54 On the present State of the [Fes. 
attribute this fatal suspension of scientific energy in this country, as 
far at least as relates to mathematical subjects. 
There is perhaps no science more likely to be pursued for the 
mere love of the pursuit than mathematics. ‘lhe sublimity of many 
of the problems which fall within the range of its investigations ; 
the simple and interesting nature of the laws which it discovers in 
circumstances where an uninformed observer would suppose them 
under no controul or limitation ; the numerous abstract relations 
and curious coincidences perpetually presenting themselves, some- 
times the most unexpectedly, to the eye of a mathematical investi- 
gator, are certainly well calculated to excite a love for the study, 
independent of any other reward than the mental gratification with 
which it is attended. But this gratification is incomplete, or at 
least weakened, if a man cannot communicate his discoveries to 
others; and the great impediment an English mathematician ex- 
periences in this respect is undoubtedly one of the most serious 
causes of the low state of those sciences in this country; and, on 
the contrary, the facility which French authors find in the publica- 
tion of their performances will also account in a great measure for 
that extraordinary progress noticed in the preceding part of this 
article. . 
‘The expenses of publication in France are not half what they are 
in England; at the same time the prevalence of the French lan- 
guage is such as to give them all Europe for a market; while the 
English author can only look forward to a few readers in his own 
country; and this few is still further diminished by the absurd par- 
tiality which our mathematical amateurs have contracted for 
French authors, without being able to appreciate either their merits 
or defects, of which both may be found in great abundance. 
The arts and sciences have, or at least ought to have, no exclusive 
country; let genius and talent be encouraged wherever they are 
found. I would no more excite any unworthy jealousy against 
French science, if it was in my power, than J would against that of 
England. No one is more ready than myself to do ample justice 
to the ability and talents of the celebrated authors of that nation. 
What I feel disgusting is, that little or no distinction is here made 
between their works of real merit and those of no merit; and that 
the partiality for French works generally, and a directly opposite 
feeling with regard to those of England, should be suffered to 
operate to the disadvantage of British science: yet such has unfor- 
tunately been the case; and it is doubtless one great cause of that 
stagnation or depression which gave rise to these observations. 
It is not, however, to the peculiar advantages of cheapness and 
circulation only that we have to look for the astonishing progress of 
ihe mathematics in France; we shall find another important sti- 
mulus in the constitution of the French Academy. Here we find 
certain of its members in the possession of liberal pensions, with 
leisure to pursue their investigations, and the means of making 
them public through the medium of their memoirs. We find also 
