never thought that a doubt could exist on the subject, and made
all his calculations accordingly. When Captain Kater made him acquainted
with the mistake, Lieutenant Foster immediately communicated a paper [The
paper of Lieutenant Foster is printed in the Philosophical Transactions,
1827, p.122, and is worth consulting.] to the Royal Society, in which he
states the circumstance most fully, and recomputed all the observations in
which that instrument was used. Unfortunately, from the original
observations of Mr. Ross being left on board the Fury at the time of her
loss, the transcripts of his results could not be recomputed like the
rest, and were consequently useless.
SECTION 5. OF THE UNION OF SEVERAL OFFICES IN ONE PERSON.
Although the number of situations to which persons conversant with science
may hope to be appointed, is small, yet it has somewhat singularly
happened, that instances of one individual, holding more than one such
appointment, are frequent. Not to speak of those held by the late Dr.
Young, we have at present:—
MR. POND—Astronomer Royal, Inspector of Chronometers, and
Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac.
CAPTAIN SABINE—An officer of artillery on leave of absence from his
regiment; Secretary of the Royal Society; and Scientific Adviser of the
Admiralty.
MR. BRANDE—Clerk of the Irons at the Royal Mint; Professor of
Chemistry at the Royal Institution; Analyser of Rough Nitre, &c. to
the East-India Company; Lecturer on Materia Medica, Apothecaries’ Hall;
Superintending Chemical Operator at ditto; Lecturer on Chemistry at ditto;
Editor of the Royal Institution Journal; and Foreign Secretary to the
Royal Society.
One should be led to imagine, from these unions of scientific offices,
either that science is too little paid, and that gentlemen cannot be found
to execute the offices separately at the salaries offered; or else, that
it is too well paid, since each requires such little attention, that
almost any number can be executed by one person.
The Director of the Royal Observatory has a larger and better collection
of instruments, and more assistants to superintend, than any other
astronomer in the world; and, to do it properly, would require the almost
undivided attention of a man in the vigour of youth. Nor would a
superintendent of the Nautical Almanac, if he made a point of being
acquainted with every thing connected with his subject, find his situation
at all a sinecure. Slight as are the duties of the Foreign Secretary of
the Royal Society, it might have been supposed that Mr. Brande would
scarcely, amongst his multifarious avocations, have found time even for
them. But it may be a consolation to him to know, that from the progress
the Society is making, those duties must become shortly, if they are not
already, almost extinct.
Doubtless the President, in making that appointment, looked most anxiously
over the list of the Royal Society. He doubtless knew that the Academics
of Sweden, of Denmark, of Scotland, of Prussia, of Hanover, and of France,
derived honour from the discoveries of their Secretaries;—that they
prided themselves in the names of Berzelius, of Oersted, of Brewster, of
Encke, of Gauss, and of Cuvier. Doubtless the President must have been
ambitious that England should contribute to this galaxy of glory, that the
Royal Society should restore the lost Pleiad [Pleiades, an assemblage of
seven stars in the neck of the constellation Taurus. There are now only
six of them visible to the naked eye.—HUTTON’S DICTIONARY—Art.
Pleiades.] to the admiring science of Europe. But he could discover no
kindred name amongst the ranks of his supporters, and forgot, for a
moment, the interest of the Society, in an amiable consideration for the
feelings of his surrounding friends. For had the President chosen a
brighter star, the lustre of his other officers might have been
overpowered by its splendour: but relieved from the pain of such a
contrast, he may still retain the hope, that, by their united brightness,
these suns of his little system shall yet afford sufficient light to be
together visible to distant nations, as a faint NEBULA in the obscure
horizon of English science.
SECTION 6. OF THE FUNDS OF THE SOCIETY.
Although the Society is not in a state approaching to poverty, it may be
useful to offer a few remarks respecting the distribution of its money.
EXPENSE OF ENGRAVINGS FOR SIR E. HOME’S PAPERS.—The great expense of
the engravings which adorn the volumes of the Philosophical Transactions,
is not sufficiently known. That many of those engravings are quite
essential for the papers they illustrate, and that those papers are fit
for the Transactions, I do not doubt; but, some inquiry is necessary, when
such large sums are expended. I shall endeavour, therefore, to approximate
to the sum these engravings have cost the Royal Society.
Previous to 1810, there are upwards of seventy plates to papers of Sir E.
Home’s; in many of these, which I have purposely separated, the
workmanship is not so minute as in the succeeding ones. Since 1810, there
have occurred 187 plates attached to papers of the same author. Many of
these have cost from twelve to twenty guineas each plate; but I shall take
five pounds as the average cost of the first portion, and twelve as that
of the latter. This would produce,
As this is only proposed as a rough approximation, let us omit the odd
hundreds, and we have two thousand pounds expended in plates only on ONE
branch of science, and for one person! Without calling in question the
importance of the discoveries contained in those papers, it may be
permitted to doubt whether such a large sum might not have been expended
in a manner more beneficial to science. Not being myself conversant with
those subjects, I can only form an opinion of the value from extraneous
circumstances. Had their importance been at all equal to their number, I
should have expected to have heard amongst the learned of other countries
much more frequent mention of them than I have done, and even the Council
of the Royal Society would scarcely have excluded from their Transactions
one of those productions which they had paid for as a lecture.
It might also have been more delicate not to have placed on the Council so
repeatedly a gentleman, for whose engravings they were annually expending,
during the last twenty years, about an hundred pounds. On the other hand,
when the Council lent Sir E. Home the whole of those valuable plates to
take off impressions for his large work on Comparative Anatomy, of which
they constitute almost the whole, it might have been as well not to have
obliterated from each plate all indication of the source to which he was
indebted for them.
THE PRESIDENT’S DISCOURSES.—I shall mention this circumstance,
because it fell under my own observation.
Observing in the annual accounts a charge of 381L 5s. for the President’s
Speeches, I thought it right to inquire into the nature of this item.
Happening to be on the Council the next year, I took an opportunity, at an
early meeting of that Council, to ask publicly for an explanation of the
following resolution, which stands in the Council-books for Dec. 21, 1828.
“Resolved, That 500 copies of the President’s Discourses, about to be
printed by Mr. Murray, be purchased by the Society, at the usual trade
price.”
The answer given to that question was, “THAT THE COUNCIL HAD AGREED TO
PURCHASE THESE VOLUMES AT THAT PRICE, IN ORDER TO INDUCE MR. MURRAY TO
PRINT THE PRESIDENT’S SPEECHES.”
I remarked at the time that such an answer was quite unsatisfactory, as
the following statement will prove.
The volume consists of 160 pages, or twenty sheets, and the following
prices are very liberal:
Now upon the subject of the expense of printing, the Council could not
plead ignorance. The Society are engaged in printing, and in paying
printers’ bills, too frequently to admit of such an excuse; and several of
the individual members must have known, from their own private experience,
that the cost of printing such a volume was widely different from that
they were about to pay, as an inducement to a bookseller to print it on
his own account. Here, then, was a sum of above two hundred pounds beyond
what was necessary for the object, taken from the funds of the Royal
Society; and for what purpose? Did the President and his officers ever
condescend to explain this transaction to the Council; or were they
expected, as a matter of course, to sanction any thing proposed to them?
Could they have been so weak, or so obedient, as to order the payment of
above three hundred and eighty pounds, to induce a bookseller to do what
they might have done themselves for less than half the sum? Or did they
wish to make Mr. Murray a present of two hundred pounds? If so, he must
have had powerful friends in the Council, and it is fit the Society should
know who they were; for they were not friends, either to its interests or
to its honour.
The copies, so purchased, were ordered by the Council to be sold to
members of the Society at 15s. each: (the trade price is 15s. 3d.) and out
of the five hundred copies twenty-seven only have been sold: the remainder
encumber our shelves. Thus, after four years, the Society are still losers
of three hundred and sixty Pounds on this transaction.
ON THE CONVERSION OF THE GREENWICH OBSERVATIONS INTO PASTEBOARD.—Although
the printing of these observations is not paid for out of the funds of the
Royal Society, yet as the Council of that body are the visitors of the
Royal Observatory, it may not be misplaced to introduce the subject here.
Some years since, a member of the Royal Society accidentally learned, that
there was, at an old store-shop in Thames Street, a large quantity of the
volumes of the Greenwich Observations on sale as waste paper. On making
inquiry, he ascertained that there were two tons and a half to be disposed
of, and that an equal quantity had already been sold, for the purpose of
converting it into pasteboard. The vendor said he could get fourpence a
pound for the whole, and that it made capital Bristol board. The fact was
mentioned by a member of the Council of the Royal Society, and they
thought it necessary to inquire into the circumstances.
Now, the Observations made at the Royal Observatory are printed with every
regard to typographical luxury, with large margins, on thick paper,
hotpressed, and with no sort of regard to economy. This magnificence is
advocated by some who maintain, that the volumes ought to be worthy of a
great nation; whilst others, seeing how little that nation spends on
science, regret that the sums allotted to it should not be applied with
the strictest economy. If the Astronomer Royal really has a right to these
volumes, printed by the government at a large expense, it is, perhaps, the
most extravagant mode which was ever yet invented of paying a public
servant. When that right was given to him,—let us suppose somebody
had suggested the impolicy of it, lest he should sell the costly volumes
for waste paper,—who would have listened for one moment to such a
supposition? He would have been told that it was impossible to suppose a
person in that high and responsible situation, could be so indifferent to
his own reputation.
A short time since, I applied to the President and Council of the Royal
Society, for copies of the Greenwich Observations, which were necessary
for an inquiry on which I was at that time engaged. Being naturally
anxious to economize the small funds I can devote to science, the request
appeared to me a reasonable one. It was, however, refused; and I was at
the same time informed that the Observations could be purchased at the
bookseller’s. [This was a mistake; Mr. Murray has not copies of the
Greenwich Observations prior to 1823.] When I consider that practical
astronomy has not occupied a very prominent place in my pursuits, I feel
disposed, on that ground, to acquiesce in the propriety of the refusal.
This excuse can, however, be of no avail for similar refusals to other
gentlemen, who applied nearly at the same time with myself, and whose time
had been successfully devoted to the cultivation of that science. [M.
Bessel, at the wish of the Royal Academy of Berlin, projected a plan for
making a very extensive map of the heavens. Too vast for any individual to
attempt, it was proposed that a portion should be executed by the
astronomers of various countries, and invitations to this effect were
widely circulated. One only of the divisions of this map was applied for
by any English astronomer; and, after completing the portion of the map
assigned to him, he undertook another, which had remained unprovided for.
This gentleman, the Rev. Mr. Hussey, was one of the rejected applicants
for the Greenwich Observations.]
There was, however, another ground on which I had weakly anticipated a
different result;—but those who occupy official situations, rendered
remarkable by the illustrious names of their predecessors, are placed in
no enviable station; and, if their own acquirements are confessedly
insufficient to keep up the high authority of their office, they must
submit to the mortifications of their false position. I am sure,
therefore, that the President and officers of the Royal Society must have
sympathized MOST DEEPLY with me, when they felt it their duty to propose
that the Society over which Newton once presided, should refuse so
trifling an assistance to the unworthy possessor of the chair he once
filled.
In reply to my application to the President and Council, to be allowed a
copy of the Greenwich Observations, I was informed that, “The number of
copies placed by government at the disposal of the Royal Society, was
insufficient to supply the demands made on them by various learned bodies
in Europe; and, consequently, they were unable, however great their
inclination, to satisfy the wishes of individual applicants.” Now I have
spent some time in searching the numerous proceedings in the council-books
of the Royal Society, and I believe the following is the real state of the
case:—
In 1785, Lord Sidney, one of His Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State,
wrote to the Council a letter, dated Whitehall, March 8, 1785, from which
the following is extracted:—
“The King has been pleased to consent, that any copies of the Astronomical
Observations, made at the Observatory of Greenwich, (and paid for by the
Board of Ordnance, pursuant to His Majesty’s command, of July 21, 1767,)
which may at any time remain in the hands of the printer, shall, after you
have reserved such copies as you may think proper as presents, be given to
the said Nevil Maskelyne, in consideration of his trouble in the
superintending the printing thereof. I am to signify His Majesty’s
pleasure, that you do, from time to time, give the necessary orders for
that purpose, until His Majesty’s further commands shall be communicated
to you.
Soon after this letter, I find on the council-books:—
“Ordered, That sixty copies of the Greenwich Observations, last published,
be retained as presents, and that the rest be delivered to the Astronomer
Royal.”
It is difficult to be sure of a negative fact, but in searching many
volumes of the Proceedings of the Council, I have not discovered any
revocation of this order, and I believe none exists. This is confirmed by
the circumstance of the Council at the present day receiving precisely the
same number of copies as their predecessors, and I believe that in fact
they do not know the authority on which the right to those sixty rests.
Supposing this order unrevoked, it was clearly meant to be left to the
discretion of the Council, to order such a number to be reserved, “from
time to time,” as the demands of science might require. When, therefore,
they found that the number of sixty copies was insufficient, they ought to
have directed the printer to send them a larger number; but when they
found out the purpose to which the Astronomer Royal applied them, they
ought immediately to have ordered nearly the whole impression, in order to
prevent this destruction of public property. If, on the other hand, the
above order is revoked, and we really have no right to more than sixty
copies; then, on discovering the Observations in their progress towards
pasteboard, it was the duty of the Council of the Royal Society, as
visitors of the Royal Observatory, immediately to have represented to
Government the evil of the arrangement, and to have suggested, that if the
Astronomer Royal have the right, it would be expedient to commute it for a
liberal compensation.
Whichever be the true view of the case, they have taken no steps on the
subject; and I cannot help expressing my belief, that the President and
Council were induced to be thus negligent of the interests of science,
from the fear of interfering with the perquisites of the Astronomer Royal.
It is, however, but justice to observe, that the injury already done to
science, by the conversion of these Observations into pasteboard, is not
so great as the public might have feared. Mr. Pond, than whom no one can
be supposed better acquainted with their value, and whose right to judge
no man can question, has shown his own opinion to be, that his reputation
will be best consulted by diminishing the extent of their circulation.
