Decline of Science in England by Charles Babbage (ebook reader with android os .TXT) 📕

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.

CHAP. I. On the Reciprocal Influence of Science and Education.

CHAP. II. Of the Inducements to Individuals to cultivate Science.

—Sect. 1. Professional Impulses.

–– 2. Of National Encouragement.

–– 3. Of Encouragement from learned Societies.

CHAP. III. General State of learned Societies in England.

CHAP. IV. State of the Royal Society in particular.

—Sect. 1. Mode of becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society.

–– 2. Of the Presidency and Vice-Presidencies.

–– 3. Of the Secretariships

–– 4. Of the Scientific Advisers.

–– 5. Of the Union of several Offices in one person.

–– 6. Of the Funds of the Society.

–– 7. Of the Royal Medals.

–– 8. Of the Copley Medals.

–– 9. Of the Fairchild Lecture.

–– 10. Of the Croonian Lecture.

–– 11. Of the Causes of the Present State of the Royal Society.

–– 12. Of the Plan for Reforming the Society.

CHAP. V. Of Observations.

—Sect. 1. Of Minute Precision.

–– 2. On the Art of Observing.

–– 3. On the Frauds of Observers.

CHAP. VI. Suggestions for the Advancement of Science in England.

—Sect. 1. Of the Necessity that Members of the Royal Society

––– should express their Opinions.

–– 2. Of Biennial Presidents.

–– 3. Of the Influence of the Colleges of Physicians and

––– Surgeons in the Royal Society.

–– 4. Of the Influence of the Royal Institution on the Royal

––– Society.

–– 5. Of the Transactions of the Royal Society.

–– 6. Order of Merit.

–– 7. Of the Union of Scientific Societies.

CONCLUSION.

APPENDIX NO. 1.

––- NO. 2.

––- NO. 3.

*

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:—

Modern History.

Laws of England.

Civil Law.

Political Economy.

Applications of Science to Arts and Manufactures.

Chemistry.

Mineralogy.

Geology.

Zoology, including Physiology and Comparative Anatomy.

Botany, including Vegetable Physiology and Anatomy.

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