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

  • Babbage, Charles, 1791-1871.
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

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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    I his principle is equally applicable to the conduct of a Secretary of State, or to that of a constable ; to that of a Secretary of the Royal Society, or of an ad- viser to the Admiralty. With respect to honorary officers, the case is in some measure different. But the President of a society, although not recompensed by any pecuniary remu- neration, enjoys a station, when the body over which he presides possesses a high character, to which many will aspire, who will esteem themselves amply repaid for the time they devote to the office, by the consequence attached to it in public estimation. He, therefore, is answerable to the Society for his conduct in their chair. There are several societies in which the secre- taries, and other officers, have very laborious duties, and where they are unaided by a train of clerks, and yet no pecuniary remuneration is given to them. Science is much indebted to such men, by whose quiet and unostentatious labours the routine of its institutions is carried on. It would be unwise, as well as un- grateful, to judge severely of the inadvertencies, ox- even of the negligence of such persons: nothing but weighty causes should justify such a course. Whilst, however, I contend for the principle of dis- cussion and inquiry in its widest sense, because I consi- der it equally the safeguard of our scientific as of our political institutions, I shall use it, I hope, temperately; and having no personal feelings myself, but living in terms of intercourse with almost all, and of intimacy with several of those from whom I most widely differ,