Reflections on the decline of science in England, and on some of its causes / by Charles Babbage.

  • Babbage, Charles, 1791-1871.
Date:
1830
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reflections on the decline of science in England, and on some of its causes / by Charles Babbage. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    attention, and which, when combined with the facts I have detailed in subsequent pages, will be admitted to deserve considerable attention. The following extract from the article Chemistry, in the Encyclopaedia Metro- politana, is from the pen of a gentleman equally qualified by his extensive reading, and from his ac- quaintance with foreign nations, to form an opinion en- titled to respect. Differing from him widely as to the cause, I may be permitted to cite him as high authority for the fact. “ In concluding this most circumscribed outline of the “ History of Chemistry, we may perhaps be allowed to ex- “ press a faint shade of regret, which, nevertheless, has “ frequently passed over our minds within the space of the “ last five or six years. Admiring, as we most sincerely do, “ the electro-magnetic discoveries of Professor Oersted and “ his followers, we still, as chemists, fear that our science “ has suffered some degree of neglect in consequence of “ them. At least, 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. How scanty is our know- “ ledge of the suspected fluorine! Are we sure that we un- “ derstand the nature of nitrogen? And yet these are “ amongst our elements. Much has been done by Wollaston, “ Berzelius, Guy-Lussac, Thenard, Thomson, Prout, and “ others, with regard to the doctrine of definite proportions ; “ but there yet remains the Atomic Theory. Is it a repre- “ sentation of the laws of nature, or is it not?”—Chemistry, Encyc. Metrop. p.596. When the present volume was considerably advanced, the public were informed that the late Sir Humphry Davy had commenced a work, having the same title as