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

branch within the wide range of science indifferent or

unexplored, has connected him by friendship with almost all the

most celebrated philosophers of the age; whilst the polished

amenity of his manners, and that intense desire of acquiring and

of spreading knowledge, which so peculiarly characterizes his

mind, renders him accessible to all strangers, and insures for

them the assistance of his counsel in their scientific pursuits,

and the advantage of being made known to all those who are

interested or occupied in similar inquiries.

 

Professor Lichtenstein, (Director of the Museum of Zoology,) as

secretary of the academy, was indefatigable in his attentions,

and most ably seconded the wishes of its distinguished president.

 

These two gentlemen, assisted by several of the residents at

Berlin, undertook the numerous preliminary arrangements necessary

for the accommodation of the meeting.

 

On the 18th of September, 1828, there were assembled at Berlin

377 members of the academy, whose names and residences (in

Berlin) were printed in a small pamphlet, and to each name was

attached a number, to indicate his seat in the great concert

room, in which the morning meetings took place. Each member was

also provided with an engraved card of the hall of meeting, on

which the numbers of the seats were printed in black ink, and his

own peculiar seat marked in red ink, so that every person

immediately found his own place, and knew where to look for any

friend whom he might wish to find.

 

At the hour appointed for the opening of the meeting, the members

being assembled, and the galleries and orchestra being filled by

an assemblage of a large part of the rank and beauty of the

capital, and the side-boxes being occupied by several branches of

the royal family, and by the foreign ambassadors, the session of

the academy was opened by the eloquent address of the president.

 

SPEECH made at the Opening of the Society of German Naturalists

and Natural Philosophers at Berlin, the 18th of September, 1828.

- By ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT.

 

Since through your choice, which does me so much honour, I am

permitted to open this meeting, the first duty which I have to

discharge is one of gratitude. The distinction which has been

conferred on him who has never yet been able to attend your

excellent society, is not the reward of scientific efforts, or of

feeble and persevering attempts to discover new phenomena, or to

draw the light of knowledge from the unexplored depths of nature.

A finer feeling, however, directed your attention to me. You have

assured me, that while, during an absence of many years, and in a

distant quarter of the globe, I was labouring in the same cause

with yourselves, I was not a stranger in your thoughts. You have

likewise greeted my return home, that, by the sacred tie of

gratitude, you might bind me still longer and closer to our

common country.

 

What, however, can the picture of this, our native land, present

more agreeable to the mind, than the assembly which we receive

to-day for the first time within our walls; from the banks of the

Neckar, the birth-place of Kepler and of Schiller, to the

remotest border of the Baltic plains; from hence to the mouths of

the Rhine, where, under the beneficent influence of commerce, the

treasuries of exotic nature have for centuries been collected and

investigated, the friends of nature, inspired with the same zeal,

and, urged by the same passion, flock together to this assembly.

Everywhere, where the German language is used, and its peculiar

structure affects the spirit and disposition of the people. From

the Great European Alps, to the other side of the Weichsel,

where, in the country of Copernicus, astronomy rose to renewed

splendour; everywhere in the extensive dominions of the German

nation we attempt to discover the secret operations of nature,

whether in the heavens, or in the deepest problems of mechanics,

or in the interior of the earth, or in the finely woven tissues

of organic structure.

 

Protected by noble princes, this assembly has annually increased

in interest and extent. Every distinction which difference of

religion or form of government can occasion is here annulled.

Germany manifests itself as it were in its intellectual unity;

and since knowledge of truth and performance of duty are the

highest object of morality, that feeling of unity weakens none of

the bonds which the religion, constitution, and laws of our

country, have rendered dear to each of us. Even this emulation in

mental struggles has called forth (as the glorious history of our

country tells us,) the fairest blossoms of humanity, science, and

art.

 

The assembly of German naturalists and natural philosophers since

its last meeting, when it was so hospitably received at Munich,

has, through the flattering interest of neighbouring states and

academies, shone with peculiar lustre. Allied nations have

renewed the ancient alliance between Germany and the ancient

Scandinavian North.

 

Such an interest deserves acknowledgment the more, because it

unexpectedly increases the mass of facts and opinions which are

here brought into one common and useful union. It also recalls

lofty recollections into the mind of the naturalist. Scarcely

half a century has elapsed since Linne appears, in the boldness

of the undertakings which he has attempted and accomplished, as

one of the greatest men of the last century. His glory, however

bright, has not rendered Europe blind to the merits of Scheele

and Bergman. The catalogue of these great names is not completed;

but lest I shall offend noble modesty, I dare not speak of the

light which is still flowing in richest profusion from the North,

nor mention the discoveries in the chemical nature of substances,

in the numerical relation of their elements, or the eddying

streams of electro-magnetic powers. [The philosophers here

referred to are Berzelius and Oersted.] May those excellent

persons, who, deterred neither by perils of sea or land, have

hastened to our meeting from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland,

England, and Poland, point our the way to other strangers in

succeeding years, so that by turns every part of Germany may

enjoy the effects of scientific communication with the different

nations of Europe.