Before I quit the subject of the Royal Observatory, on which much might be
said, I will just refer to the report by a Committee of the Royal Society
that was made relative to it, some years since, and which, it is imagined,
is a subject by no means grateful to the memory of any of the parties
concerned in it. My object is to ascertain, whether any amendments have
taken place in consequence. To one fact of considerable importance, I was
myself a witness, when I was present officially at a visitation. At that
time, no original observations made at the transit instrument were ever
preserved. Had I not been an eye witness of the process of an observation,
I should not have credited the fact.
SECTION 7. OF THE ROYAL MEDALS.
At a period when the attention of Government to science had not undergone
any marked change, a most unexpected occurrence took place. His Majesty
intimated to the Royal Society, through his Secretary of State, his
intention to found two gold medals, of the value of fifty guineas each, to
be awarded annually by the Council of the Royal Society, according to the
rules they were desired to frame for that purpose.
The following is the copy of Mr. Peel’s letter:—
WHITEHALL, December 3d, 1825.
SIR,
I am commanded by the King to acquaint you, that His Majesty proposes to
found two gold medals, of the value of fifty guineas each, to be awarded
as honorary premiums, under the direction of the President and Council of
the Royal Society, in such a manner as shall, by the excitement of
competition among men of science, seem best calculated to promote the
object for which the Royal Society was instituted.
His Majesty desires to receive from the President and Council of the Royal
Society their opinion upon the subject generally of the regulations which
it may be convenient to establish with regard to the appropriation of the
medals; and I have, therefore, to request that you will make the necessary
communication to the Council of the Royal Society, in order that His
Majesty’s wishes may be carried into effect.
I have the honour to be, &c. &c. (Signed) R. PEEL.
Nothing could be more important for the interests of science, than this
gracious manifestation of His Majesty’s concern for its advancement. It
was hailed by all who were made acquainted with it, as the commencement of
a new era, and the energies which it might have awakened were immense. The
unfettered nature of the gift excited admiration, whilst the confidence
reposed in the Council was calculated to have insured the wavering faith
of any less-gifted body. Even those who, either from knowing the
MANAGEMENT of the Society, or from other grounds, doubted the policy of
establishing medals, saw much to admire in the tone and spirit in which
they were offered.
The Council immediately came to the resolution of gratefully accepting
them: and it appears that the President communicated that resolution, on
the 26th, to Mr. Peel, in a letter, which is found on the minutes of the
Council-book of the 26th of January.
At the same Council, the rules for the award of the Royal medals were
decided upon; they were as follow:—
26th January, 1826.
RESOLVED,
That it is the opinion of the Council, that the medals be awarded for the
most important discoveries or series of investigations, completed and made
known to the Royal Society in the year preceding the day of their award.
That it is the opinion of the Council, that the presentation of the medals
should not be limited to British subjects. And they propose, if it should
be His Majesty’s pleasure, that his effigy should form the obverse of the
medal.
That two medals from the same die should be struck upon each foundation;
one in gold, one in silver.
If these rules are not the wisest which might have been formed, yet they
are tolerably explicit; and it might have been imagined that even a
councillor of the Royal Society, prepared for office by the education of a
pleader, could not have mystified his brethren so completely, as to have
made them doubt on the point of time. The rules fixed precisely, that the
discoveries or experiments rewarded, must be completed and made known to
the Royal Society, within the YEAR PRECEDING THE DAY of the award.
Perhaps it might have been a proper mark of respect to this communication,
to have convened a special general meeting of the Society, to have made
known to the whole body the munificent endowment of their Patron: and when
his approbation of the laws which were to govern the distribution of these
medals had been intimated to the Council, such a course would have been in
complete accordance with the wish expressed in Mr. Peel’s letter, “TO
EXCITE COMPETITION AMONGST MEN OF SCIENCE” by making them generally known.
Let us now examine the first award of these medals: it is recorded in the
following words:—
November 16, 1826.
ONE of the medals of His Majesty’s donation for the present year was
awarded to John Dalton, Esq. President of the Philosophical and Literary
Society, Manchester, for his development of the Atomic Theory, and his
other important labours and discoveries in physical science.
The other medal for the present year was awarded to James Ivory, Esq. for
his paper on Astronomical Refractions, published in the Philosophical
Transactions for the year 1823, and his other valuable papers on
mathematical subjects.
The Copley medal was awarded to James South, Esq. for his observations of
double stars, and his paper on the discordances between the sun’s observed
and computed right ascensions, published in the Transactions.
It is difficult to believe that the same Council, which, in January,
formed the laws for the distribution of these medals, should meet together
in November, and in direct violation of these laws, award them to two
philosophers, one of whom had made, and fully established, his great
discovery almost twenty years before; and the other of whom (to stultify
themselves still more effectually) they expressly rewarded for a paper
made known to them three years before.
Were the rules for the award of these medals read previous to their
decision? Or were the obedient Council only used to register the edict of
their President? Or were they mocked, as they have been in other
instances, with the semblance of a free discussion?
Has it never occurred to gentlemen who have been thus situated, that
although they have in truth had no part in the decision, yet the Society
and the public will justly attribute a portion of the merit or demerit of
their award, to those to whom that trust was confided?
Did no one member of the Council venture, with the most submissive
deference, to suggest to the President, that the public eye would watch
with interest this first decision on the Royal medals, and that it might
perhaps be more discreet to adjudge them, for the first time, in
accordance with the laws which had been made for their distribution? Or
was public opinion then held in supreme contempt? Was it scouted, as I
have myself heard it scouted, in the councils of the Royal Society?
Or was the President exempt, on this occasion, from the responsibility of
dictating an award in direct violation of the faith which had been pledged
to the Society and to the public? and, did the Council, intent on
exercising a power so rarely committed to them; and, perhaps, urged by the
near approach of their hour of dinner, dispense with the formality of
reading the laws on which they were about to act?
Whatever may have been the cause, the result was most calamitous to the
Society. Its decision was attacked on other grounds; for, with a strange
neglect, the Council had taken no pains to make known, either to the
Society, or to the public, the rules they had made for the adjudication of
these medals.
The evils resulting from this decision were many. In the first place, it
was most indecorous and ungrateful to treat with such neglect the rules
which had been approved by our Royal Patron. In the next place, the medals
themselves became almost worthless from this original taint: and they
ceased to excite “competition amongst men of science,” because no man
could feel the least security that he should get them, even though his
discoveries should fulfil all the conditions on which they were offered,
The great injury which accrued to science from this proceeding, induced
me, in the succeeding session, when I found myself on the Council of the
Royal Society, to endeavour to remove the stigma which rested on our
character. Whether I took the best means to remedy the evil is now a
matter of comparatively little consequence: had I found any serious
disposition to set it right, I should readily have aided in any plans for
doing that which I felt myself bound to attempt, even though I should
stand alone, as I had the misfortune of doing on that occasion. [It is but
justice to Mr. South, who was a member of that Council, to state, that the
circumstance of his having had the Copley medal of the same year awarded
to him, prevented him from taking any part in the discussion.]
The impression which the whole of that discussion made on my mind will
never be effaced. Regarding the original rules formed for the distribution
of the Royal medals, when approved by his Majesty, as equally binding in
honour and in justice, I viewed the decision of the Council, which
assigned those medals to Mr. Dalton and Mr. Ivory, as void, IPSO FACTO, on
the ground that it was directly at variance with that part which CONFINES
the medals to discoveries made known to the Society within ONE YEAR
PREVIOUS TO THE DAY OF THEIR AWARD. I therefore moved the following
resolutions:
“1st, That the award of the Royal medals, made on the 16th of November,
1826, being contrary to the conditions under which they were offered, is
invalid.
“2dly, That the sum of fifty guineas each be presented to J. Dalton, Esq.
and James Ivory, Esq. from the funds of the Society; and that letters be
written to each of those gentlemen, expressing the hope of the Council
that this, the only method which is open to them of honourably fulfilling
their pledges, will be received by those gentlemen as a mark of the high
sense entertained by the Council of the importance and value of their
discoveries, which require not the aid of medals to convey their
reputation to posterity, as amongst the greatest which distinguished the
age in which they lived.”
It may be curious to give the public a specimen of the reasoning employed
in so select a body of philosophers as the Council of the Royal Society.
It was contended, on the one hand, that although the award was SOMEWHAT
IRREGULAR, yet nothing was more easy than to set it right. As the original
rules for giving the medals were merely an order of the Council,—it
would only be necessary to alter them, and then the award would agree
perfectly with the laws. On the other hand, it was contended, that the
original rules were unknown to the public and to the Society; and that, in
fact, they were only known to the members of the Council and a few of
their friends; and therefore the award was no breach of faith.
All comment on such reasoning is needless. That such propositions could
not merely be offered, but could pass unreproved, is sufficient to show
that the feelings of that body do not harmonize with those of the age; and
furnishes some explanation why several of the most active members of the
Royal Society have declined connecting their names with the Council as
long as the present system of management is pursued.
The little interest taken by the body of the Society, either in its
peculiar pursuits, or in the proceedings of the Council, and the little
communication which exists between them, is an evil. Thus it happens that
the deeds of the Council are rarely known to the body of the Society, and,
indeed, scarcely extend beyond that small portion who frequent the weekly
meetings. These pages will perhaps afford the first notice to the great
majority of the Society of a breach of faith by their Council, which it is
impossible to suppose a body, consisting of more than six hundred
gentlemen, could have sanctioned.
SECTION 8. OF THE COPLEY MEDALS.
An important distinction exists between scientific communications, which
seems to have escaped the notice of the Councils of the Royal Society.
They may contain discoveries of new principles,—of laws of nature
hitherto unobserved; or they may consist of a register of observations of
known phenomena, made under new circumstances, or in new and peculiar
situations on the face of our planet. Both these species of additions to
our knowledge are important; but their value and their rarity are very
different in degree. To make and to repeat observations, even with those
trifling alterations, which it is the fashion in our country (in the
present day) to dignify with the name of discoveries, requires merely
inflexible candour in recording precisely the facts which nature has
presented, and a power of fixing the attention on the instruments
employed, or phenomena examined,—a talent, which can be much
improved by proper Instruction, and which is possessed by most persons of
tolerable abilities and education.* To discover new principles, and to
detect the undiscovered laws by which nature operates, is another and a
higher task, and requires intellectual qualifications of a very different
order: the labour of the one is like that of the computer of an almanac;
the inquiries of the other resemble more the researches of the
accomplished analyst, who has invented the formula: by which those
computations are performed.
[*That the use even of the large astronomical instruments in a national
observatory, does not require any very profound acquirements, is not an
opinion which I should have put forth without authority. The
Astronomer-Royal ought to be the best judge.
On the minutes of the Council of the Royal Society, for April 6, 1826,
with reference to the Assistants necessary for the two mural circles, we
find a letter from Mr. Pond on the subject, from which the following
passage is extracted:
“But to carry on such investigations, I want indefatigable, hard-working,
and above all, obedient drudges (for so I must call them, although they
are drudges of a superior order), men who will be contented to pass half
their day in using their hands and eyes in the mechanical act of
observing, and the remainder of it in the dull process of calculation.”]
Such being the distinction between the merits of these inquiries, some
difference ought to exist in the nature of any rewards that may be
proposed for their encouragement. The Royal Society have never marked this
difference, and consequently those honorary medals which are given to
observations, gain a value which is due to those that are given for
discoveries; whilst these latter are diminished in their estimation by
such an association.
I have stated this distinction, because I think it a just one; but the
public would have little cause of complaint if this were the only ground
of objection to the mode of appropriating the Society’s medals. The first
objection to be noticed, is the indistinct manner in which the object for
which the medals are awarded is sometimes specified. A medal is given to
A. B. “for his various papers.”
There are cases, few perhaps in number, where such a reason may be
admissible; but it is impossible not to perceive the weakness of those who
judge these matters legibly written in the phrase, “and for his various
other communications,” which comes in as the frequent tail-piece to these
awards. With a diffidence in their own powers, which might be more admired
if it were more frequently expressed, the Council think to escape through
this loop-hole, should the propriety of their judgment on the main point
be called in question. Thus, even the discovery which made chemistry a
science, has attached to it in their award this feeble appendage.
It has been objected to the Royal Society, that their medals have been too
much confined to a certain set. When the Royal medals were added to their
patronage, the past distribution of the Copley medals, furnished grounds
to some of the journals to predict the future possessors of the new ones.
I shall, doubtless, be told that the Council of the Royal Society are
persons of such high feeling, that it is impossible to suppose their
decision could be influenced by any personal motives. As I may not have
had sufficient opportunities, during the short time I was a member of that
Council, to enable me to form a fair estimate, I shall avail myself of the
judgment of one, from whom no one will be inclined to appeal, who knew it
long and intimately, and who expressed his opinion deliberately and
solemnly.
The late Dr. Wollaston attached, as a condition to be observed in the
distribution of the interest of his munificent gift of 2,000L. to the
Royal Society, the following clause:—”And I hereby empower the said
President, Council, and Fellows, after my decease, in furtherance of the
above declared objects of the trust, to apply the said dividends to aid or
reward any individual or individuals of any country, SAVING ONLY THAT NO
PERSON BEING A MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE TIME BEING, SHALL RECEIVE OR
PARTAKE OF SUCH REWARD.”
Another improvement which might be suggested, is, that it is generally
inexpedient to vote a medal until the paper which contains the discovery
is at least read to the Society; perhaps even it might not be quite
unreasonable to wish that it should have been printed, and consequently
have been perused by some few of those who have to decide on its merits.
These trifles have not always been attended to; and even so lately as the
last year, they escaped the notice of the President and his Council. The
Society was, however, indebted to the good sense of Mr. Faraday, who
declined the proffered medal; and thus relieved us from one additional
charge of precipitancy. [When this hasty adjudication was thus put a stop
to, one of the members of the Council inquired, whether, as a Copley medal
must by the will be annually given, some other person might not be found
deserving of it. To which the Secretary replied, “We do not intend to give
any this year.” All further discussion was thus silenced.]
