134* Royal Society. 



of Newton, and under its auspices was published the work which 

 constitutes, and probably ever will constitute, the proudest monu- 

 ment of the genius of man : and from the period which immediately 

 followed its foundation, the age of Wallis, and Newton, and Wren, 

 and Hook, and Halley, and Taylor, to that of Herschel and Caven- 

 dish, and Wollaston, and Young, and Davy, its Transactions con- 

 tain records of almost every important discovery in natural philoso- 

 phy ; of almost every experimental inquiry which has been most re- 

 markable for its difficulty, delicacy, or importance, and of almost 

 every original speculation which has most contributed to the ad- 

 vancement of science. 



It becomes us therefore to guard these national archives of the 

 progress of knowledge, with the reverence which is due to them as 

 monuments inseparably connected with our own national honour ; 

 and to watch with our utmost care, lest any addition should be 

 made to them, which can be considered as unworthy of the cha- 

 racter of the stock upon which it thus becomes engrafted ; and 

 it therefore is the bounden duty of every Fellow of this Society, 

 whether it be considered as imposed on him by the terms of the 

 Obligation which he signed at the period of his admission as a 

 Member, or as derived from the still higher and more comprehen- 

 sive ties which bind every friend of the great institutions of his 

 country, to maintain their efficiency and credit, and to allow no pri- 

 vate or personal cause of jealousy or discontent, no trivial or un- 

 founded plea of want of leisure from business, or occupations, to 

 interfere with the devotion of his best exertions to uphold the cha- 

 racter and promote the interests of the Royal Society. 



There are some reasons which I know may, and very probably 

 will be urged against the reasonableness of expecting that any 

 considerable number of men of science, should be able, however 

 willing they might otherwise be, to devote any large portion of 

 time or labour to the service of any Society, let its claims upon 

 them be ever so strong. 



In this country, where wealth is the general measure of the social 

 rank of families at least, if not of individuals, men of science must 

 either possess an independent fortune, or they must pursue it, as is 

 most generally the case, in connexion with a laborious profession ; 

 for we have few establishments which afford them support, inde- 

 pendently of other employments ; and even in those very rare cases, 

 the provision which is made is so small, that no man of superior 

 education can look forward to the attainment of the advantages 

 which science and learning offer, in forming his scheme of life, 

 unless he be prepared to make the most serious sacrifices. It is 

 for this reason, that the learned professions, presenting as they do 

 the most brilliant prospects of rank and wealth, generally absorb, 

 in the progress of life, the studies and exertions of young men of 

 the highest scientific education and promise ; for, however strong 

 may have been their attachment to the studies of their youth, and 

 however ardent their ambition to obtain the honours of science, they 

 soon find that such pursuits retard their professional advancement. 



