THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT IN FRANCE. 



127 



writings of Eousseau ; gardening and the study of plant- 

 life had become a royal pastime, and a favourite recrea- 

 tion for those oppressed with the troubles of the State 

 or the sorrows of private life. Cuvier, while asking the 

 reason why other portions of natural history had not 

 shared the same attention, breaks out into the following 

 eloquent words : " The study of animals presents diffi- 



explains the exclusive attitude of 

 the Academy to the medical pro- 

 fession in his Eloges of Halle", Cor- 

 visart, and Pinel ('Eloges,' vol. iii. p. 

 339, &c. ) See also Maury (p. 304) : 

 " Les sciences physiques, chimiques 

 et naturelles avaient pris une telle 

 extension dans les travaux de 

 1'Acade'mie, qu'a la fin du dix- 

 huitieme siecle, la me'decine, qui 

 n'y avait jamais 6t6 au reste bien 

 largement repre'sente'e, fut de plus 

 en plus rele'gue'e a 1'arriere plan ; 

 ce n'e"tait plus que de loin en loin 

 que les me"decins, les chirurgiens de 

 la Compagnie, . . . y pre"sentaient 

 des observations sur des points 

 me"dicaux. ... La medecine, qui, 

 selon la justeobservation de Cabanis, 

 tend aux hypotheses par la nature 

 meme du sujet auquelelles'applique, 

 n'offrait point assez de Constance 

 dans ses principes et d'eVideuce 

 dans ses demonstrations pour satis- 

 faire des esprits qui se ddtachaient 

 tous les jours davantage des vieilles 

 speculations de I'dcole. C'est ce qui 

 explique le peu de favour qu'elle 

 rencontrait a 1'Acade'mie." To what 

 extent this rigid demarcation, ac- 

 cording to which " observations 

 relatives aux dispositions morales 

 et intellectuelles des individus 

 n'entrent assure'ment dans les 

 attributions d'aucune acade'mie des 

 sciences" ('Me'moires de 1'Institut,' 

 vol. ix. p. 110), was beneficial to 

 medical science is an important 

 question. In the organisation of 

 the Institute of the 3rd brumaire, an 

 iv. (25th October 1795), there are 



awarded out of 60 members only 6 

 to medicine and surgery combined, 

 and in the " nouvelle organisation " 

 of 3rd pluviose, an xi. (23rd January 

 1803), there are 6 members out of 

 63. This section is given as the last, 

 even after " Economic rurale et art 

 veteYinaire" (see Aucoc, ' L'Institut,' 

 p. 3, &c.) It is interesting to note 

 how in contrast to this the medical 

 profession occupied for a long period 

 a foremost place in the Royal Society 

 of London, so much so that fre- 

 quently opposition was made to the 

 admission of new members belong- 

 ing to it (see Weld, ' History of the 

 Royal Society,' vol. i. chap. 4 ; vol. 

 ii. p. 153). Of 5336 papers contained 

 in the ' Philosophical Transactions ' 

 from 1665 to 1848, 1020, the largest 

 number in any department, belonged 

 to anatomy, physiology, and medi- 

 cine (ibid., vol. ii. p. 565). Babbage 

 complained of the influence of the 

 Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons 

 in the Royal Society, as occasionally 

 filling the pages of the 'Transac- 

 tions ' with medical papers of very 

 moderate merit ; and also because 

 the preponderance of the medical 

 interest introduces into the Society 

 some of the jealousies of that pro- 

 fession ('Decline of Science in Eng- 

 land,' 1830, p. 188). In the founda- 

 tion of the British Association this 

 union with the medical interest 

 was dropped ; though the older 

 "Versammlung deutscher Natur- 

 forscher und Arzte," after which 

 it was modelled, established and 

 maintained that union. 