Perhaps, also, as the Council are on some occasions apt to be oblivious,
it might be convenient that the President should read, previously to the
award of any medals or to the decision of any other important subjects,
the statutes relating to them. He might perhaps propitiate their attention
to them, by stating, HOW MUCH IT IMPORTETH TO THE CONSISTENCY OF THE
COUNCIL TO BE ACQUAINTED WITH THE LAWS ON WHICH THEY ARE ABOUT TO DECIDE.
If those who have been conversant with the internal management of the
Council, would communicate their information, something curious might
perhaps be learned respecting a few of these medals. Concerning those of
which I have had good means of information, I shall merely state—of
three of them—that whatever may have been the official reasons for
their award, I had ample reasons to convince me of the following being the
true causes:—
First.—A medal was given to A, at a peculiarly inappropriate time—BECAUSE
HE HAD NOT HAD ONE BEFORE.
Second.—Subsequently a medal was given to B, in order TO DESTROY THE
IMPRESSION WHICH THE AWARD OF THE MEDAL TO A HAD MADE ON THE PUBLIC THE
PRECEDING YEAR.
Third.—A medal was given to C, “BECAUSE WE THINK HE HAS BEEN ILL
USED.”
I will now enter on an examination of one of their awards, which was
peculiarly injudicious. I allude to that concerning the mode of rendering
platina malleable. Respecting, as I did, the illustrious philosopher who
invented the art, and who has left many other claims to the gratitude of
mankind, I esteem it no disrespect to his memory to place that subject in
its proper light.
An invention in science or in art, may justly be considered as possessing
the rights of property in the highest degree. The lands we inherit from
our fathers, were cultivated ere they were born, and yielded produce
before they were cultivated. The products of genius are the actual
creations of the individual; and, after yielding profit or honour to him,
they remain the permanent endowments of the human race. If the
institutions of our country, and the opinions of society, support us fully
in the absolute disposal of our fields, of which we can, by the laws of
nature, be only the transitory possessors, who shall justly restrict our
discretion in the disposal of those richer possessions, the products of
intellectual exertion?
Two courses are open to those individuals who are thus endowed with
Nature’s wealth. They may lock up in their own bosoms the mysteries they
have penetrated, and by applying their knowledge to the production of some
substance in demand in commerce, thus minister to the wants or comforts of
their species, whilst they reap in pecuniary profit the legitimate reward
of their exertions.
It is open to them, on the other hand, to disclose the secret they have
torn from Nature, and by allowing mankind to participate with them, to
claim at once that splendid reputation which is rarely refused to the
inventors of valuable discoveries in the arts of life.
The two courses are rarely compatible, only indeed when the discoverer,
having published his process, enters into equal competition with other
manufacturers.
If an individual adopt the first of these courses, and retaining his
secret, it perish with him, the world have no right to complain. During
his life, they profited by his knowledge, and are better off than if the
philosopher had not existed.
Monopolies, under the name of patents, have been devised to assist and
reward those who have chosen the line of pecuniary profit. Honorary
rewards and medals have been the feeble expressions of the sentiments of
mankind towards those who have preferred the other course. But these have
been, and should always be, kept completely distinct. [It is a condition
with the Society of Arts, never to give a reward to any thing for which a
patent has been, or is to be, taken out.]
Let us now consider the case of platina. A new process was discovered of
rendering it malleable, and the mere circumstance of so large a quantity
having been sent into the market, was a positive benefit, of no ordinary
magnitude, to many of the arts. The discoverer of this valuable process
selected that course for which no reasonable man could blame him; and from
some circumstance, or perhaps from accident, he preserved no written
record of the manipulations. Had Providence appointed for that disorder,
which terminated too fatally, a more rapid career, all the knowledge he
had acquired from the long attention he had devoted to the subject, would
have been lost to mankind. The hand of a friend recorded the directions of
the expiring philosopher, whose anxiety to render useful even his
unfinished speculations, proves that the previous omission was most
probably accidental.
Under such circumstances it was published to the world in the Transactions
of the Royal Society. But what could induce that body to bestow on it
their medal? To talk of adding lustre to the name of Wollaston by their
medal, is to talk idly. They must have done it then as an example, as a
stimulus to urge future inquiries in the career of discovery. But did they
wish discoveries to be so endangered?
The discoveries of Professor Mitscherlick, of Berlin, had long been
considered, by a few members of the Society, as having strong claims on
one of its honorary rewards; but difficulties had arisen, from so few
members of the Council having any knowledge of discoveries which had long
been familiar to Europe. The Council were just on the point of doing
justice to the merits of the Prussian philosopher, when it was suggested
that its medal should be given to Dr. Wollaston, and they immediately
altered their intention, and thus enabled themselves to reserve their
medal to Professor Mitscherlick for another year; at which period, for
aught they knew, his discoveries might possess the additional merit of
having been made prior to the limit allowed by their regulations. That
medal was, in fact, voted at a meeting, at which no one member present was
at all conversant with the subjects rewarded. I shall, however, say no
more on this subject. They erred from feeling, an error so very rare with
them, that it might be pardoned even for its singularity.
I will, however, add one word to those whose censures have been unjustly
dealt, to those who have reproached the philosopher for receiving
pecuniary advantage from his inventions.
Amongst the many and varied contrivances for the demands of science, or
the arts of life, with which we were enriched by the genius of Wollaston,
was it too much to allow him to retain, during his fleeting career, one
out of the multitude, to furnish that: pecuniary supply, without which,
the man will want food for his body, and the philosopher be destitute of
tools for his inventions? Had he been, as, from the rank he held in
science, he certainly would have been in other kingdoms, rich in the
honours his country could bestow, and receiving from her a reward in some
measure commensurate with his deserts,—then, indeed, there might
have been reason for that reproach; but I am convinced that, in such
circumstances, the philosopher would have balanced, with no “niggard”
hand, the claims of his country, and would have given to it, unreservedly,
the produce of his powerful mind.
SECTION 9. OF THE FAIRCHILD LECTURE.
Mr. Fairchild left by will twenty-five pounds to the Royal Society. This
was increased by several subscriptions, and 100L. 3 per cent. South Sea
Annuities was purchased, the interest of which was to be devoted annually
to pay for a sermon to be preached at St.Leonard’s, Shoreditch.
Few members of the Society, perhaps, are aware, either of the bequest or
of its annual payment. I shall merely observe, that for five years, from
1800 to 1804, it was regularly given to Mr. Ascough; and that for
twenty-six years past, it has been as regularly given to the Rev. Mr.
Ellis.
The annual amount is too trifling to stimulate to any extraordinary
exertions; yet, small as it is, it might, if properly applied, be
productive of much advantage to religion, and of great honour to the
Society. For this purpose, it would be desirable that it should be
delivered at some church or chapel, more likely to be attended by members
of the Royal Society. Notice of it should be given at the place of worship
appointed, at least a week previous to its delivery, and at the two
preceding weekly meetings of the Royal Society. The name of the gentleman
nominated for that year, and the church at which the sermon is to be
preached, should be stated.
With this publicity attending it, and by a judicious selection of the
first two or three gentlemen appointed to deliver it, it would soon be
esteemed an honour to be invited to compose such a lecture, and the
Society might always find in its numerous list of members or aspirants,
persons well qualified to fulfil a task as beneficial for the promotion of
true religion, as it ever must be for the interest of science. I am
tempted to believe that such a course would call forth exertions of the
most valuable character, as well as give additional circulation to what is
already done on that subject.
The geological speculations which have been adduced, perhaps with too much
haste by some, as according with the Mosaic history, and by others, as
inconsistent with its truth, would, if this subject had been attentively
considered, have been allowed to remain until the fullest and freest
inquiry had irrevocably fixed their claim to the character of indisputable
facts. But, I will not press this subject further on my reader’s
attention, lest he should think I am myself delivering the lecture. All
that I could have said on this point has been so much more ably stated by
one whose enlightened view of geological science has taken away some
difficulties from its cultivators, and, I hope, removed a stumbling-block
from many respectable individuals, that I should only weaken by adding to
the argument. [I allude to the critique of Dr. Ure’s Geology in the
British Review, for July, 1829; an Essay, equally worthy of a philosopher
and a Christian.]
SECTION 10. OF THE CROONIAN LECTURE.
The payment [Three pounds.] for this Lecture, like that of the preceding,
is small. It was instituted by Dr. Croone, for an annual essay on the
subject of Muscular Motion. It is a little to be regretted, that it should
have been so restricted; and perhaps its founder, had he foreseen the
routine into which it has dwindled, might have endeavoured to preserve it,
by affording it a wider range.
By giving it to a variety of individuals, competition might have been
created, and many young anatomists have been induced to direct their
attention to the favourite inquiry of the founder of the Lecture; but from
causes which need not here be traced, this has not been the custom—one
individual has monopolized it year after year, and it seems, like the
Fairchild Lecture, rather to have been regarded as a pension. There have,
however, been some intervals; and we are still under obligations to those
who have supported THE SYSTEM, for not appointing Sir Everard Home to read
the Croonian Lecture twenty years in SUCCESSION. Had it been otherwise, we
might have heard of vested rights.
SECTION 11. OF THE CAUSES OF THE PRESENT STATE OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.
The best friends of the Royal Society have long admitted, whilst they
regretted, its declining fame; and even those who support whatever exists,
begin a little to doubt whether it might not possibly be amended.
The great and leading cause of the present state to which the Royal
Society is reduced, may be traced to years of misrule to which it has been
submitted. In order to understand this, it will be necessary to explain
the nature of that misrule, and the means employed in perpetuating it.
It is known, that by the statutes, the body of the Society have the power
of electing, annually, their President, Officers, and Council; and it is
also well known, that this is a merely nominal power, and that printed
lists are prepared and put into the hands of the members on their entering
the room, and thus passed into the balloting box. If these lists were, as
in other scientific societies, openly discussed in the Council, and then
offered by them as recommendations to the Society, little inconvenience
would arise; but the fact is, that they are private nominations by the
President, usually without notice, to the Council, and all the supporters
of the system which I am criticizing, endeavour to uphold the right of
this nomination in the President, and prevent or discourage any
alteration.
The Society has, for years, been managed by a PARTY, or COTERIE, or by
whatever other name may be most fit to designate a combination of persons,
united by no expressed compact or written regulations, but who act
together from a community of principles. That each individual has
invariably supported all the measures of the party, is by no means the
case; and whilst instances of opposition amongst them have been very rare,
a silent resignation to circumstances has been the most usual mode of
meeting measures they disapproved. The great object of this, as of all
other parties, has been to maintain itself in power, and to divide, as far
as it could, all the good things amongst its members. It has usually
consisted of persons of very moderate talent, who have had the prudence,
whenever they could, to associate with themselves other members of greater
ability, provided these latter would not oppose the system, and would thus
lend to it the sanction of their name. The party have always praised each
other most highly—have invariably opposed all improvements in the
Society, all change in the mode of management; and have maintained, that
all those who wished for any alteration were factious; and, when they
discovered any symptoms of independence and inquiry breaking out in any
member of the Council, they have displaced him as soon as they decently
could.
Of the arguments employed by those who support the SYSTEM OF MANAGEMENT by
which the Royal Society is governed, I shall give a few samples:
refutation is rendered quite unnecessary—juxta-position is alone
requisite. If any member, seeing an improper appointment in contemplation,
or any abuse in the management of the affairs of the Society continued,
raise a voice against it, the ready answer is, Why should you interfere?
it may not be quite the thing you approve; but it is no affair of yours.—If,
on the other hand, it do relate to himself, the reply is equally ready. It
is immediately urged: The question is of a personal nature; you are the
last person who ought to bring it forward; you are yourself interested. If
any member of the Society, feeling annoyed at the neglect, or hurt by the
injuries or insults of the Council, show signs of remonstrance, it is
immediately suggested to him that he is irritated, and ought to wait until
his feelings subside, and he can judge more coolly on the subject; whilst
with becoming candour they admit the ill-treatment, but urge forbearance.
If, after an interval, when reflection has had ample time to operate, the
offence seems great as at first, or the insult appears unmitigated by any
circumstances on which memory can dwell,—if it is then brought
forward, the immediate answer is, The affair is out of date—the
thing is gone by—it is too late to call in question a transaction so
long past. Thus, if a man is interested personally, he is unfit to
question an abuse; if he is not, is it probable that he will question it?
and if, notwithstanding this, he do so, then he is to be accounted a
meddler. If he is insulted, and complain, he is told to wait until he is
cool; and when that period arrives, he is then told he is too late. If his
remonstrance relates to the alteration of laws which are never referred
to, or only known by their repeated breach, he is told that any alteration
is useless; it is perfectly well known that they are never adhered to. If
it relate to the impolicy of any regulations attaching to an office, he is
immediately answered, that that is a personal question, in which it is
impossible to interfere—the officer, it seems, is considered to have
not merely a vested right to the continuance of every abuse, but an
interest in transmitting it unimpaired to his successors.
In the same spirit I have heard errors of calculation or observation
defended. If small errors occur, it is said that they are too trifling to
be of any importance. If larger errors are pointed out, it is immediately
contended that they can deceive nobody, because of their magnitude.
Perhaps it might be of some use, if the Council would oblige the world
with their SCALE of ERROR, with illustrations from some of the most RECENT
and APPROVED works, and would favour the uninformed with the orthodox
creed upon all grades, from that which baffles the human faculties to
detect, up to that which becomes innocuous from its size.
The offices connected with the Royal Society are few in number, and their
emolument small in amount; but the proper disposition of them is,
nevertheless, of great importance to the Society, and was so to the
science of England.
In the first place, the President, having in effect the absolute
nomination of the whole Council, could each year introduce a few
gentlemen, whose only qualification to sit on it would be the high opinion
they must necessarily entertain of the penetration of him who could
discover their scientific merits. He might also place in the list a few
nobles or officials, just to gild it. Neither of these classes would put
any troublesome questions, and one of them might be employed, from its
station in society, to check any that might be proposed by others.
With these ingredients, added to the regular train of the party, and a
star or two of science to shed lustre over the whole, a very manageable
Council might be formed; and such has been its frequent composition.
