•352 Scientt/ic Remt'rvs. 



q{ principle, the* soMetJr contTiVefl' to- rebd^' expulstim*' tKe hlgffik' honour it 

 could confer ; so it remains for it to exemplify, in suicide, the sublimest virtue 

 of which it is capable." — p. 48. 



The mal-administration of funds, devoted to seientific purposes is, 

 another source of evil noticed by^ Mr. Babbage, and is exemplified 

 in the following anecdote of the '' conversion of the Greenwich ob- 

 servations into pasteboard" which forms a fine- subject for an ar-' 

 tide from Mr. Pond :— »- 



" Some years since, a member 'of the'Royal Society 'accrderttaHy learned, that 

 there was, at an old store-shop in Thames Street, a large xjuantityof the volumes 

 of the Greenwich Observations on sale as waste paper. On making inquiry, he 

 ascertained that there wete two^ons and a hdlf to be disposed of, and that an 

 equal quantity had already been sold, for the purpose of converting'it intb paste- . 

 board. The vender said he could get fourpence a pound for the whole, and that \ 

 it made capital Bristol board. The fadt was mentioned by a member of the ' 

 Council of the Royal Society,' and they thoiight it ' necessary to inquire into the 

 circumstances. 



" Now, the Observations made at' tfifr- Royal Observatory are printed with 

 every regard to typographical luxury, with large margins, on thick paper, hot- , 

 pressed, and with no sort of regard to economy. This magnificence is advocated 

 by some who maintain, that the volumes ought to be v/ortliy of a great nation ; 

 whilst others, seeing how little that nation spends on science, regret that the sums 

 allotted to it should not be applied with the strictest economy. If the Astrono- 

 mer Royal really has a right to these volumes, printed by the government at a 

 large expense, it is, perhaps, the most extravagant mode which was ever yet in- 

 vented of paying a public servant. "When that right was given to him, — let us 

 suppose somebody had suggested the impolicy of it, lest he should sell the costly 

 volumes for waste paper, — who would have listened for one moment to such a 

 supposition ? He would have been told that it was impossible to suppose a per- 

 son in that high and responsible situation, could be so indifferent to his own re- 

 putation. P. 108. 



" It is, however, but justice to observe, that the injury already done to sci- 

 ence, by the conversion of these Observations into pasteboard, is not so great as the 

 public might have feared. Mr. Pond, than whom no one can be supposed better 

 acquainted with their value, and whose right to judge no man can question, has 

 shown his own opinion to be, that his reputation will be best consulted by dimi- 

 nishing the extent of their circulation." P. 1 14. 



The rest of the volume is occupied by remarks on " Observa- ' 

 tions" and the " Frauds of Observers ;" " Suggestions for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science ;" and a well-drawn " Comparison between 

 Wollaston and Davy," from which we extract the following; 



" In a work on the Decline of Science, at a period when JEngland has so re- ^ 

 cently lost two of its brightest ornaments, I should hardly be excused if I omitted^Jj 

 to devote a few words to the names of Wollaston and of Davy. Until the warm , 

 feelings of surviving kindred and admiring friends shall be cold as the grave from 

 which remembrance vainly recalls their cherished forms, invested with all the life 

 and energy of recent existence, the volumes of their biography must be sealed. 

 Their contemporaries can expect only to read their eloge." • • • • 



• " They expelled from amongst them a gentleman, of whom it is but slight 

 praise to say, that he is the first and most philosophical botanist of our own 

 country, and who is admired abroad as he is respected at home. The circum- 

 stance which surprized the world was not his exit from, but his previous en- 

 trance into that Society." 



