liv REPORT 1855. 



foreign, which may even now be earned, writes, " I cannot say that I have 

 not valued such distinctions ; on the contrary, I esteem them very highly, 

 but I do not think I have ever worked for, or sought after them." 



The late Professor Moll, of Berlin, in his excellent pamphlet on the state of 

 Science in England, has some remarks on the distribution of orders and 

 medals abroad, which are not calculated to enhance the estimation in which 

 they may be held by any one in this country. 



Again, the prosecution of some researches and the reduction and publica- 

 tion of results, are expensive, and beyond the means of many of the ablest 

 and most active cultivators of science. The WoUaston Fund of the Royal 

 Society, the Government grant, and the grants of the British Association 

 afford, in addition to the funds of the various scientific societies, most 

 useful aid, but further assistance is sometimes needed, and would be more 

 so, were science more extensively cultivated, and such assistance might be 

 safely accorded under the conditions hereafter recommended. 



The juxtaposition of the principal scientific societies in some central locality 

 in the metropolis is a question which has lately excited great interest among 

 the cultivators of science. 



Lord Rosse, in his address to the Royal Society in 1853, observes, "The 

 interests of Science appear to me to be deeply involved in the question of 



providing a suitable building for the scientific societies If a man, 



naturally gifted, and well educated, attends scientific meetings, he will feel 

 himself constrained to work, and therefore it is so important for the advance- 

 ment of knowledge, that able men should be induced to join and attend the 

 different societies ; but nothing 1 think would have greater attractions than 

 a building in a convenient central situation, where the business of Science 

 would be transacted, where there would be access to the best libraries, and 

 where that kind of society most valued by scientific men would always be 

 within reach." 



The advantages of this juxtaposition are also shortly set forth in the Me- 

 morial on this subject presented to Lord Aberdeen, and are indeed so obvious 

 that they need not be here re-stated at length. Mr. Grove, on this subject, 

 observes, " It should be borne in mind that scientific men have but very 

 limited means of acting on Government ; they are politicians in a less de- 

 gree than any class of Her Majesty's subjects; they consist of men belonging 

 to various classes of society, and whose ordinary occupations differ greatly. 

 Most of the great measures of reform or progress which are effected in this 

 country result from a strong pressure of public opinion, urged on by agita- 

 tion ; and as men of science are peculiarly unfitted for this process, Govern- 

 ment might not unreasonably be asked to step out of its usual habits, and to 

 lend Science a helping hand." 



Professor Forbes observes, " Science must have a local habitation, and be 

 something more than a name, ere it can make a permanent impression on 

 the somewhat material mind of John Bull. Asa man without a home, or, 

 if houseless, without a club, is a doubtful and suspicious personage in the 

 opinion of English householders, so is science a questionable myth whilst 

 unprovided with a visible habitation. A first step, then, towards securing a 

 due and wholesome reverence for science in the minds of the masses, 

 educated and uneducated, is the congregation of the more important 

 Scientific Societies in a central and convenient public edifice, where they 

 shall be lodged at the cost, and by the authority, of the State. The prestige 

 thus accorded to the Societies would soon extend to their members." 



The Astronomer Royal, on the other hand, conceives that the advantages 

 of juxtaposition have been overrated ; but admits that if the measure, recom- 