The duties of the Secretaries, when well executed, are laborious, although
not in this respect equal to those of the same officers who, in several
societies, give their gratuitous aid; and their labours are much lightened
by the Assistant Secretary and his clerk. The following are their
salaries:—
Now it is not customary to change these annually; and as these offices are
amongst the “loaves and fishes” they are generally given by the President
to some staunch supporters of the system. They have frequently been
bestowed, with very little consideration for the interest, or even for the
dignity of the Society. To notice only one instance: the late Sir Joseph
Banks appointed a gentleman who remained for years in that situation,
although he was confessedly ignorant of every subject connected with the
pursuits of the Society. I will, however, do justice to his memory, by
saying that his respectability was preserved under such circumstances, by
the most candid admission of the fact, accompanied by a store of other
knowledge unfortunately quite foreign to the pursuits of the Society; and
I will add, that I regretted to see him insulted by one President in a
situation improperly given to him by a former.
Next in order come the Vice-Presidents, who are appointed by the
President; and in this respect the present practice is not inconvenient.
The case, however, is widely different with the office of Treasurer. The
President ought not to usurp the power of his appointment, which ought,
after serious discussion by the Council, to be made by the Society at
large.
Besides the three Secretaries, there is an Assistant Secretary, and
recently another has been added, who may perhaps be called a,
Sub-assistant Secretary. All these places furnish patronage to the
President.
Let us now look at the occasional patronage of the President, arising from
offices not belonging to the Society. He is, EX OFFICIO, a Trustee of the
British Museum; and it may seem harsh to maintain that he is not a fit
person to hold such a situation. It is no theoretical view, but it is the
EXPERIENCE of the past which justifies the assertion; and I fear that
unless he has the sole responsibility for some specific appointments, and
unless his judgment is sharpened by the fear of public discussion, a
President of the Royal Society, in the Board-room of the British Museum,
is quite as likely as another person to sacrifice his public duty to the
influence of power, or to private friendship. With respect to the merits
of that Institution, I have no inclination at present to inquire: but when
it is considered that there is at this moment attached to it no one whose
observations or whose writings have placed him even in the second rank
amongst the naturalists of Europe, the President of the Royal Society has
given some grounds for the remark made by several members of the Society,
that he is a little too much surrounded by the officers of a body who may
reasonably be supposed to entertain towards him feelings either of
gratitude or expectation. [It will be remembered that the name of Mr.
Robert Brown has been but recently attached to the British Museum, and
that it is to be attributed to his possessing a life interest in the
valuable collection of the late Sir Joseph Banks.]
The late Board of Longitude was another source of patronage, which,
although now abolished, it may be useful to hint at.
There were three members to be appointed by the Royal Society: these were
honorary, and, as no salary was attached, it might have been expected that
this limited number of appointments would have been given in all cases to
persons qualified for them. But no: it was convenient to pay compliments;
and Lord Colchester, whose talents and knowledge insured him respect as
Speaker of the House of Commons, or as a British nobleman, was placed for
years in the situation as one of the Commissioners of the Board of
Longitude, for which every competent judge knew him to be wholly unfit.
What was the return which he made for this indulgence? Little informed
respecting the feelings of the Society, and probably misinformed by the
party whose influence had placed him there, he saved them in the day of
their peril.
When the state of the Society had reached such a point that many of the
more scientific members felt that some amendment was absolutely necessary
to its respectability, a committee was formed to suggest to the Council
such improvements as they might consider it expedient to discuss. [Amongst
the names of the persons composing this Committee, which was proposed by
Mr. South, were those of Dr. Wollaston and Mr. Herschel.] The Council
received their report at the close of the session; and in recording it on
the journals, they made an appeal to the Council for the ensuing year to
bestow on it “THEIR EARLIEST AND MOST SERIOUS ATTENTION.”
Now when the party, to whose government some of these improvements would
have been a death-warrant, found that the subject was likely to be taken
up in the Council, they were in dismay: but the learned and grateful peer
came to their assistance, and aided Mr. Davies Gilbert in getting rid of
these improvements completely.
It has been the fashion to maintain that all classes of the Royal Society
should be represented in the Council, and consequently that a peer or two
should find a place amongst them. Those who are most adverse to this
doctrine would perhaps be the most anxious to render this tribute to any
one really employing his time, his talents, or his rank in advancing the
cause of science. But when a nobleman, unversed in our pursuits, will
condescend to use the influence of his station in aiding a President to
stifle, WITHOUT DISCUSSION, propositions recommended for consideration by
some of the most highly gifted members of the Society,—those who
doubt the propriety of the principle may reasonably be pardoned for the
disgust they must necessarily entertain for the practical abuse to which
it leads.
Of the other three Commissioners, who received each a hundred a-year,
although the nomination was, in point of form, in the Admiralty, yet it
was well known that the President of the Royal Society did, in fact,
always name them. Of these I will only mention one fact. The late Sir
Joseph Banks assigned to me as a reason why I need not expect to be
appointed, (as he had held out to me at a former period when I had spoken
to him on the subject) that I had taken a prominent part in the formation
of the ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. I am proud of the part I did take in
establishing that Society, although an undue share of its honour was
assigned to me by the President.
It may, perhaps, be inquired, why I publish this fact at this distance of
time? I answer, that I stated it publicly at the Council of the
Astronomical Society;—that I always talked of it publicly and openly
at the time;—that I purposely communicated it to each succeeding
President of the Royal Society; and that, although some may have forgotten
the communications I made at the time, there are others who remember them
well.
The Secretary of the late Board of Longitude received 300L., and 200L.
more, as Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac.
Another situation, in the patronage of which the President is known to
have considerable influence, is that of Astronomer Royal; and it is to be
observed, that he is kept in the Council as much as possible,
notwithstanding the nature of his duties.
Of the three appointments of 100L. a-year each, which have been instituted
since the abolition of the Board of Longitude, the President is supposed
to have the control, thus making him quite sure of the obedience of his
Council.
Besides these sources of patronage, there are other incidental occasions
on which Government apply to the Royal Society to recommend proper persons
to make particular experiments or observations; and, although I am far
from supposing that these are in many instances given to persons the
second or third best qualified for them, yet they deserve to be mentioned.
SECTION 12. OF THE PLAN FOR REFORMING THE SOCIETY.
The indiscriminate admission of every candidate became at last so
notorious, even beyond the pale of the Society, that some of the members
began to perceive the inconveniences to which it led. This feeling,
together with a conviction that other improvements were necessary to
re-establish the Society in public opinion, induced several of the most
active members to wish for some reform in its laws and proceedings; and a
Committee was appointed to consider the subject. It was perfectly
understood, that the object of this Committee was to inquire,—First,
as to the means and propriety of limiting the numbers of this Society; and
then, as to other changes which they might think beneficial. The names of
the gentlemen composing this Committee were:—
The importance of the various improvements suggested was different in the
eyes of different members. The idea of rendering the Society so select as
to make it an object of ambition to men of science to be elected into it,
was by no means new, as the following extract from the Minutes of the
Council will prove:—
“MINUTES OF COUNCIL. August 27, 1674 Present,
“It was considered by this Council, that to make the Society prosper, good
experiments must be in the first place provided to make the weekly
meetings considerable, and that the expenses for making these experiments
must be secured by legal subscriptions for paying the contributors; which
done, the Council might then with confidence proceed to the EJECTION OF
USELESS FELLOWS.”
The reformers of modern times were less energetic in the measures they
recommended. Dr. Wollaston and some others thought the limitation of the
numbers of the Society to be the most essential point, and 400 was
suggested as a proper number to be recommended, in case a limitation
should be ultimately resolved upon. I confess, such a limit did not appear
to me to bring great advantages, especially when I reflected how long a
time must have elapsed before the 714 members of the Society could be
reduced by death to that number. And I also thought that as long as those
who alone sustained the reputation of the Society by their writings and
discoveries should be admitted into it on precisely the same terms, and on
the payment of the same sum of money as other gentlemen who contributed
only with their purse, it could never be an object of ambition to any man
of science to be enrolled on its list.
With this view, and also to assist those who wished for a limitation, I
suggested a plan extremely simple in its nature, and which would become
effective immediately. I proposed that, in the printed list of the Royal
Society, a star should be placed against the name of each Fellow who had
contributed two or more papers which had been printed in the Transactions,
or that such a list should be printed separately at the end.
At that period there were 109 living members who had contributed papers to
the Transactions, and they were thus arranged:
100 Contributing Fellows of the Royal Society. 589 Papers contributed by
them.
Now the immediate effect of printing such a list would be the division of
the Society into two classes. Supposing two or more papers necessary for
placing a Fellow in the first class, that class would only consist of
seventy-two members, which is nearly the same as the number of those of
the Institute of France. If only those who had contributed three or more
were admitted, then this class would be reduced to fifty-one. In either of
these cases it would obviously become a matter of ambition to belong to
the first class; and a more minute investigation into the value of each
paper would naturally take place before it was admitted into the
Transactions. Or it might be established that such papers only should be
allowed to count, as the Committee, who reported them as fit to be
printed, should also certify. The great objection made to such an
arrangement was, that it would be displeasing to the rest of the Society,
and that they had a vested right (having entered the Society when no
distinction was made in the lists) to have them always continued without
one.
Without replying to this shadow of an argument of vested rights, I will
only remark that he who maintains this view pays a very ill compliment to
the remaining 600 members of the Royal Society; since he does, in truth,
maintain that those gentlemen who, from their position, accidentally
derive reputation which does not belong to them, are unwilling, when the
circumstance is pointed out, to allow the world to assign it to those who
have fairly won it; or else that they are incapable of producing any thing
worthy of being printed in the Transactions of the Royal Society. Lightly
as the conduct of the Society, as a body, has compelled me to think of it,
I do not think so ill of the personal character of its members as to
believe that if the question were fairly stated to them, many would object
to it.
Amongst the alterations which I considered most necessary to the
renovation of the Society, was the recommendation, by the expiring
Council, of those whom they thought most eligible for that of the ensuing
year.
The system which had got into practice was radically bad: it is impossible
to have an INDEPENDENT Council if it is named by ONE PERSON. Our statutes
were framed with especial regard to securing the fitness of the members
elected to serve in the Council; and the President is directed, by those
statutes, at the two ordinary meetings previous to the anniversary, to
give notice of the elections, and “to declare how much it importeth the
good of the Society that such persons may be chosen into the Council as
are most likely to attend the meetings and business of the Council, and
out of whom may be made the best choice of a President and other
officers.” This is regularly done; and, in mockery of the wisdom of our
ancestors, the President has perhaps in his pocket the list of the future
Council he has already fixed upon.
In some other Societies, great advantage is found to arise from the
discussion of the proper persons to be recommended to the Society for the
Council of the next year. A list is prepared, by the Secretary, of the old
Council, and against each name is placed the number of times he has
attended the meetings of the Council. Those whose attendance has been
least frequent are presumed to be otherwise engaged, unless absence from
London, or engagement in some pursuit connected with the Society, are
known to have interfered. Those members who have been on the Council the
number of years which is usually allowed, added to those who go out by
their own wish, and by non-attendance, are, generally, more in number than
can be spared; and the question is never, who shall retire?—but,
who, out of the rest of the Society, is most likely to work, if placed on
the Council?
If any difference of opinion should exist in a society, it is always of
great importance to its prosperity to have both opinions represented in
the Council. In this age of discussion it is impossible to stifle
opinions; and if they are not represented in the Council, there is some
chance of their being brought before the general body, or, at last, even
before the public. It is certainly an advantage that questions should be
put, and even that debates should take place on the days appropriated to
the anniversaries of societies. This is the best check to the commencement
of irregularities; and a suspicion may reasonably be entertained of those
who endeavour to suppress inquiry.
On the other hand, debates respecting the affairs of the Society should
never be entered on at the ordinary meetings, as they interrupt its
business, and only a partial attendance can be expected. That the conduct
of those who have latterly managed the Royal Society has not led to such
discussions, is to be attributed more to the forbearance of those who
disapprove of the line of conduct they have pursued, than to the
discretion of the party in not giving them cause.
The public is the last tribunal; one to which nothing but strong necessity
should induce an appeal. There are, however, advantages in it which may,
in some cases, render it better than a public discussion at the
anniversary. When the cause of complaint is a system rather than any one
great grievance, it may be necessary to enter more into detail than a
speech will permit; also the printed statement and arguments will probably
come under the consideration of a larger number of the members. Another
and a considerable benefit is, that there is much less danger of any
expression of temper interrupting or injuring the arguments employed.
There were other points suggested, but I shall subjoin the Report of the
Committee:—
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO CONSIDER THE BEST MEANS OF LIMITING
THE MEMBERS ADMITTED INTO THE ROYAL SOCIETY, AS WELL AS TO MAKE SUCH
SUGGESTIONS ON THAT SUBJECT AS MAY SEEM TO THEM CONDUCIVE TO THE WELFARE
OF THE SOCIETY.
Your Committee having maturely considered the resolution of the Council
under which they have been appointed; and having satisfied themselves that
the progressive increase of the Society has been in a much higher ratio
than the progressive increase of population, or the general growth of
knowledge, or the extension of those sciences which it has been the great
object of the Society to promote, they have agreed to the following
Report:—
Your Committee assume as indisputable propositions, that the utility of
the Society is in direct proportion to its respectability. That its
respectability can only be secured by its comprising men of high
philosophical eminence; and that the obvious means of associating persons
of this eminence will be the public conviction, that to belong to the
Society is an honour. Your Committee, therefore, think themselves fully
borne out in the conclusion, that it would be expedient to limit the
Society to such a number as should be a fair representation of the talent
of the country; the consequence of which will be, that every vacancy would
become an object of competition among persons of acknowledged merit.
From the returns which have been laid on your table, of the Fellows who
have contributed papers, and from the best estimate they can make of the
persons without doors who are engaged in the active pursuit of science,
your Committee feel justified in recommending that those limits should be
fixed at four hundred, exclusive of foreign members, and of such royal
personages as it may be thought proper to admit.
