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

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,