569 



Under the second division of rewards and encouragements to 

 those who are proficients in Science, the difficult subject of the 

 utility of medals, decorations, and other stimulants of that kind, is 

 discussed. As to medals, I agree with those who consider it expe- 

 dient that some should he given ; hut care should be taken that such 

 distinctions are not unduly multiplied. The subject of decorations, 

 titles, and orders of merit, considered as incentives to the application 

 to scientific research, is full of difficulty. On the one hand, it is 

 doubtless an anomaly, in this country, that while these honours are 

 now somewhat lavishly bestowed for military services, a very high 

 degree of merit in any civil line is seldom rewarded by any such 

 distinctions. On the other hand, it is clear that rewards which were 

 not approved by public opinion would confer little honour, and that 

 there are many eminent cultivators of Science in this country who 

 would set little value on distinctions awarded by the Government, 

 which would rarely be in a condition to form an accurate estimate of 

 the claims of rival candidates. 



That the emoluments of Professors should be increased, and more 

 prizes provided at the Universities for scientific merit, is generally 

 admitted. 



There is one point on which the Report in question is silent, but 

 that involves so serious a grievance, and is calculated so much to 

 discourage the devotion of high mental endowments to physical re- 

 search, that it would be improper to omit all mention of it here, 

 when something like a cursory review of the present position of 

 Science hi this country has been attempted. 



It has somehow or other become almost an established practice in 

 this country, that no amount of labour, however arduous, performed 

 for the benefit of the community by men of science, is considered, 

 as such, entitled to pecuniary reward. I could enumerate many in- 

 stances which have fallen within my own personal experience, in 

 which a very great amount of anxious and harassing toil, wearisome 

 alike to both body and mind, and calculated to exhaust the energies 

 of both, has been performed for the State gratuitously by men of 

 great eminence in their various walks of science, with a zeal and de- 

 votion worthy of all praise. 



It is unnecessary, and it would be improper, to instance cases of 

 services performed by persons now living ; they are well known, and 



