Decline of Science in England by Charles Babbage (red white royal blue txt) 📖

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:—

 

Dr. Wollaston, Mr. Herschel,

Dr. Young, Mr. Babbage,

Mr. Davies Gilbert, Captain Beaufort,

Mr. South, Captain Kater.

 

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,

 

Sir W. Petty, Vice-President,

Sir John Lowther,

Sir John Cutler,

Sir Christopher Wren,

Mr. Oldenburgh,

Sir Paul Neile.

 

“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:

 

37 Contributors of . . 1 paper

21 … … … . 2 papers

19 … … … . 3 ditto

5 … … … . 4 ditto

3 … … … . 5 ditto

3 … … … . 6 ditto

]2 … . from 7 to 12 ditto

14 … of more than 12 papers.

 

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