Changeable State of Scientific Inquiry. 187 



grants from Holland, scattered abroad throughout the Ncthcr- 

 land Indies, of wliom only some 3000 are in Batavia, and 

 that the white population is for the most part constantly 

 changing. It is obvious this latter condition must have this 

 prejudicial effect, that the various branches of scientific in- 

 quiry cannot always enjoy a uniform degree of attention, 

 and that the task of maintaining them in a proper degree 

 of efficiency must depend almost exclusively upon the con- 

 tinuance in office and constant attention of individuals. 

 Owing to this frequency of change the active prosecution 

 of scientific inquiry has undergone marked fluctuatioiis in 

 Batavia, and while occasionally it was at the lowest ebb, 

 so to speak, at another time, as happily was the case at the 

 period of our visit, it presents, in the convergence of numer- 

 ous powerful minds devoted to the pursuit of knowledge, 

 the imposing spectacle of a strong set of public opinion 

 towards intellectual enjoyment and cultivation. 



Accompanied by Dr. Bleeker the members of the Expe- 

 dition visited several of the most interesting of the public 

 institutions, the establishment of which reflects the greatest 

 honoui' on the government, as well as the public-spirited 

 individuals who projected them. The Military and Civil 

 Hospital at Tjiliwoeng, or Great River, does not indeed pre- 

 sent the palace-like appearance of the Misericordia Hospital 

 at Rio, but the small neat buildings, one storey high, scat- 

 tered among beautiful flower-gardens, and occupjdng a flat 

 space of great extent, are kept scrupulously clean, and are 



