Oct. 31, 1878] 



NATURE 



691 



of the Royal Society (twice), of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society (twice), and of the Institute of Civil Engineers. 

 Most scientific societies are proud to have his name on 

 their list of members ; he is one of the eight Associes 

 ]6trangers de TAcad^mie des Sciences ^ Paris, 



A. WiNNECKE 



FOREIGN ORDERS 



T N several articles and letters in vol. viii. of Nature 

 the question of the conferment of foreign orders 

 on British subjects, so far as it concerns men of science, 

 was pretty thoroughly discussed, as well as the proposal 

 made in Parliament, in 1873, to establish an order of 

 intellectual merit. The subject has again come up in 

 connection with the distribution of awards at the close 

 of the Paris Exhibition, and there has been much dis- 

 appointment and even bitterness of feeling expressed at 

 the refusal of our Government to allow British subjects 

 to accept the coveted Cross of the Legion of Honour. 

 It is well known that many of our men of science, as 

 well as others, possess foreign orders in abundance, and 

 that our Government takes no notice unless consulted, 

 when, on the ground of some antiquated regulations, it 

 thinks it its duty to refuse permission to accept such 

 orders. If not illegal, it is at any rate weak and childish 

 on the part of Government to take such a course, worthy 

 of the days of " good " Queen Bess, who wished her 

 dogs to wear no collars but her own. In the case of the 

 Exhibition awards it has been shown that this decision 

 on the part of our Government falls Avith peculiar hard- 

 ship on British exhibitors. It will very naturally be 

 inferred by the general public that as a body they 

 occupy an inferior position to foreign exhibitors, who 

 are allowed to accept the great French honour, which 

 is conspicuous by its absence from the awards in the 

 British department. It is especially hard, we think, upon 

 those who have served on the British jury. From some 

 parsimonious caprice on the part of Government no allow- 

 ance was made to those who served as jurors at the Paris 

 Exhibition, and the eminent men of science who gave up 

 their time and knowledge for the benefit of the country 

 and the world not only go entirely unrewarded, but must 

 have been seriously out of pocket. One case we know of — 

 and we believe it is not the only one — where a well-known 

 chemist, besides incurring serious expense, worked so 

 hard as to materially affect his health, and all not even 

 for bare thanks. 



So far as we ourselves are concerned, we are not 

 anxious to see men of science eager to obtain, or easy to 

 be satisfied, with such honours as those which, if they 

 are simple enough to ask, they are told they must not 

 accept. Our own Government is niggardly enough in its 

 recognition of the services done by the scientific worker 

 to his country ; and how can it be otherwise with a 

 Cabinet that has scarcely a member, we believe, who 

 knows the difference between a telescope and a 

 telephone. Fortunately for his self-respect, the purely 

 scientific worker, however eminent he may be as such, 

 is rarely, if ever, embarrassed by the offer of honours 

 from our own Government. These are reserved for the 

 militant and civil services, where, as a rule, they are least 



requisite, seeing that those who obtain them are generally 

 pretty well paid for their zeal. As for what is called the 

 " honour " of knighthood, it has now become so common, 

 so easily obtainable, that the mere offer of it must 

 make one suspect that after all he must be regarded 

 by its dispensers as a very tenth-rate man. We know 

 of a humble grocer in a small country town in the north 

 in which a statue erected to the late Prince Consort was 

 unveiled by the Queen, when the decent man happened 

 to be provost; of course he was dubbed "Sir," and 

 his life was ever after rendered miserable by the waggish 

 little urchins of the town, who would gravely pass their 

 cans across the counter for " A bawbee worth o' treacle, 

 Sir Dawvid." And C.B. is rapidly becoming little 

 better, so that virtually in this country there is no im- 

 perial honour attainable by the purely scientific worker, 

 however eminent, which his self-respect would permit 

 him to accept entirely without question. 



As to the creation of an order of merit for men of high 

 eminence in science, literature, or art, we have already 

 expressed our opinion. In the present state of things it 

 is better to let the existing chaos alone. Who is there 

 among those who would now have the dispensation of such 

 an honour who is capable of selecting those really most 

 worthy of it "i Had we a Minister of Science, with a 

 council of scientific specialists to guide him, then there 

 would be some chance that such an honour would reach 

 those who really deserved it ; but at present it is hopeless. 

 Indeed the devotee of scientific research would much, 

 prefer that Government, if it desires to do science honour, 

 would do so by giving her substantial aid to pursue her 

 work, than that it should load her servants with all the 

 honours at her Majesty's disposal. 



Still with the parsimony both of money and "honours'* 

 at home, it is peculiarly hard that scientific men can 

 accept the distinctions which foreign governments are 

 ready enough to award only as if they were contra- 

 band goods. Literature and art are abundantly re- 

 warded in both ways, but, like virtue, science, on 

 which the substantial welfare of the world depends, 

 is its own reward ; but this, unfortunately, is not mar- 

 ketable. We trust that the present outcry will lead to 

 a modification of the unreasonable regulation as to 

 foreign orders. 



THE ''ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNIC A" 



The Encydopcedia Britanjiica. Ninth Edition. Vols, 

 vii. and viii. {Deacon to Fakir). (Edinburgh : A. and 

 C. Black, 1877-78.) 



IN the article Encyclopedia, which finds a place in 

 the second of the volumes now before us Mr. Lyons 

 defines an encyclopaedia as a book treating of all the 

 various kinds of knowledge. The definition applies well 

 enough to the older encyclopaedias, composed when it 

 was still thought practicable to set forth in a single work 

 all that was worth knowing in science and art. To define 

 the province of a modern encyclopedia is a more difficult 

 task, which will probably be avoided by every one who is 

 not compelled either to plan and edit a work of the kind, 

 or to review an editor' s plan. Smaller cyclopaedias, on 

 the type of the "Conversations Lexicon," naturally limit 



