206 



REMARKS ON MR. VINCE S PAMPHLET. 



The Society 

 vindicated. 



Farther re- 

 marks. 



formation led him to suspect, that it would not appear in 

 the Transactions of the Society, and in this he was not dis- 

 appointed.'* 



In the whole of this important history thfre appears to me 

 nothing whatever, that an impartial person could deem a 

 just cause of offence. The author had more than once be- 

 fore been appointed to give a Bakerian Lecture; and when 

 he offered this paper to the Society, " the President and one 

 of the Secretaries" probably thought it a compliment due 

 to his established reputation, to suggest to him, that it might 

 serve for a Bakerian Lecture, without having gone farther 

 than the title of his paper. He accordingly accepted the 

 compliment and -.the fee. The paper having been partially 

 read, as all mathematical papers must be, it is natural to 

 suppose, that it was submitted to the examination of some 

 one or more individuals, previously to its being discussed by 

 the Committee of papers, since mathematical demonstra- 

 tions cannot easily be examined by any large body of per- 

 sons, however select; and as the opinion of such individuals 

 might easily be expected to influence the determination of 

 the Committee, it is not difficult to imagine, that it might 

 be known beforehand, " that it was doubtful whether the 

 paper would be published," although it may be questioned, 

 whether or no the person who gave the hint aeted with per- 

 fect discretion. 



After these remarks on the mathematical parts of Mr. 

 Vince's paper, and this attempt to explain the conduct of 

 the Council of the Royal Society, it will scarcely, be neces- 

 sary to make any comment on the unjust and illiberal insi- 

 nuation conveyed by the observation, that '* Sir J. Pringle, 

 the late worthy and learned President of the Royal Society, 

 executed the duties of his high office with great impartiality 

 and honour" Nor shall I enlarge at present on any other 

 objections which might be made to Mr. Vince*s essay : what 

 be says respecting the interference of the ethereal atmo- 

 spheres of the different planets is totally foreign to the ques- 

 tion ; and some others of his remark?, which are perhaps 

 better founded, have already been stated by Professor Ro- 

 bison, and by other authors : but these are imperfections 



which 



