CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. 365 



of things, British naturalists should toil and labour 

 in the higher branches of their science, only to re- 

 ceive mortification, when, with so little trouble, they 

 can enrich themselves, and insure popular applause, 

 by working up the materials of others. 



(251.) Before we proceed further, a recapitula- 

 tions of the facts already stated, — in reference to the 

 present state of nearly all the physical sciences, 

 and particularly to that of zoology, — will not be 

 misplaced. If, as we have shown, admittance can be 

 gained by purchase into all our learned societies ; if 

 there are no national institutions, whose officers are 

 selected from among the ranks of science ; if there 

 are no honorary distinctions, as in other countries, 

 peculiarly appropriated to our philosophers and 

 men of letters ; if no pecuniary rewards, or retired 

 pensions, are bestowed upon those who, above all 

 other ranks, have mainly contributed to the true 

 glory of the empire ; if the physical sciences form 

 no part of the system of education taught at our 

 universities; if there are no professorships, or no 

 means of instruction for aiding and encouraging the 

 study of the material creation; if works on abstract 

 science entail loss upon their authors ; if, in short, 

 these are things " which be," can it excite surprise 

 for a moment, that the taste and the possession of 

 true legitimate science has declined in Britain, 

 while it has advanced on the Continent? Can it be 

 wondered at, that those, whose love for abstract 

 truth are leading them still to pursue it, despite of 

 neglect, mortification, and discouragement, should 

 remonstrate plainly and perhaps indignantly against 

 such a state of things ? Can it be said that eminence 