As many years must elapse before the present number of seven hundred and
fourteen can be reduced to those limits by the course of nature, and as it
would be prejudicial to the interests of the Society and of science, that
no fresh accessions should take place during that long period, your
Committee would further recommend, that till that event takes place, four
new members should be annually admitted.
With respect to the manner of admission, your Committee are of opinion,
that there are several inconveniences in the present mode of proceeding to
a single ballot upon each certificate, according to its seniority. If the
above limitation should be adopted, it may be presumed, that for every
vacancy there will be many candidates; from amongst them, it must be the
general wish to select the most distinguished individuals; but to
accomplish this, if the present system were to be continued, it would be
necessary to reject all those candidates whose certificates were of
earlier date than theirs; a process not only extremely irritating, but
probably ineffectual from the want of unanimity. Your Committee,
therefore, most earnestly recommend, that one general election should take
place every year towards the end of the session, and that this should be
conducted on the same principles as the present annual election of the
Council and officers; VIZ. by having lists printed of all the candidates
(whose certificates had been suspended for the usual time,) in which lists
each Fellow would mark the requisite number of persons.
As the charter, however, requires the concurrence of two-thirds of the
Fellows present, your Committee suggest, that after the choice has been
determined by the plurality of votes by ballot in the above manner, the
successful candidates should be again submitted to a general vote, in
accordance with the enactments of the said charter.
In concluding this part of the subject, your Committee beg leave to
remark, that by the method now proposed, the invidious act of blackballing
would cease, and with it all feelings of resentment and mortification; as
the result of such an open competition could only be construed by the
public into a fair preference of the superior claims of the successful
few, and not into a direct and disgraceful rejection of the others.
Your Committee are fully aware, that such a reduction in the usual
admissions would materially affect the pecuniary resources of the Society;
but they are at the same time convinced, that by a vigorous economy its
present income might be rendered adequate to all its real wants, and the
aggregate expenditure might be considerably diminished by many small but
wholesome retrenchments.
It appears, from the accounts of last year, that although 1200L. was
received for compositions, in addition to the standing income, and usual
contributions, &c., and although no money was invested, yet there was
a balance only of a few pounds at the end of the year. It further appears,
that 500L. was paid for the paper, 370L. for engravings, and nearly 340L.
for printing; and from those alarming facts, your Committee submit to your
consideration, whether the expenditure might not be beneficially
controlled by a standing Committee of Finance.
In obedience to the latter part of your resolution, your Committee now
proceed to offer some further suggestions for your consideration. They
conceive that it would afford a beneficial stimulus to individual
exertion, if the Fellows who have received the medals of the Society, and
those who have repeatedly enriched its Transactions, were distinguished by
being collected into a separate and honourable list. It would also be
found, perhaps, not less a future incentive than an act of retrospective
justice, if the names of all those illustrious Fellows who have formerly
obtained the medals, as well as of all those individuals who have been
large benefactors to the Society, were recorded at the end of the list. It
would be a satisfactory addition likewise to the annual list, if all those
Fellows who have died, or had been admitted within the preceding year,
were regularly noticed. And your Committee think, that these lists should
always form part of the Transactions, and be stitched up with the last
part of the volume.
It requires no argument to demonstrate that the well-being of the Society
mainly depends on the activity and integrity of its Council; and as their
selection is unquestionably of paramount importance, your Committee hope
that our excellent President will not consider it any impeachment of his
impartiality, or any doubt of his zeal, if they venture to suggest, that
the usual recommendation to the Society of proper members for the future
Council should henceforth be considered as a fit subject for the diligent
and anxious deliberation of the expiring Council.
There is another point of great moment to the character of the Society,
and to the dignified station it occupies among the learned associations of
Europe; for its character abroad can only be appreciated by the nature and
value of its Transactions. Your Committee allude to the important task of
deciding on what papers should be published; and they are of opinion that
it would be a material improvement on the present mode, if each paper were
referred to a separate Committee, who should have sufficient time given
them to examine it carefully, who should be empowered to communicate on
any doubtful parts with the author; and who should report, not only their
opinion, but the grounds on which that opinion is formed, for the ultimate
decision of the Council.
If it should be thought fit to adopt the suggestions which your Committee
have now had the honour of proposing, they beg leave to move, that another
Committee be appointed, with directions to frame or to alter the necessary
statutes, so that they may be in strict accordance with the charters.
In concluding the Report, your Committee do not wish to disguise the
magnitude of some of the measures they have thought it their duty to
propose; on the contrary, they would not only urge the fullest discussion
of their expediency; but further, that if you should even be unanimously
disposed to confirm them, your Committee would recommend, that the several
statutes, when they have been drawn up or modified, should be only entered
on your minutes, and not finally enacted. All innovations in the
constitution, or even the habits of the Royal Society, should be
scrutinized with the most jealous circumspection. It is enough for the
present Council to have traced the plan; let the Council of the ensuing
sessions share the credit of carrying that plan into effect.
This Report was presented to the Council very late in the session of 1827,
and on the 25th of June there occurs the following entry on the
council-book:—
“The Report of the Committee for considering the best means of limiting
the number of members, and such other suggestions as they may think
conducive to the good of the Society, was received and read, and ordered
to be entered on the minutes; and the Council, regarding the importance of
the subject, and its bearings on the essential interests of the Society,
in conformity with the concluding paragraph, and considering also the
advanced stage of the session, recommend it to the most serious and early
consideration of the Council for the ensuing year.”
Those who advocated these alterations, were in no hurry for their hasty
adoption; they were aware of their magnitude, and anxious for the fullest
investigation before one of them should be tried.
Unfortunately, the concluding recommendation of the Committee did not
coincide with the views of Mr. Gilbert, whom the party had determined to
make their new President. That gentleman made such arrangements for the
Council of the succeeding year, that when the question respecting the
consideration of the Report of that Committee was brought forward, it was
thrown aside in the manner I have stated. Thus a report, sanctioned by the
names of such a committee, and recommended by one Council to “THE MOST
SERIOUS and EARLY consideration of the Council for the ensuing year,” was
by that very Council rejected, without even the ceremony of discussing its
merits. Was every individual recommendation it contained, not merely unfit
to be adopted, but so totally deficient in plausibility as to be utterly
unworthy of discussion? Or did the President and his officers feel, that
their power rested on an insecure foundation, and that they did not
possess the confidence of the working members of the Society?
CHAPTER V. OF OBSERVATIONS.
There are several reflections connected with the art of making
observations and experiments, which may be conveniently arranged in this
chapter.
SECTION 1. OF MINUTE PRECISION.
No person will deny that the highest degree of attainable accuracy is an
object to be desired, and it is generally found that the last advances
towards precision require a greater devotion of time, labour, and expense,
than those which precede them. The first steps in the path of discovery,
and the first approximate measures, are those which add most to the
existing knowledge of mankind.
The extreme accuracy required in some of our modern inquiries has, in some
respects, had an unfortunate influence, by favouring the opinion, that no
experiments are valuable, unless the measures are most minute, and the
accordance amongst them most perfect. It may, perhaps, be of some use to
show, that even with large instruments, and most practised observers, this
is but rarely the case. The following extract is taken from a
representation made by the present Astronomer-Royal, to the Council of the
Royal Society, on the advantages to be derived from the employment of two
mural circles:—
“That by observing, with two instruments, the same objects at the same
time, and in the same manner, we should be able to estimate how much of
that OCCASIONAL DISCORDANCE FROM THE MEAN, which attends EVEN THE MOST
CAREFUL OBSERVATIONS, ought to be attributed to irregularity of
refraction, and how much to THE IMPERFECTIONS OF INSTRUMENTS.”
In confirmation of this may be adduced the opinion of the late M.
Delambre, which is the more important, from the statement it contains
relative to the necessity of publishing all the observations which have
been made.
“Mais quelque soit le parti que l’on prefere, il me semble qu’on doit tout
publier. Ces irregularites memes sont des faits qu’il importe de
connoitre. LES SOINS LES PLUS ATTENTIFS N’EN SAUROIENT PRESERVER LES
OBSERVATEURS LES PLUS EXERCES, et celui qui ne produiroit que des angles
toujours parfaitment d’accord auroit ete singulierement bien servi par les
circonstances ou ne seroit pas bien sincere.”—BASE DU SYSTEME
METRIQUE, Discours Preliminaire, p. 158.
This desire for extreme accuracy has called away the attention of
experimenters from points of far greater importance, and it seems to have
been too much overlooked in the present day, that genius marks its tract,
not by the observation of quantities inappreciable to any but the acutest
senses, but by placing Nature in such circumstances, that she is forced to
record her minutest variations on so magnified a scale, that an observer,
possessing ordinary faculties, shall find them legibly written. He who can
see portions of matter beyond the ken of the rest of his species, confers
an obligation on them, by recording what he sees; but their knowledge
depends both on his testimony and on his judgment. He who contrives a
method of rendering such atoms visible to ordinary observers, communicates
to mankind an instrument of discovery, and stamps his own observations
with a character, alike independent of testimony or of judgment.
SECTION 2. ON THE ART OF OBSERVING.
The remarks in this section are not proposed for the assistance of those
who are already observers, but are intended to show to persons not
familiar with the subject, that in observations demanding no unrivalled
accuracy, the principles of common sense may be safely trusted, and that
any gentleman of liberal education may, by perseverance and attention,
ascertain the limits within which he may trust both his instrument and
himself.
If the instrument is a divided one, the first thing is to learn to read
the verniers. If the divisions are so fine that the coincidence is
frequently doubtful, the best plan will be for the learner to get some
acquaintance who is skilled in the use of instruments, and having set the
instrument at hazard, to write down the readings of the verniers, and then
request his friend to do the same; whenever there is any difference, he
should carefully examine the doubtful one, and ask his friend to point out
the minute peculiarities on which he founds his decision. This should be
repeated frequently; and after some practice, he should note how many
times in a hundred his reading differs from his friend’s, and also how
many divisions they usually differ.
The next point is, to ascertain the precision with which the learner can
bisect an object with the wires of the telescope. This can be done without
assistance. It is not necessary even to adjust the instrument, but merely
to point it to a distant object. When it bisects any remarkable point,
read off the verniers, and write down the result; then displace the
telescope a little, and adjust it again. A series of such observations
will show the confidence which is due to the observer’s eye in bisecting
an object, and also in reading the verniers; and as the first direction
gave him some measure of the latter, he may, in a great measure,
appreciate his skill in the former. He should also, when he finds a
deviation in the reading, return to the telescope, and satisfy himself if
he has made the bisection as complete as he can. In general, the student
should practise each adjustment separately, and write down the results
wherever he can measure its deviations.
Having thus practised the adjustments, the next step is to make an
observation; but in order to try both himself and the instrument, let him
take the altitude of some fixed object, a terrestrial one, and having
registered the result, let him derange the adjustment, and repeat the
process fifty or a hundred times. This will not merely afford him
excellent practice, but enable him to judge of his own skill.
The first step in the use of every instrument, is to find the limits
within which its employer can measure the SAME OBJECT UNDER THE SAME
CIRCUMSTANCES. It is only from a knowledge of this, that he can have
confidence in his measures of the SAME OBJECT UNDER DIFFERENT
CIRCUMSTANCES, and after that, of DIFFERENT OBJECTS UNDER DIFFERENT
CIRCUMSTANCES.
These principles are applicable to almost all instruments. If a person is
desirous of ascertaining heights by a mountain barometer, let him begin by
adjusting the instrument in his own study; and having made the upper
contact, let him write down the reading of the vernier, and then let him
derange the UPPER adjustment ONLY, re-adjust, and repeat the reading. When
he is satisfied about the limits within which he can make that adjustment,
let him do the same repeatedly with the lower; but let him not, until he
knows his own errors in reading and adjusting, pronounce upon those of the
instrument. In the case of a barometer, he must also be assured, that the
temperature of the mercury does not change during the interval.
A friend once brought to me a beautifully constructed piece of mechanism,
for marking minute portions of time; the three-hundredth parts of a second
were indicated by it. It was a kind of watch, with a pin for stopping one
of the hands. I proposed that we should each endeavour to stop it twenty
times in succession, at the same point. We were both equally unpractised,
and our first endeavours showed that we could not be confident of the
twentieth part of a second. In fact, both the time occupied in causing the
extremities of the fingers to obey the volition, as well as the time
employed in compressing the flesh before the fingers acted on the stop,
appeared to influence the accuracy of our observations. From some few
experiments I made, I thought I perceived that the rapidity of the
transmission of the effects of the will, depended on the state of fatigue
or health of the body. If any one were to make experiments on this
subject, it might be interesting, to compare the rapidity of the
transmission of volition in different persons, with the time occupied in
obliterating an impression made on one of the senses of the same persons.
For example, by having a mechanism to make a piece of ignited charcoal
revolve with different degrees of velocity, some persons will perceive a
continuous circle of light before others, whose retina does not retain so
long impressions that are made upon it.
SECTION 3. ON THE FRAUDS OF OBSERVERS.
Scientific inquiries are more exposed than most others to the inroads of
pretenders; and I feel that I shall deserve the thanks of all who really
value truth, by stating some of the methods of deceiving practised by
unworthy claimants for its honours, whilst the mere circumstance of their
arts being known may deter future offenders.
There are several species of impositions that have been practised in
science, which are but little known, except to the initiated, and which it
may perhaps be possible to render quite intelligible to ordinary
understandings. These may be classed under the heads of hoaxing, forging,
trimming, and cooking.
OF HOAXING. This, perhaps, will be better explained by an example. In the
year 1788, M. Gioeni, a knight of Malta, published at Naples an account of
a new family of Testacea, of which he described, with great minuteness,
one species, the specific name of which has been taken from its habitat,
and the generic he took from his own family, calling it Gioenia Sicula. It
consisted of two rounded triangular valves, united by the body of the
animal to a smaller valve in front. He gave figures of the animal, and of
its parts; described its structure, its mode of advancing along the sand,
the figure of the tract it left, and estimated the velocity of its course
at about two-thirds of an inch per minute. He then described the structure
of the shell, which he treated with nitric acid, and found it approach
nearer to the nature of bone than any other shell.
