THE CLAIMS OF SCIENCE. 341 



in consequence? or has any efficient reform- 

 ation actually commenced ? Until these questions 

 can be answered more satisfactorily than at present, 

 the more frequently such demands are urged, the 

 more likely are they finally to receive attention, 

 even from the very weariness of the complain- 

 ants. It is not to be supposed that the aristocracy 

 of science, proud even in their degradation, can 

 derive either individual pleasure, or popular re- 

 spect, in proclaiming to the world the little es- 

 timation in which they are held by the rulers of 

 their country, — those, in fact, whose honourable 

 duty it is to foster their exertions and reward their 

 merit. They only seek to hold among the different 

 grades of the national assemblies their proper rank 

 and station, and equally to participate with others 

 in those rewards and honours which should be the 

 outward signs to the world at large of their intel- 

 lectual merit. It is only, then, as a last resource, 

 that they bring themselves to the humiliating alter- 

 native of public complaint, consoled by the reflection 

 that, however those complaints for a time may be 

 disregarded, yet that, if they are repeatedly made, 

 a season will come when honest conviction will 

 see their justice, and grant their demands. Further- 

 more, such statements should be more especially 

 made in publications having a great circulation, 

 as more likely to fix the attention of the public, and 

 to come within the circle of those very few, in an 

 exalted sphere of life, who have so much in their 

 power to remedy what is amiss. 



(239.) To arrive at a just conclusion on the 

 questions before us, there is only one assertion 

 z 3 



