$cienli/ic Heviefvs. 349 



A series of illustrations, we are told, will shortly appear ; we do 

 not know of what nature thev are to be, but trust that the charaoi 

 ters of the genera will be exhibited in a similar way to those given 

 by A. Richard in his Orchideaj of the Mauritius. An error com- 

 monly exists at present of not illustrating those genera of a family 

 which have been previously well described or figured ; and this in 

 order that the book may be got up at a smaller expense ; but it 

 would be much better to pay a higher price for a complete work 

 than to purchase all the preceding ones. One may as erroneously 

 «Mnit in a botanical work the characters of those genera and species 

 that were previously described by systematic writers. 



Mejieciions on the Decline of Science in England, and on some of 

 its Causes. By Chahles Babbage, Esq. Lucasian Professor 

 of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge, and Member of 

 several Academies. Pp. 228. Fellowes, London, 1830. 



We turn from the perusal of the Memoirs of the Institute of 

 France to examine a work which speaks of the science of our own 

 country ; and we are startled at observing the word " decline" in- 

 scribed on its very face. Ill are we prepared, after our reflections on 

 the glory of that nation whose labours have so recently excited our 

 admiration, to enter calmly upon the consideration of such a work. 

 But the unprecedented nature of the volume, and the coincidences 

 of our own experience, render us anxious to ascertain what cha* 

 racter it deserves. 



The objects of the work may be stated in the author's o%vn 

 words: 



•' It cannot," he says, " have escaped the attention of those, whose axMjuireinents 

 enable them to judge, and who have had opportunities of examining the state of 

 science in other countries, that in England, particularly with respect to the mor^ 

 difficult and abstract sciences, we are much below other nations, not merely of 

 equal rank, but below several even of inferior power. That a country, eminent!^ 

 distinguished for its mechanical and manufecturing ingenuity, should be indiflPer- 

 ent to the progressof inquiries which form the highest departments of that know- 

 ledge on whose more elementary truths its wealth and rank depend, is a fact 

 which is well deserving the attention of those who shall inquire into the causes 

 that influence the progress of nations, 



" To trace the gradual decline of mathematical, and with it of the highest de- 

 partments of physical science, from the days of Newton to the present, must be left 

 to the historian. It is not within the province of one who, having mixed suffi- 

 ciently with scientific society in England to see and regret the weakness of s<m<e 

 of its greatest ornaments, and to see through and deplore the conduct of its ptiBf 

 tended friends, offers these remarks, with the hope that they may excite disoission, 

 — witli the conviction that discussion is the firmest ally of truth, — and with the 

 confidence that nothing but the full expression of public opinion can remove the 

 evils that chiU the enthusiasm, and cramp the energies of the science of Eng- 

 land. 