The editors of the ENCYCLOPEDIE METHODIQUE, have copied this description,
and have given figures of the Gioenia Sicula. The fact, however, is, that
no such animal exists, but that the knight of Malta, finding on the
Sicilian shores the three internal bones of one of the species of Bulla,
of which some are found on the south-western coast of England, [Bulla
lignaria] described and figured these bones most accurately, and drew the
whole of the rest of the description from the stores of his own
imagination.
Such frauds are far from justifiable; the only excuse which has been made
for them is, when they have been practised on scientific academies which
had reached the period of dotage. It should however be remembered, that
the productions of nature are so various, that mere strangeness is very
far from sufficient to render doubtful the existence of any creature for
which there is evidence; [The number of vertebrae in the neck of the
plesiosaurus is a strange but ascertained fact] and that, unless the
memoir itself involves principles so contradictory, as to outweigh the
evidence of a single witness, [The kind of contradiction which is here
alluded to, is that which arises from well ascertained final causes; for
instance, the ruminating stomach of the hoofed animals, is in no case
combined with the claw-shaped form of the extremities, frequent in many of
the carniverous animals, and necessary to some of them for the purpose of
seizing their prey] it can only be regarded as a deception, without the
accompaniment of wit.
FORGING differs from hoaxing, inasmuch as in the latter the deceit is
intended to last for a time, and then be discovered, to the ridicule of
those who have credited it; whereas the forger is one who, wishing to
acquire a reputation for science, records observations which he has never
made. This is sometimes accomplished in astronomical observations by
calculating the time and circumstances of the phenomenon from tables. The
observations of the second comet of 1784, which was only seen by the
Chevalier D’Angos, were long suspected to be a forgery, and were at length
proved to be so by the calculations and reasonings of Encke. The pretended
observations did not accord amongst each other in giving any possible
orbit. But M. Encke detected an orbit, belonging to some of the
observations, from which he found that all the rest might be almost
precisely deduced, provided a mistake of a unity in the index of the
logarithm of the radius vector were supposed to have been made in all the
rest of the calculations. ZACH. CORR. ASTRON. Tom. IV. p. 456.
Fortunately instances of the occurrence of forging are rare.
TRIMMING consists in clipping off little bits here and there from those
observations which differ most in excess from the mean, and in sticking
them on to those which are too small; a species of “equitable adjustment,”
as a radical would term it, which cannot be admitted in science.
This fraud is not perhaps so injurious (except to the character of the
trimmer) as cooking, which the next paragraph will teach, The reason of
this is, that the AVERAGE given by the observations of the trimmer is the
same, whether they are trimmed or untrimmed. His object is to gain a
reputation for extreme accuracy in making observations; but from respect
for truth, or from a prudent foresight, he does not distort the position
of the fact he gets from nature, and it is usually difficult to detect
him. He has more sense or less adventure than the Cook.
OF COOKING. This is an art of various forms, the object of which is to
give to ordinary observations the appearance and character of those of the
highest degree of accuracy.
One of its numerous processes is to make multitudes of observations, and
out of these to select those only which agree, or very nearly agree. If a
hundred observations are made, the cook must be very unlucky if he cannot
pick out fifteen or twenty which will do for serving up.
Another approved receipt, when the observations to be used will not come
within the limit of accuracy, which it has been resolved they shall
possess, is to calculate them by two different formulae. The difference in
the constants employed in those formulae has sometimes a most happy effect
in promoting unanimity amongst discordant measures. If still greater
accuracy is required, three or more formulae can be used.
It must be admitted that this receipt is in some instances rather
hazardous: but in cases where the positions of stars, as given in
different catalogues, occur, or different tables of specific gravities,
specific heats, &c. &c., it may safely be employed. As no
catalogue contains all stars, the computer must have recourse to several;
and if he is obliged to use his judgment in the selection, it would be
cruel to deny him any little advantage which might result from it. It may,
however, be necessary to guard against one mistake into which persons
might fall.
If an observer calculate particular stars from a catalogue which makes
them accord precisely with the rest of his results, whereas, had they been
computed from other catalogues the difference would have been
considerable, it is very unfair to accuse him of COOKING; for—those
catalogues may have been notoriously inaccurate; or—they may have
been superseded by others more recent, or made with better instruments; or—the
observer may have been totally ignorant of their existence.
It sometimes happens that the constant quantities in formulae given by the
highest authorities, although they differ amongst themselves, yet they
will not suit the materials. This is precisely the point in which the
skill of the artist is shown; and an accomplished cook will carry himself
triumphantly through it, provided happily some mean value of such
constants will fit his observations. He will discuss the relative merits
of formulae he has just knowledge enough to use; and, with admirable
candour assigning their proper share of applause to Bessel, to Gauss, and
to Laplace, he will take THAT mean value of the constant used by three
such philosophers, which will make his own observations accord to a
miracle.
There are some few reflections which I would venture to suggest to those
who cook, although they may perhaps not receive the attention which, in my
opinion, they deserve, from not coming from the pen of an adept.
In the first place, it must require much time to try different formulae.
In the next place it may happen that, in the progress of human knowledge,
more correct formula: may be discovered, and constants may be determined
with far greater precision. Or it may be found that some physical
circumstance influences the results, (although unsuspected at the time)
the measure of which circumstance may perhaps be recovered from other
contemporary registers of facts. [Imagine, by way of example, the state of
the barometer or thermometer.] Or if the selection of observations has
been made with the view of its agreeing precisely with the latest
determination, there is some little danger that the average of the whole
may differ from that of the chosen ones, owing to some law of nature,
dependent on the interval between the two sets, which law some future
philosopher may discover, and thus the very best observations may have
been thrown aside.
In all these, and in numerous other cases, it would most probably happen
that the cook would procure a temporary reputation for unrivalled accuracy
at the expense of his permanent fame. It might also have the effect of
rendering even all his crude observations of no value; for that part of
the scientific world whose opinion is of most weight, is generally so
unreasonable, as to neglect altogether the observations of those in whom
they have, on any occasion, discovered traces of the artist. In fact, the
character of an observer, as of a woman, if doubted is destroyed.
The manner in which facts apparently lost are restored to light, even
after considerable intervals of time, is sometimes very unexpected, and a
few examples may not be without their use. The thermometers employed by
the philosophers who composed the Academia Del Cimento, have been lost;
and as they did not use the two fixed points of freezing and boiling
water, the results of a great mass of observations have remained useless
from our ignorance of the value of a degree on their instrument. M. Libri,
of Florence, proposed to regain this knowledge by comparing their
registers of the temperature of the human body and of that of some warm
springs in Tuscany, which have preserved their heat uniform during a
century, as well as of other things similarly circumstanced.
Another illustration was pointed out to me by M. Gazzeri, the Professor of
Chemistry at Florence. A few years ago an important suit in one of the
legal courts of Tuscany depended on ascertaining whether a certain word
had been erased by some chemical process from a deed then before the
court. The party who insisted that an erasure had been made, availed
themselves of the knowledge of M. Gazzeri, who, concluding that those who
committed the fraud would be satisfied by the disappearance of the
colouring matter of the ink, suspected (either from some colourless matter
remaining in the letters, or perhaps from the agency of the solvent having
weakened the fabric of the paper itself beneath the supposed letters) that
the effect of the slow application of heat would be to render some
difference of texture or of applied substance evident, by some variety in
the shade of colour which heat in such circumstances might be expected to
produce. Permission having been given to try the experiment, on the
application of heat the important word reappeared, to the great
satisfaction of the court.
CHAPTER VI. SUGGESTIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE IN ENGLAND.
SECTION 1. OF THE NECESSITY THAT MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY SHOULD EXPRESS THEIR OPINIONS.
One of the causes which has contributed to the success of the PARTY, is to
be found in the great reluctance with which many of those whose names
added lustre to the Society expressed their opinions, and the little
firmness with which they maintained their objections. How many times have
those whose activity was additionally stimulated by their interest,
proposed measures which a few words might have checked; whilst the names
of those whose culpable silence thus permitted the project to be matured,
were immediately afterwards cited by their grateful coadjutors, as having
sanctioned that which in their hearts they knew to be a job.
Even in the few cases which have passed the limits of such forbearance,
when the subject has been debated in the Council, more than one, more than
two instances are known, where subsequent circumstances have occurred,
which proved, with the most irresistible moral evidence, that members have
spoken on one side of the question, and have voted on the contrary.
This reluctance to oppose that which is disapproved, has been too
extensively and too fatally prevalent for the interests of the Royal
Society. It may partly be attributed to that reserved and retiring
disposition, which frequently marks the man of real knowledge, as strongly
as an officious interference and flippant manner do the charlatan, or the
trader in science. Some portion of it is due to that improper deference
which was long paid to every dictum of the President, and much of it to
that natural indisposition to take trouble on any point in which a man’s
own interest is not immediately concerned. It is to be hoped, for the
credit of that learned body, that no anticipation of the next feast of St.
Andrew ever influenced the taciturnity of their disposition. [It may be
necessary to inform those who are not members of the Royal Society, that
this is the day on which those Fellows who choose, meet at Somerset House,
to register the names of the Council and Officers the President has been
pleased to appoint for the ensuing year; and who afterwards dine together,
for the purpose of praising each other over wine, which, until within
these few years, was PAID for out of the FUNDS of the Society. This abuse
was attacked by an enterprising reformer, and of course defended by the
coterie. It was, however, given up as too bad. The public may form some
idea of the feeling which prevails in the Council, when they are informed
that this practice was defended by one of the officers of the Society, on
the ground that, if abolished, THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY WOULD LOSE HIS
PERCENTAGE ON THE TAVERN BILLS.]
SECTION 2. OF BIENNIAL PRESIDENTS.
The days in which the Royal Society can have much influence in science
seem long past; nor does it appear a matter of great importance who
conduct its mismanaged affairs. Perpetual Presidents have been tried until
the Society has become disgusted with dictators. If any reform should be
attempted, it might perhaps be deserving consideration whether the
practice of several of the younger institutions might not be worthy
imitation, and the office of President be continued only during two
sessions. There may be some inconveniences attending this arrangement; but
the advantages are conspicuous, both in the Astronomical and Geological
Societies. Each President is ambitious of rendering the period of his
reign remarkable for some improvement in the Society over which he
presides; and the sacrifice of time which is made by the officers of those
Societies, would become impossible if it were required to be continued for
a much longer period. Another circumstance of considerable importance is,
that the personal character of the President is less impressed on the
Society; and, supposing any injudicious alterations to be made, it is much
less difficult to correct them.
SECTION 3. OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE COLLEGES OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS
IN THE ROYAL SOCIETY.
The honour of belonging to the Royal Society is much sought after by
medical men, as contributing to the success of their professional efforts,
and two consequences result from it. In the first place, the pages of the
Transactions of the Royal Society occasionally contain medical papers of
very moderate merit; and, in the second, the preponderance of the medical
interest introduces into the Society some of the jealousies of that
profession. On the other hand, medicine is intimately connected with many
sciences, and its professors are usually too much occupied in their
practice to exert themselves, except upon great occasions.
SECTION 4. OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION ON THE ROYAL SOCIETY.
The Royal Institution was founded for the cultivation of the more popular
and elementary branches of scientific knowledge, and has risen, partly
from the splendid discoveries of Davy, and partly from the decline of the
Royal Society, to a more prominent station than it would otherwise have
occupied in the science of England. Its general effects in diffusing
knowledge among the more educated classes of the metropolis, have been,
and continue to be, valuable. Its influence, however, in the government of
the Royal Society, is by no means attended with similar advantages, and
has justly been viewed with considerable jealousy by many of the Fellows
of that body. It may be stated, without disparagement to the Royal
Institution, that the scientific qualifications necessary for its
officers, however respectable, are not quite of that high order which
ought to be required for those of the Royal Society, if the latter body
were in a state of vigour.
The Royal Institution interest has always been sufficient to appoint one
of the Secretaries of the Royal Society; and at the present moment they
have appointed two. In a short time, unless some effectual check is put to
this, we shall find them nominating the President and the rest of the
officers. It is certainly not consistent with the dignity of the Royal
Society thus to allow its offices to be given away as the rewards of
services rendered to other institutions. The only effectual way to put a
stop to this increasing interest would be, to declare that no manager or
officer of the Royal Institution should ever, at the same time, hold
office in the Royal Society.
The use the Members of the Royal Institution endeavour to make of their
power in the Council of the Royal Society, is exemplified in the minutes
of the Council of March 11, 1830, which may be consulted with advantage by
those who doubt.
SECTION 5. OF THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.
The Transactions of the Royal Society, unlike those of most foreign
academies, contain nothing relating to the history of the Society. The
volumes contain merely those papers communicated to the Society in the
preceding year which the Council have selected for printing, a
meteorological register, and a notice of the award of the annual medals,
without any list of the Council and officers of the Society, by whom that
selection and that award have been made.
Before I proceed to criticise this state of things, I will mention one
point on which I am glad to be able to bestow on the Royal Society the
highest praise. I refer to the extreme regularity with which the volumes
of the Transactions are published. The appearance of the half-volumes at
intervals of six months, insures for any communication almost immediate
publicity; whilst the shortness of the time between its reception and
publication, is a guarantee to the public that the whole of the paper was
really communicated at the time it bears date. To this may also be added,
the rarity of any alterations made previously to the printing, a
circumstance which ought to be imitated, as well as admired, by other
societies. There may, indeed, be some, perhaps the Geological, in which
the task is more difficult, from the nature of the subject. The sooner,
however, all societies can reduce themselves to this rule, of rarely
allowing any thing but a few verbal corrections to papers that are placed
in their hands, the better it will be for their own reputation, and for
the interests of science.
