perty of their inventions from the avowed robbery of pirates and the concealed fraud of our patent laws. We are not politicians, and do not wish to mingle in their strife or involve ourselves in their mazes, but we think that the time is now come when such objects as these imperatively demand attention, and when they are likely to meet with the support of those who are in power. Now that British interests have been withdrawn from the safeguard of restrictive enactments, it is surely time to place them in the sunshine of national favour, and to foster them with that care which they experience in foreign states. We ask no boon which is not already enjoyed by other classes in society-no privilege which trenches upon established rights-no advantages which will not be returned tenfold into the public treasury. On the subject of our patent laws-those wretched monuments of vicious legislation-public attention has been at last roused, and we trust that the respectable individuals in this vast metropolis who have given this impulse will not relax their efforts till science is freed from the disabilities and fetters under which she at present groans. Popular sentiment now favours the cause which we advocate, and the knowledge and patriotism of public men entitle us to reckon upon their cordial support. Those eminent individuals who are placed at the head of the Government will surely lend their high powers to uphold the intellectual glory of their country, and the distinguished member of it in the House of Commons, who with the qualities of an orator and a statesman combines the highest attributes of a mathematician and a philosopher, cannot be indifferent to a cause in which he has so zealously and successfully laboured."-Pp. 433, 434.

These opinions respecting the neglect and decline of science in England were cherished by the cultivators of different sciences, who had no communication with each other, and no common object in view. The author of the article Chemistry in the Encyclopædia Metropolitanaf while ignorant of the preceding extracts, expresses his regret that during the last five or six years chemistry has suffered some degree of neglect in consequence of the attention of Chemists having been turned to the electromagnetic discoveries of Professor Oersted and his followers. "At least," he adds, "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."

A greater master in Chemical science, Sir Humphry Davy, the President of the Royal Society of London, entertained still stronger views on the decline of English science. He is said to have written a work with this specific title, full of feeling and eloquence, which his executors have not deemed it proper to publish. What his views were may be fairly inferred

*Henry now Lord Brougham.

† Page 396.

Sir H. Davy and Sir J. Herschel on the Decline of Science. 239

from a few observations on the subject, which are given in his "Consolations in Travel."

"PHILALETHES.-I am surprised that with your powers you did not enter into a professional career of law or politics; you would have gained the highest honours and distinctions.

THE UNKNOWN.-To me there never has been a higher source of honour or distinction than that connected with advances in science. I have not possessed enough of the eagle in my character to make a direct flight to the loftiest altitudes in the social world, and I certainly never endeavoured to reach these heights by using the creeping powers of the reptile, who in ascending generally chooses the dirtiest path because it is the easiest.

“EUBASTES.—I have often wondered, says he, that men of fortune and of rank do not apply themselves more to philosophical pursuits. They offer a delightful and enviable road to distinction, are founded on the blessings and benefits conferred on our fellow-creatures; they do not supply the same sources of temporary popularity as successes in the senate or at the bar; but the glory resulting from them is permanent, and independent of vulgar taste or caprice. In looking back to the history of the last five reigns in England, we find Boyles, Cavendishes, and Howards, who rendered their great names more illustrious by their scientific renown, but we may in vain search the aristocracy now for philosophers, and 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, and there are fifty persons who take out patents for supposed inventions, for one who makes a real discovery."--Dialogue v., pp. 225, 226.

Before the publication of these views, Sir John Herschel had been led, by independent observation, to perceive the inferiority of English to foreign science; and, after he had completed the laborious researches which were requisite for the composition of the articles on LIGHT and SOUND, which he contributed to the Encyclopædia Metropolitana, he did not scruple to specify, in strong and articulate language, the particular branches of science in which we had fallen behind our continental neighbours.

"From the painful subject of knowledge of the most interesting and practically useful kind, to be purchased only by the extremity of animal suffering, we turn with gladness to a pleasing duty. We have drawn largely, both in the present essay and in our article on Light from the Annales de Chimie, 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 anything 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 acknowledgments 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 often been astonished to see with what celerity everything, 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 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 anything 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."-Treatise on Sound, Encyclop. Metropol., p. 811, Note.

