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

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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

blackballed. [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 blackballed, 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