354 Scientific Reviews. 



cause he is fully aware of its extent ; — if, so circumstanced, he give up a busi- 

 ness or a profession on which he might have entered with advantage, with the 

 hope that, when he shall have won a station high in the ranks of European 

 science, he may a little augment his resources by some of those few employments 

 to which science leads ; — if he hope to obtain some situation, (at the Board of 

 Longitude •, for example,) where he may be permitted to exercise the talents of 

 a philosopher for the paltry remuneration of a clerk, he wiU find that other qua- 

 lifications than knowledge and a love of science are necessary for its attainment. 

 He wiD also find that the high and independent spirit, which usually dwells in 

 the breast of those who are deeply versed in these pursuits, is ill adapted for such 

 appointments ; and that even if successful, he must hear many things he disap- 

 proves, and raise no voice against them." — P. 36. 



But Government itself also retards science, by not rewarding the 

 discovery of " abstract truth," whilst the patronage of the public ex- 

 tends only to practical inventions. 



" Long intervals," Mr. Babbage observes, " frequently elapse between the 

 discovery of new principles in science and their practical application : nor ought 

 this at all to surprise us. Those intellectual qualifications, which give birth to 

 new principles or to new methods, are of quite a different order from those 

 which are necessary for their practical application."— P. 17- » « , , 



" For one person who is blessed with the power of invention, many will always 

 be found who have the capacity of applying principles ; and much of the merit 

 ascribed to these applications will always depend on the care and labour bestowed 

 in the practical detail. 



" If, therefore, it is important to the country that abstract principles should be 

 applied to practical use, it is clear that it is also important that encouragement 

 should be held out to the few who are capable of adding to the number of those 

 truths on which such applications are founded. Unless there exist peculiar in- 

 stitutions for the support of such inquirers, or unless the government directly itt- 

 ' terfere, the contriver of a thaumatrope may derive profit from his ingenuity, 

 whilst he who unravels the laws of light and vision, on which multitudes of phe- 

 nomena depend, shall descend unnewarded to the tomb. 



• " Perhaps it may be urged, that sufficient encouragement is already aflTorded 

 to abstract science in our different universities, by the professorships established 

 at them. It is not however in the power of such institutions to create ; they 

 may foster and aid the development of genius ; and, when rightly applied, such 

 stations ought to be its fair and honourable rewards. In many instances theii 

 emolument is small ; and when otherwise, the lectures which are required from 

 the professor are not perhaps in all cases the best mode of employing the ener- 

 gies of those who are capable of inventing." — P. 18. , » m • 



" Surely, if knowledge is valuable, it can never be good policy in a country 

 far wealthier than Tuscany, to allow a genius like Mr. Dalton's, to be employed 

 in the drudgery of elementary instruction. -f- Where would have been the mili- 

 tary renown of England, if, with an equally improvident waste of mental power, 

 its institutions had forced the Duke of Wellington to employ his life in drilling 

 recruits, instead of planning campaigns ?"— P. 20. 



• • This body is now dissolved. 



, + " I utter these sentiments from no feelings of private friendship to that es- 

 jtimable philosopher, to whom it is my regret to be almost unknown, and 

 whose modest and retiring merit, I may, perhaps, have the misfortune to of- 

 fend by these remarks. But Mr. Dalton was of no party ; had he ever moved 

 in that vortex which has brought discredit, and almost ruin, on the Royal 

 Society of England ; — had he taken part with those who vote to each other 

 medals, and affecting to be tired of the fatigues of office, make to each other 

 requisitions to retain places they would be most reluctant to quit ; his great 