 

But although I must restrain the expression of my personal

feelings in presence of this assembly, I must be permitted at

least to name the patriarchs of our national glory, who are

detained from us by a regard for those lives so dear to their

country;—Goethe, whom the great creations of poetical fancy have

not prevented from penetrating the ARCANA of nature, and who now

in rural solitude mourns for his princely friend, as Germany for

one of her greatest ornaments;—Olbers, who has discovered two

bodies where he had already predicted they were to be found;—the

greatest anatomists of our age—Soemmering, who, with equal zeal,

has investigated the wonders of organic structure, and the spots

and FACULAE of the sun, (condensations and openings of the

photosphere;) Blumenbach, whose pupil I have the honour to be,

who, by his works and his immortal eloquence, has inspired

everywhere a love of comparative anatomy, physiology, and the

general history of nature, and who has laboured diligently for

half a century. How could I resist the temptation to adorn my

discourse with names which posterity will repeat, as we are not

favoured with their presence?

 

These observations on the literary wealth of our native country,

and the progressive developement of our institution, lead us

naturally to the obstructions which will arise from the

increasing number of our fellow-labourers, The chief object of

this assembly does not consist, as in other societies whose

sphere is more limited, in the mutual interchange of treatises,

or in innumerable memoirs, destined to be printed in some general

collection. The principal object of this Society is, to bring

those personally together who are engaged in the same field of

science. It is the immediate, and therefore more obvious

interchange of ideas, whether they present themselves as facts,

opinions, or doubts. It is the foundation of friendly connexion

which throws light on science, adds cheerfulness to life, and

gives patience and amenity to the manners.

 

In the most flourishing period of ancient Greece, the distinction

between words and writing first manifested itself most strongly

amongst a race, which had raised itself to the most splendid

intellectual superiority, and to whose latest descendants, as

preserved from the shipwreck of nations, we still consecrate our

most anxious wishes. It was not the difficulty of interchange of

ideas alone, nor the want of German science, which has spread

thought as on wings through the world, and insured it a long

continuance, that then induced the friends of philosophy and

natural history in Magna Graecia and Asia Minor to wander on long

journeys. That ancient race knew the inspiring influence of

conversation as it extemporaneously, freely, and prudently

penetrates the tissue of scientific opinions and doubts. The

discovery of the truth without difference of opinion is

unattainable, because the truth, in its greatest extent, can

never be recognized by all, and at the same time. Each step,

which seems to bring the explorer of nature nearer to his object,

only carries him to the threshold of new labyrinths. The mass of

doubt does not diminish, but spreads like a moving cloud over

other and new fields; and whoever has called that a golden

period, when difference of opinions, or, as some are accustomed

to express it, the disputes of the learned, will be finished, has

as imperfect a conception of the wants of science, and of its

continued advancement, as a person who expects that the same

opinions in geognosy, chemistry, or physiology, will be

maintained for several centuries.

 

The founders of this society, with a deep sense of the unity of

nature, have combined in the completest manner, all the branches

of physical knowledge, and the historical, geometrical, and

experimental philosophy. The names of natural historian and

natural philosopher are here, therefore, nearly synonimous,

chained by a terrestrial link to the type of the lower animals.

Man completes the scale of higher organization. In his

physiological and pathological qualities, he scarcely presents to

us a distinct class of beings. As to what has brought him to this

exalted object of physical study, and has raised him to general

scientific investigation, belongs principally to this society.

Important as it is not to break that link which embraces equally

the investigation of organic and inorganic nature, still the

increasing ties and daily developement of this institution

renders it necessary, besides the general meeting which is

destined for these halls, to have specific meetings for single

branches of science. For it is only in such contracted circles,

—it is only among men whom reciprocity of studies has brought

together, that verbal discussions can take place. Without this

sort of communication, would the voluntary association of men in

search of truth be deprived of an inspiring principle.

 

Among the preparations which are made in this city for the

advancement of the society, attention has been principally paid

to the possibility of such a subdivision into sections. The hope

that these preparations will meet with your approbation, imposes

upon me the duty of reminding you, that, although you had

entrusted to two travellers, equally, the duty of making these

arrangements, yet it is to one alone, my noble friend, M.

Lichtenstein, that the merit of careful precaution and

indefatigable activity is due. Out of respect to the scientific

spirit which animates the Society of German Naturalists and

Natural Philosophy, and in acknowledgment of the utility of their

efforts, government have seconded all our wishes with the

greatest cheerfulness.

 

In the vicinity of the place of meeting, which has in this manner

been prepared for our general and special labours, are situated

the museums dedicated to anatomy, zoology, oryctognosy, and

geology. They exhibit to the naturalist a rich mine