414 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



right honourable member in question, in reply to 

 the foregoing speech, is reported to have said, 

 " that there were some men to whom honours 

 were unnecessary, and which could not confer 

 higher dignity than their genius and their talent 

 had invested them with. What, he would ask, 

 could a blue riband or a collar do for a Newton ? 

 Would they make his name more hallowed, — his 

 family more endurable ? No, certainly not. There 

 should be a line of distinction drawn, for, if not, 

 many would be seeking them. He would not mix 

 up scientific ingenuity with military favour ; he 

 would leave it to the possession of its own ennobling 

 honours." 



(284.) Had the honourable member who spoke 

 next in the debate, — himself a man of science, and 

 a vice-president of the Royal Society, — whose 

 sentiments are known to be in unison with those 

 expressed in these pages — had he replied, and 

 combated what may well be deemed the unsound- 

 ness of these doctrines, he could at once have 

 exposed their fallacy, and have spared us the un- 

 gracious task of animadverting upon one whose 

 talents we admire, and whose eloquence can give 

 to any cause he espouses almost the force of 

 demonstrative conviction. It is seldom that an 

 opening occurs, in parliamentary debate, for the dis- 

 cussion of matters affecting the interests of science ; 

 and when so few of our representatives are qualified 

 to speak on such things, it is doubly disheartening 

 to witness such opportunities for vindicating her 

 rights neglected. Perhaps, however, the forms of 

 debate might have prevented our vice-president 



