296 Anahjaes of Books. [Oct. 



•who had devoted themselves to the study of magnetism. Now 

 I am disposed, in some measure, to concede this. It is distinctly 

 stated by Gilbert, and indeed by all writers on magnetism since 

 his time, that if we draw a needle along a magnet fi-om one pole 

 to the other, there is a particular point between the two poles in 

 •which the needle is not affected by the magnet at all. But 

 though this well-known fact ought to have led to the conclusion 

 o fthe existence of a plane of no attraction, it must be admitted 

 that little or no attention had been paid to it, and that the laws 

 of the deviations of the needle, according to its position with 

 respect to this plane, had never been estabhshed. Indeed, unless 

 my memory deceives me, the late Prof. Robison, of Edinburgh, 

 had made an imperfect set of experiments on the subject ; but 

 •without coming to any very definite conclusions. I own, there- 

 fore, that the mere want of novelty does not appear to me a very 

 legitimate reason for refusing publicity to our author's experi- 

 ments. It would have been a more generous proceeding to have 

 published them with all their imperfections on their head, espe- 

 cially as the Royal Society, as a body, do not consider themselves 

 as responsible for the statements contained in the papers pub- 

 lished by them ; but hold the author of every paper responsible 

 for its contents. The art of experimenting requires an educa- 

 tion, as well as every other art, before a person can become an 

 adept in it. The committee of the Royal Society ought to bear 

 in mind that the harsh rejection of the lucubrations of a young 

 experimenter has a tendency to damp his ardour in the cause of 

 science, and may possibly even drive him into idleness. It is 

 this haughtiness on the part of those who have set themselves 

 up as judges of philosophical merit, which has diminished to so 

 great a degree the number of experimenters in this country. 

 Whether our reviews and our Royal Societies have not of late 

 years been more injurious than favourable to the interests of 

 science is with me no longer a question. When I compare 

 M. Deluc's paper On the Electric Column, Mr. Donovan's paper 

 On the Oxides of Mercury, and Mr. Barlow's paper On Mag- 

 netism, all of which have been rejected by the Royal Society 

 ■within these few years, with many papers pubhshed by that 

 learned body, I cannot avoid feeling a good deal of surprise 

 mixed with regret. The committee of the Royal Society ought 

 to be impartial. But when we find such curious facts as are 

 contained in the three papers above-mentioned not sufficient to 

 compensate for the imperfections which they may have displayed, 

 ■while all the papers written by another favoured individual, 

 however numerous, however expensive, however trifling, or 

 however absurd, are sure to find a place in the Transactions of 

 that learned body, we may give them credit for many valuable 

 qualities, but certainly not for impartiality. Our author may 

 satisfy himself however, from the rejection of Deluc's and Dono- 

 van's papers, that no hostility against mere mathematiciaa* 



