ENCOURAGEMENT RECEIVED BY FOREIGN DISCOVERERS. 265 



ing member of the Institute of France the highest recog- 

 nition in science which can be accorded to anyone it was 

 not until the year 1833 that a pension of 150 a year was 

 granted to him. 



' As a contrast to the action of some Governments, the 

 Norwegian Government, by a unanimous vote, provided 

 funds for a magnetic expedition which Hansteen was to 

 conduct along the north of Europe and Asia ; and this they 

 did at the very time when they refused to make a grant to 

 the king for building a palace at Christiania. The expe- 

 dition was made in 1823-30, and verified Hansteen's 

 anticipation as to the existence of a region of magnetic 

 convergence in Siberia, which he considered as indicating 

 a " pole " to the north of that country.' 1 Governmental 

 treatment of science has, however, much improved since 

 the above was written. 



As in all other occupations, so in that of scientific 

 research, much of the success of the man depends upon 

 fortunate coincidence of circumstances which he cannot 

 control. We cannot all be Newtons, nor could Newton 

 himself have been, in another age, as great a man as he 

 was. Suitability of epoch, or being ' born at the -right 

 time,' is a very important condition of success in re- 

 search ; this has already been referred to and illustrated in 

 previous chapters. 



6 We cannot too frequently be reminded that we are no- 

 thing of ourselves and by ourselves, and are only something 

 by the place we hold in the intellectual chain of humanity, 

 by which electricity is conveyed to us and through us 

 to be increased in the transmission, if we have great natural 

 power, and are favourably situated, but not otherwise. A 

 child is born to the Vecelli family, at Cadore, and when it 



1 Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences, vol. iii, 3rd eel., p. 49. 