It has been, and continues to be, a subject of deep regret, that the first
scientific academy in Europe, the Institute of France, should be thus
negligent in the regularity of its publications; and it is the more to be
regretted, that it should be years in arrear, from the circumstance, that
the memoirs admitted into their collection are usually of the highest
merit. I know some of their most active members have wished it were
otherwise; I would urge them to put a stop to a practice, which, whilst it
has no advantages to recommend it, is unjust to those who contribute, and
is only calculated to produce conflicting claims, equally injurious to
science, and to the reputation of that body, whose negligence may have
given rise to them. [Mr. Herschel, speaking of a paper of Fresnel’s,
observes—”This memoir was read to the Institute, 7th of October,
1816; a supplement was received, 19th of January, 1818; M. Arago’s report
on it was read, 4th of June, 1821: and while every optical philosopher in
Europe has been impatiently expecting its appearance for seven years, it
lies as yet unpublished, and is only known to us by meagre notices in a
periodical journal.” MR HERSCHEL’S TREATISE ON LIGHT, p. 533.—ENCYCLOPAEDIA
METROPOLITANA.]
One of the inconveniences arising from having no historical portion in the
volumes of the Royal Society is, that not only the public, but our own
members are almost entirely ignorant of all its affairs. With a means of
giving considerable publicity (by the circulation of above 800 copies of
the Transactions) to whatever we wish to have made known to our members or
to the world, will it be credited, that no notice was taken in our volume
for 1826, of the foundation of two Royal medals, nor of the conditions
under which they were to be distributed. [That the Council refrained from
having their first award of those medals thus communicated, is rather
creditable to them, and proves that they had a becoming feeling respecting
their former errors.] That in 1828, when a new fund, called the donation
fund, was established, and through the liberality of Dr. Wollaston and Mr.
Davies Gilbert, it was endowed by them with the respective sums of 2,000L.
and 1,000L. 3 per cents; no notice of such fact appears in our
Transactions for 1829. Other gentlemen have contributed; and if it is
desirable to possess such a fund, it is surely of importance to inform the
non-attending, which is by far the largest part of the Society, that it
exists; and that we are grateful to those by whom it has been founded and
augmented. Neither did the Philosophical Transactions inform our absent
members, that they could purchase the President’s Discourses at the
trade-price.
The list of the Officers, Council, and Members of the Royal Society is
printed annually; yet, who ever saw it bound up with the Philosophical
Transactions, to which it is intended to be attached? I never met with a
single copy of that work so completed, not even the one in our own
library. It is extremely desirable that the Society should know the names
of their Council; and whilst it would in some measure contribute to
prevent the President from placing incompetent persons upon it, it would
also afford some check, although perhaps but a slight one, on the
distribution of the medals. When I have urged the expediency of the
practice, I have been answered by excuses, that the list could not be made
up in time for the volume. If this is true of the first part, they might
appear with the second; and even if this were impracticable, the plan of
prefixing them to the volume of the succeeding year, would be preferable
to that of omitting them altogether. The true reason, however, appeared at
last. It was objected to the plan, that by the present arrangement, the
porter of the Royal Society took round the list to those members resident
in London, and got from some of them a remuneration, in the shape of a
Christmas-box; and this would be lost, if the time of printing were
changed. [During the printing of this chapter, a friend, on whom I had
called, complained that the porter of the Royal Society had demanded
half-a-crown for leaving the list.] Such are the paltry interests to which
those of the Royal Society are made to bow.
Another point on which information ought to be given in each volume, is
the conditions on which the distribution of the Society’s medals are made.
It is 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 ought to have none
whatever. There is no doubt his view was the just one. Yet such is the
state of ignorance which exists on these subjects, that I have several
times heard him mentioned as one of the greatest mathematicians of the
age. [This of course could only have happened in England.] But in this as
in all other points, the precision with which he comprehended and retained
all he had ever learned, especially of the elementary applications of
mathematics to physics, was such, that he possessed greater command over
those subjects than many of far more extensive knowledge.
In associating with Wollaston, you perceived that the predominant
principle was to avoid error; in the society of Davy, you saw that it was
the desire to see and make known truth. Wollaston never could have been a
poet; Davy might have been a great one.
A question which I put, successively, to each of these distinguished
philosophers, will show how very differently a subject may be viewed by
minds even of the highest order.
About the time Mr. Perkins was making his experiments on the compression
of water, I was much struck with the mechanical means he had brought to
bear on the subject, and was speculating on other applications of it,
which I will presently mention.
Meeting Dr. Wollaston one morning in the shop of a bookseller, I proposed
this question: If two volumes of hydrogen and one of oxygen are mixed
together in a vessel, and if by mechanical pressure they can be so
condensed as to become of the same specific gravity as water, will the
gases under these circumstances unite and form water? “What do you think
they will do?” said Dr. W. I replied, that I should rather expect they
would unite. “I see no reason to suppose it,” said he. I then inquired
whether he thought the experiment worth making. He answered, that he did
not, for that he should think it would certainly not succeed.
A few days after, I proposed the same question to Sir Humphry Davy. He at
once said, “they will become water, of course;” and on my inquiring
whether he thought the experiment worth making, he observed that it was a
good experiment, but one which it was hardly necessary to make, as it must
succeed.
These were off-hand answers, which it might perhaps be hardly fair to have
recorded, had they been of persons of less eminent talent: and it adds to
the curiosity of the circumstance to mention, that I believe Dr.
Wollaston’s reason for supposing no union would take place, arose from the
nature of the electrical relations of the two gases remaining unchanged,
an objection which did not weigh with the philosopher whose discoveries
had given birth to it.
[The result of the experiment appeared, and still appears to me, to be of
the highest importance; and I will shortly state the views with which it
was connected. The next great discovery in chemistry to definite
proportions, will be to find means of forming all the simple unions of one
atom with one, with two, or with more of say other substance: and it
occurred to me that the gaseous bodies presented the fairest chance of
success; and that if wishing, for instance, to unite four atoms of one
substance with one of another, we could, by mechanical means, reduce the
mixed gases to the same specific gravity as the substance would possess
which resulted from their union, then either that such union would
actually take place, or the particles of the two substances would be most
favourably situated for the action of caloric, electricity, or other
causes, to produce the combination. It would indeed seem to follow, that
if combination should take place under such circumstances, then the most
probable proportion in which the atoms would unite, should be that which
furnished a fluid of the least specific gravity: but until the experiments
are made, it is by no means certain that other combinations might not be
produced.]
The singular minuteness of the particles of bodies submitted by Dr.
Wollaston to chemical analysis, has excited the admiration of all those
who have had the good fortune to witness his experiments; and the methods
he employed deserve to be much more widely known.
It appears to me that a great mistake exists on the subject. It has been
adduced as one of those facts which prove the extraordinary acuteness of
the bodily senses of the individual,—a circumstance which, if it
were true, would add but little to his philosophical character; I am,
however, inclined to view it in a far different light, and to see in it
one of the natural results of the admirable precision of his knowledge.
During the many opportunities I have enjoyed of seeing his minute
experiments, I remember but one instance in which I noticed any remarkable
difference in the acuteness of his bodily faculties, either of his
hearing, his sight, or of his sense of smell, from those of other persons
who possessed them in a good degree. [This was at Mr. South’s observatory,
and the object was, the dots on the declination circle of his equatorial;
but, in this instance, Dr. Wollaston did not attempt to TEACH ME HOW TO
SEE THEM.]
He never showed me an almost microscopic wire, which was visible to his,
and invisible to my own eye: even in the beautiful experiments he made
relative to sounds inaudible to certain ears, he never produced a tone
which was unheard by mine, although sensible to his ear; and I believe
this will be found to have been the case by most of those whose minds had
been much accustomed to experimental inquiries, and who possessed their
faculties unimpaired by illness or by age.
It was a much more valuable property on which the success of such
inquiries depended. It arose from the perfect attention which he could
command, and the minute precision with which he examined every object. A
striking illustration of the fact that an object is frequently not seen,
FROM NOT KNOWING HOW TO SEE IT, rather than from any defect in the organ
of vision, occurred to me some years since, when on a visit at Slough.
Conversing with Mr. Herschel on the dark lines seen in the solar spectrum
by Fraunhofer, he inquired whether I had seen them; and on my replying in
the negative, and expressing a great desire to see them, he mentioned the
extreme difficulty he had had, even with Fraunhofer’s description in his
hand and the long time which it had cost him in detecting them. My friend
then added, “I will prepare the apparatus, and put you in such a position
that they shall be visible, and yet you shall look for them and not find
them: after which, while you remain in the same position, I will instruct
you how to see them, and you shall see them, and not merely wonder you did
not see them before, but you shall find it impossible to look at the
spectrum without seeing them.”
On looking as I was directed, notwithstanding the previous warning, I did
not see them; and after some time I inquired how they might be seen, when
the prediction of Mr. Herschel was completely fulfilled.
It was this attention to minute phenomena which Dr. Wollaston applied with
such powerful effect to chemistry. In the ordinary cases of precipitation
the cloudiness is visible in a single drop as well as in a gallon of a
solution; and in those cases where the cloudiness is so slight, as to
require a mass of fluid to render it visible, previous evaporation,
quickly performed on slips of window glass, rendered the solution more
concentrated.
The true value of this minute chemistry arises from its cheapness and the
extreme rapidity with which it can be accomplished: it may, in hands like
those of Wollaston, be used for discovery, but not for measure. I have
thought it more necessary to place this subject on what I consider its
true grounds, for two reasons. In the first place, I feel that injustice
has been done to a distinguished philosopher in attributing to some of his
bodily senses that excellence which I think is proved to have depended on
the admirable training of his intellectual faculties. And, in the next
place, if I have established the fact, whilst it affords us better means
of judging of such observations as lay claim to an accuracy “MORE THAN
HUMAN,” it also opens, to the patient inquirer into truth, a path by which
he may acquire powers that he would otherwise have thought were only the
gift of nature to a favoured few.
APPENDIX, No. 1.
In presenting to my readers the account of the meeting of men of science
at Berlin, in the autumn of 1828, I am happy to be able to state, that its
influence has been most beneficial, and that the annual meeting to be held
in 1831, will take place at Vienna, the Emperor of Austria having
expressed a wish that every facility which his capital affords should be
given to promote its objects.
It is gratifying to find that a country, which has hitherto been
considered adverse to the progress of knowledge, should become convinced
of its value; and it is sincerely to be hoped, that every one of the
numerous members of the Society will show, by his conduct, that the paths
of science are less likely than any others to interfere with those of
politics.
ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT CONGRESS OF PHILOSOPHERS AT BERLIN, ON THE 18TH OF
SEPTEMBER 1828. FROM THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, APRIL, 1829.
The existence of a large society of cultivators of the natural sciences
meeting annually at some great capital, or some central town of Europe, is
a circumstance almost unknown to us, and deserving of our attention, from
the important advantages which may arise from it.
About eight years ago, Dr. Okens, of Munich, suggested a plan for an
annual meeting of all Germans who cultivated the sciences of medicine and
botany. The first meeting, of about forty members, took place at Leipsic,
in 1822, and it was successively held at Halle, Wurtzburg, Frankfort on
the Maine, Dresden, Munich, and Berlin. All those who had printed a
certain number of sheets of their inquiries on these subjects were
considered members of this academy.
The great advantages which resulted to these sciences from the
communication of observations from all quarters of Germany, soon induced
an extension of the plan, and other departments of natural knowledge were
admitted, until, at the last meeting, the cultivators even of pure
mathematics were found amongst the ranks of this academy.
Several circumstances, independent of the form and constitution of the
academy, contributed to give unwonted splendour to the last meeting, which
took place at Berlin in the middle of September of the last year.
The capital selected for its temporary residence is scarcely surpassed by
any in Europe in the number and celebrity of its savans.
The taste for knowledge possessed by the reigning family, has made
knowledge itself fashionable; and the severe sufferings of the Prussians
previous to the war, by which themselves and Europe were freed, have
impressed on them so strongly the lesson that “knowledge is power,” that
its effects are visible in every department of the government; and there
is no country in Europe in which talents and genius so surely open for
their possessors the road to wealth and distinction.
Another circumstance also contributed its portion to increase the numbers
of the meeting of the past year. The office of president, which is
annually changed, was assigned to M. Alexander de Humboldt. The
universality of his acquirements, which have left no branch within the
wide range of science indifferent or unexplored, has connected him by
friendship with almost all the most celebrated philosophers of the age;
whilst the polished amenity of his manners, and that intense desire of
acquiring and of spreading knowledge, which so peculiarly characterizes
his mind, renders him accessible to all strangers, and insures for them
the assistance of his counsel in their scientific pursuits, and the
advantage of being made known to all those who are interested or occupied
in similar inquiries.
Professor Lichtenstein, (Director of the Museum of Zoology,) as secretary
of the academy, was indefatigable in his attentions, and most ably
seconded the wishes of its distinguished president.
These two gentlemen, assisted by several of the residents at Berlin,
undertook the numerous preliminary arrangements necessary for the
accommodation of the meeting.
On the 18th of September, 1828, there were assembled at Berlin 377 members
of the academy, whose names and residences (in Berlin) were printed in a
small pamphlet, and to each name was attached a number, to indicate his
seat in the great concert room, in which the morning meetings took place.
Each member was also provided with an engraved card of the hall of
meeting, on which the numbers of the seats were printed in black ink, and
his own peculiar seat marked in red ink, so that every person immediately
found his own place, and knew where to look for any friend whom he might
wish to find.
At the hour appointed for the opening of the meeting, the members being
assembled, and the galleries and orchestra being filled by an assemblage
of a large part of the rank and beauty of the capital, and the side-boxes
being occupied by several branches of the royal family, and by the foreign
ambassadors, the session of the academy was opened by the eloquent address
of the president.
SPEECH made at the Opening of the Society of German Naturalists and
Natural Philosophers at Berlin, the 18th of September, 1828.—By
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT.
Since through your choice, which does me so much honour, I am permitted to
open this meeting, the first duty which I have to discharge is one of
gratitude. The distinction which has been conferred on him who has never
yet been able to attend your excellent society, is not the reward of
scientific efforts, or of feeble and persevering attempts to discover new
phenomena, or to draw the light of knowledge from the unexplored depths of
nature. A finer feeling, however, directed your attention to me. You have
assured me, that while, during an absence of many years, and in a distant
quarter of the globe, I was labouring in the same cause with yourselves, I
was not a stranger in your thoughts. You have likewise greeted my return
home, that, by the sacred tie of gratitude, you might bind me still longer
and closer to our common country.
