

Decline of Science in England. 353 



" the former pay for their admission, whilst the members of the 

 " latter enjoy a pension. Now, there are at present 685 fellows 

 " of the Royal Society, who used to pay about L. 4 a-year for 

 " the honour of their fellowship, making in all an aggregate 

 « sum of L. 2740, or 68,500 francs. The members of the 

 " French Institute receive, or received formerly, each 1500 

 " francs, making 10,250 francs of the public money. Now, we 

 " will ask Mr Babbage in which country the honour of belong- 

 " ing to the first scientific society is held in greater estimation, 

 ** in that in which the fellows pay the honour with 68,000 

 " francs, or those where they receive 10,250 francs, and the 

 " honour as an addition besides ? 



" Mr Babbage favours us with a table of the costs of fellow- 

 " ship of different learned societies; it would have been very 

 " curious if he had stated the annual sum thus contributed both 

 " by the English and French nations towards the encourage- 

 " ment and benefit of science ; and from the result, a fair esti- 

 " mate might be drawn in which of the two countries science is 

 " held in the greatest honour."' 



He who subscribes L. 4 a-year to the Royal Society, receives 

 in return the Philosophical Transactions gratis, the pleasure of 

 attending the meetings of the Society, the soirees of the presi- 

 dent, the chance of belonging to the Royal Society club, and 

 all the advantages of a reading room and library, which is open 

 almost every day of the year from 11a. m. till 4 p. m., advan- 

 tages really worth more than the subscription. Nay, there have 

 been cases where booksellers have exerted themselves, whether 

 successfully or not we do not say, to obtain the title of F. It. S. 

 for their hack writers, and have considered the subscription as 

 balanced by the commercial advantages which it secured. The 

 man must, therefore, be insane, who imagines for a moment that 

 such subscriptions are contributions to science. Nay, the sub- 

 scriptions are altogether expended in publishing the Transac- 

 tions, and in paying taxes to the government and other contin- 

 gencies, and are actually returned in another form to the pockets 

 of the members. The medals, &c. of the Society are all paid 

 out of legacies left for the purpose, and the Society has never 

 assisted a single scientific man in carrying on experiments, and 

 has never appropriated its own subscriptions for any scientific 

 object. The same remarks arc applicable to the Royal Society 