The obvious and deep-seated causes to which Sir John refers in this note, have never been stated by himself; but they have been eloquently exposed and probed to the bottom by succeeding writers, but particularly by Mr. Babbage, in his "Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on some of its Causes." After citing, as we have done, the opinions of Sir

Mr. Babbage and Sir D. Brewster on the Decline of Science. 241

Humphry Davy and Sir John Herschel, he asserts, "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," and that "mathematics, and with it the highest departments of physical science, have gradually declined since the days of Newton.' He is of opinion that the causes which have produced, and some of the effects that have resulted from the present state of science in England, are so mixed, that it is difficult to distinguish accurately between them, and he therefore "does not attempt any minute discrimination, but rather presents the result of his reflections on the concomitant circumstances which have attended the decay, and examined some of the suggestions which have been offered for the advancement of British science."

Mr. Babbage's work excited great interest in the metropolis, not merely from the importance of the subject, but from the bold and uncompromising eloquence with which he exposed the abuses which then existed in the management of our scientific institutions, the imperfect system of instruction which is given in our public schools and universities, the ignorance of public men, and the culpable indifference of successive governments to the intellectual glory of their country. It became accordingly the subject of partial or severe criticism in the public journals, but the longest, the most favourable, and the most elaborate notice of the work appeared in the Quarterly Review.*

Regarding the fact of the decline of science, as established by unquestionable evidence, the author takes a rapid view of the patronage which the sovereigns of Europe extended to science in less enlightened ages, and in times when its practical applications were less connected with the wealth and progress of nations;-he then gives a sketch of the present state of science on the continent of Europe-surveys its condition in the British islands-investigates the causes which led to its decline, and suggests the means by which it may be revived and extended. The subject of the Patent Laws is treated at great length and with much fulness of detail, and their flagrant injustice, and iniquitous operation, are boldly and fearlessly denounced.

After these details of the liberality of sovereigns to science both in ancient and modern times, the reader is startled at the following picture of the relation between the Government and the science of England in the year 1830.

"1. There is not at this moment within the British isles a single philosopher, however eminent have been his services, who

* October, 1830, vol. xliii. pp. 305-342.

VOL. XIV. NO. XXVII.

Q

bears the lowest title that is given to the lowest benefactor of the nation, and the humblest servant of the Crown!*

"2. There is not a single philosopher who enjoys a pension or an allowance, or a sinecure capable of supporting himself and his family in the humblest circumstances! and,

"3. There is not a single philosopher who enjoys the favour of his sovereign, or the friendship of his ministers!"

After illustrating these three propositions by a detail of facts well known and universally admitted, the Quarterly Reviewer investigates the cause, and suggests the cure of this ignoble and unhealthy condition of the English mind, of this ungenerous conduct of English Governments,-of this national insensibility to intellectual greatness,-and of this blind indifference to those elements of glory by which one nation stands out in bold relief from the rest, and challenges the admiration and gratitude of succeeding ages.

Among the remedies which are proposed to revive and extend the science of England, the Quarterly Reviewer mentions the following:-

"1. The reform of the University system, and a more liberal endowment of University chairs.

"2. The improvement of our scientific institutions by giving salaries to their office-bearers, and by grants and pecuniary aid; or what is better,

"3. The raising all our scientific and literary societies into a royal academy or institute like that of France.

"4. The infusion of scientific members into those public boards which have been established for purposes of a scientific

nature.

"5. The admission of men of literature and science into public offices.

"6. The national support of literary and scientific individuals who are prevented by professional occupation from making their genius and talents useful to the State.

"7. Their admission to the same titles, honours, and rewards, which are bestowed upon military, naval, and diplomatic men. "8. The repeal of the Patent Laws."

The Reviewer concludes his article by proposing the establishment of an AssOCIATION, the object of which shall be to consider and carry into effect these important measures.

"Incredible as it may seem," says the late Sir Harris Nicolas, "Sir Walter Scott is the only example in England of an author having been distinguished by any title of honour since the accession of George III."-Observations on the State of Historical Literature, &c., London, 1830. The chapter of this work "On the want of Encouragement in Science and Literature," is reprinted in the Edinburgh Journal of Science, New Series, vol. vi. pp. 214, 228.—April 1832.