What, however, can the picture of this, our native land, present more
agreeable to the mind, than the assembly which we receive to-day for the
first time within our walls; from the banks of the Neckar, the birth-place
of Kepler and of Schiller, to the remotest border of the Baltic plains;
from hence to the mouths of the Rhine, where, under the beneficent
influence of commerce, the treasuries of exotic nature have for centuries
been collected and investigated, the friends of nature, inspired with the
same zeal, and, urged by the same passion, flock together to this
assembly. Everywhere, where the German language is used, and its peculiar
structure affects the spirit and disposition of the people. From the Great
European Alps, to the other side of the Weichsel, where, in the country of
Copernicus, astronomy rose to renewed splendour; everywhere in the
extensive dominions of the German nation we attempt to discover the secret
operations of nature, whether in the heavens, or in the deepest problems
of mechanics, or in the interior of the earth, or in the finely woven
tissues of organic structure.
Protected by noble princes, this assembly has annually increased in
interest and extent. Every distinction which difference of religion or
form of government can occasion is here annulled. Germany manifests itself
as it were in its intellectual unity; and since knowledge of truth and
performance of duty are the highest object of morality, that feeling of
unity weakens none of the bonds which the religion, constitution, and laws
of our country, have rendered dear to each of us. Even this emulation in
mental struggles has called forth (as the glorious history of our country
tells us,) the fairest blossoms of humanity, science, and art.
The assembly of German naturalists and natural philosophers since its last
meeting, when it was so hospitably received at Munich, has, through the
flattering interest of neighbouring states and academies, shone with
peculiar lustre. Allied nations have renewed the ancient alliance between
Germany and the ancient Scandinavian North.
Such an interest deserves acknowledgment the more, because it unexpectedly
increases the mass of facts and opinions which are here brought into one
common and useful union. It also recalls lofty recollections into the mind
of the naturalist. Scarcely half a century has elapsed since Linne
appears, in the boldness of the undertakings which he has attempted and
accomplished, as one of the greatest men of the last century. His glory,
however bright, has not rendered Europe blind to the merits of Scheele and
Bergman. The catalogue of these great names is not completed; but lest I
shall offend noble modesty, I dare not speak of the light which is still
flowing in richest profusion from the North, nor mention the discoveries
in the chemical nature of substances, in the numerical relation of their
elements, or the eddying streams of electro-magnetic powers. [The
philosophers here referred to are Berzelius and Oersted.] May those
excellent persons, who, deterred neither by perils of sea or land, have
hastened to our meeting from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, England,
and Poland, point our the way to other strangers in succeeding years, so
that by turns every part of Germany may enjoy the effects of scientific
communication with the different nations of Europe.
But although I must restrain the expression of my personal feelings in
presence of this assembly, I must be permitted at least to name the
patriarchs of our national glory, who are detained from us by a regard for
those lives so dear to their country;—Goethe, whom the great
creations of poetical fancy have not prevented from penetrating the ARCANA
of nature, and who now in rural solitude mourns for his princely friend,
as Germany for one of her greatest ornaments;—Olbers, who has
discovered two bodies where he had already predicted they were to be
found;—the greatest anatomists of our age—Soemmering, who,
with equal zeal, has investigated the wonders of organic structure, and
the spots and FACULAE of the sun, (condensations and openings of the
photosphere;) Blumenbach, whose pupil I have the honour to be, who, by his
works and his immortal eloquence, has inspired everywhere a love of
comparative anatomy, physiology, and the general history of nature, and
who has laboured diligently for half a century. How could I resist the
temptation to adorn my discourse with names which posterity will repeat,
as we are not favoured with their presence?
These observations on the literary wealth of our native country, and the
progressive developement of our institution, lead us naturally to the
obstructions which will arise from the increasing number of our
fellow-labourers, The chief object of this assembly does not consist, as
in other societies whose sphere is more limited, in the mutual interchange
of treatises, or in innumerable memoirs, destined to be printed in some
general collection. The principal object of this Society is, to bring
those personally together who are engaged in the same field of science. It
is the immediate, and therefore more obvious interchange of ideas, whether
they present themselves as facts, opinions, or doubts. It is the
foundation of friendly connexion which throws light on science, adds
cheerfulness to life, and gives patience and amenity to the manners.
In the most flourishing period of ancient Greece, the distinction between
words and writing first manifested itself most strongly amongst a race,
which had raised itself to the most splendid intellectual superiority, and
to whose latest descendants, as preserved from the shipwreck of nations,
we still consecrate our most anxious wishes. It was not the difficulty of
interchange of ideas alone, nor the want of German science, which has
spread thought as on wings through the world, and insured it a long
continuance, that then induced the friends of philosophy and natural
history in Magna Graecia and Asia Minor to wander on long journeys. That
ancient race knew the inspiring influence of conversation as it
extemporaneously, freely, and prudently penetrates the tissue of
scientific opinions and doubts. The discovery of the truth without
difference of opinion is unattainable, because the truth, in its greatest
extent, can never be recognized by all, and at the same time. Each step,
which seems to bring the explorer of nature nearer to his object, only
carries him to the threshold of new labyrinths. The mass of doubt does not
diminish, but spreads like a moving cloud over other and new fields; and
whoever has called that a golden period, when difference of opinions, or,
as some are accustomed to express it, the disputes of the learned, will be
finished, has as imperfect a conception of the wants of science, and of
its continued advancement, as a person who expects that the same opinions
in geognosy, chemistry, or physiology, will be maintained for several
centuries.
The founders of this society, with a deep sense of the unity of nature,
have combined in the completest manner, all the branches of physical
knowledge, and the historical, geometrical, and experimental philosophy.
The names of natural historian and natural philosopher are here,
therefore, nearly synonymous, chained by a terrestrial link to the type of
the lower animals. Man completes the scale of higher organization. In his
physiological and pathological qualities, he scarcely presents to us a
distinct class of beings. As to what has brought him to this exalted
object of physical study, and has raised him to general scientific
investigation, belongs principally to this society. Important as it is not
to break that link which embraces equally the investigation of organic and
inorganic nature, still the increasing ties and daily developement of this
institution renders it necessary, besides the general meeting which is
destined for these halls, to have specific meetings for single branches of
science. For it is only in such contracted circles,—it is only among
men whom reciprocity of studies has brought together, that verbal
discussions can take place. Without this sort of communication, would the
voluntary association of men in search of truth be deprived of an
inspiring principle.
Among the preparations which are made in this city for the advancement of
the society, attention has been principally paid to the possibility of
such a subdivision into sections. The hope that these preparations will
meet with your approbation, imposes upon me the duty of reminding you,
that, although you had entrusted to two travellers, equally, the duty of
making these arrangements, yet it is to one alone, my noble friend, M.
Lichtenstein, that the merit of careful precaution and indefatigable
activity is due. Out of respect to the scientific spirit which animates
the Society of German Naturalists and Natural Philosophy, and in
acknowledgment of the utility of their efforts, government have seconded
all our wishes with the greatest cheerfulness.
In the vicinity of the place of meeting, which has in this manner been
prepared for our general and special labours, are situated the museums
dedicated to anatomy, zoology, oryctognosy, and geology. They exhibit to
the naturalist a rich mine for observation and critical discussion. The
greater number of these well-arranged collections have existed, like the
University of Berlin, scarcely twenty years. The oldest of them, to which
the Botanical Garden, (one of the richest in Europe) belongs, have during
this period not only been increased, but entirely remodelled. The
amusement and instruction derived from such institutions, call to our
minds, with deep feelings of gratitude, that they are the work of that
great monarch, who modestly and in simple grandeur, adorns every year this
royal city with new treasures of nature and art; and what is of still
greater value than the treasures themselves,—what inspires every
Prussian with youthful strength, and with an enthusiastic love for the
ancient reigning family,—that he graciously attaches to himself
every species of talent, and extends with confidence his royal protection
to the free cultivation of the understanding.
This was followed by a paper on magnetism, by Professor Oersted; and
several other memoirs were then read.
The arrival of so many persons of similar pursuit, (for 464 members were
present,) rendered it convenient to have some ordinary, at which those who
chose might dine, and introduce their friends or families. This had been
foreseen, and his Majesty had condescended to allow the immense building
used for the exercise of his troops, to be employed for this purpose.
One-third of it was floored on the occasion, and tables were arranged, at
which, on one occasion, 850 persons sat down to dinner. On the evening of
the first day, M. de Humboldt gave a large SOIREE in the concert rooms
attached to the theatre. About 1200 persons assembled on this occasion,
and his Majesty the King of Prussia honoured with his presence the fete of
his illustrious chamberlain. The nobility of the country, foreign princes,
and foreign ambassadors, were present. It was gratifying to observe the
princes of the blood mingling with the cultivators of science, and to see
the heir-apparent to the throne, during the course of the evening, engaged
in conversation with those most celebrated for their talents, of his own,
or of other countries.
Nor were the minor arrangements of the evening beneath the consideration
of the President. The words of the music selected for the concert, were
printed and distributed to the visitors. The names of the most illustrious
philosophers which Germany had produced, were inscribed in letters of gold
at the end of the great concert room.
In the first rank amongst these stood a name which, England, too, enrolls
amongst the brightest in her scientific annals; and proud, as well she may
be, of having fostered and brought to maturity the genius of the first
Herschel, she has reaped an ample reward in being able to claim as
entirely her own, the inheritor of his talents and his name.
The six succeeding days were occupied, in the morning, by a meeting of the
academy, at which papers of general interest were read. In the afternoon,
through the arrangement of M. de Humboldt and M. Lichtenstein, various
rooms were appropriated for different sections of the academy. In one, the
chemical philosophers attended to some chemical memoir, whilst the
botanists assembled in another room, the physiologists in a third, and the
natural philosophers in a fourth. Each attended to the reading of papers
connected with their several sciences. Thus every member was at liberty to
choose that section in which he felt most interest at the moment, and he
had at all times power of access to the others. The evenings were
generally spent at some of the SOIREES of the savans, resident at Berlin,
whose hospitality and attentions to their learned brethren of other
countries were unbounded. During the unoccupied hours of the morning, the
collections of natural history, which are rapidly rising into importance,
were open to examination; and the various professors and directors who
assisted the stranger in his inquiries, left him equally gratified by the
knowledge and urbanity of those who so kindly aided him.
A map of Europe was printed, on which those towns only appeared which had
sent representatives to this scientific congress; and the numbers sent by
different kingdoms appeared by the following table, which was attached to
it;—
The proportion in which the cultivators of different sciences appeared,
was not easy to ascertain, because there were few amongst the more eminent
who had not added to more than one branch of human knowledge. The
following table, though not professing to be very accurate, will afford,
perhaps, a tolerably fair view:—
A medal was struck in commemoration of this meeting, and it was proposed
that it should form the first of a series, which should comprise all those
persons most celebrated for their scientific discoveries in the past and
present age.
APPENDIX, No. 2.
An examination into some charges brought against one of the twenty-four
candidates, mentioned in a note as having their names suspended in the
meeting-room of the Royal Society, at one time, has caused a printed
pamphlet to be circulated amongst the members of the Society. Of the
charges themselves I shall offer no opinion, but entreat every member to
judge for himself. I shall, however, make one extract, which tends to show
how the ranks of the Society are recruited.
EXTRACT FROM A PRINTED LETTER FROM A. F. M. TO J. G. CHILDREN, ESQ. DATED,
22, UPPER BEDFORD-PLACE, MARCH 13, 1830.
“When I wished you to Propose me at the Geological Society, you asked me
why you should not propose me also at the Royal Society; and my answer
was, that it was an honour to which I did not think I could aspire; that
my talents were too insignificant to warrant such pretensions. Many days
passed, and still you pressed me on the subject, because your partiality
made you think me deserving of the honour; but I resisted, really through
modesty, not that I did not covet the distinction, until something was
said of my paper on the meteoric mass of iron of Brazil, which was
published some years ago in the Transactions of the Royal Society; when
you insisted on proposing me, and I assented gratefully, because I was and
am desirous of being a Fellow of the Royal Society, if I can be supposed
worthy of having my name so honourably enrolled.”
EXTRACT FROM A LETTER OF J. G. CHILDREN, ESQ. TO A. F. M. ESQ. DATED,
BRITISH MUSEUM, MARCH 24, 1830.
“All that you have said respecting your being a candidate for admission
into the Royal Society, is correct to the letter. I pressed the subject
upon you, and I would do it again to-morrow, were it necessary.”
Here, then, we find Mr. Children, who has been on the Council of the Royal
Society, and who was, a few years since, one of its Secretaries, pressing
one of his friends to become, and actually insisting on proposing him as,
a Fellow of the Royal Society, He must have been well aware of the
feelings which prevail amongst the Council as to the propriety of such a
step, and by publishing the fact, seems quite satisfied that such a course
is advantageous to the interests of the Society. That similar applications
were not unfrequently made in private, is well known; but it remains for
the Society to consider whether, now they are publicly and officially
announced to them, it will sanction this mode of augmenting the already
numerous list of its fellows.
APPENDIX, No. 3,
LIST OF THE MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY, WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS, OR HAVE BEEN ON THE COUNCIL.
N. B.—The Numbers are made up to the present year for the Papers,
but only to 1827 for Members of the Council.
I had intended to have printed a list of those persons to whom the Royal
Society had in past years awarded the Copley medals, and the reasons for
which they were given; but having applied to the Council for permission to
employ an amanuensis, to copy those awards, either from the minutes, or
from the volumes of the Philosophical Transactions, I was surprised at
receiving a refusal. I confess it appeared to me, that as a whole, those
adjudications did us credit, although I doubted the propriety of many
individual cases. As, however, the Council seem to have had a different
opinion, and as I had made the application through courtesy, I shall
decline printing a list, every individual portion of which has been
already published in many ways, although the whole has never been printed
in a collected form.