COUNT RUMFORD. 143 



been as enthusiastic as Eumford himself in Eumford's 

 own direction, the three united would probably have 

 daunted opposition, and for a somewhat longer time 

 endeavoured to realise Eumford's dream. But differ- 

 ences arose between him and the other Managers. " It 

 is very clear to me," writes Dr. Bence Jones to Dr. 

 Ellis, " that Count Eumford fell out with Mr. Bernard 

 and with Sir John Hippesley. The fact was that Eum- 

 ford's idea of workshops and kitchen, industrial school, 

 mechanics' institution, model exhibition, social club- 

 house, and scientific committees to do everything, was 

 much too big and unworkable for a private body, and 

 was fitted only for an absolute and wealthy Govern- 

 ment." In 1803 Dr. Bence Jones informs us that diffi- 

 culties were gathering round the Institution, and it was 

 even proposed to sell it off. Eumford had quitted Lon- 

 don and gone to Paris. By Davy's aid, Mr. Bernard 

 and Sir John Hippesley carried on the work, but in a 

 fashion different from that contemplated by Eumford 

 that is to say, "without workshops, or mechanics' 

 institute, or kitchen, or model exhibition." The place 

 of these was taken by experimental and theoretical re- 

 searches, which, instead of dealing with things already 

 achieved, carried the mind into unexplored regions of 

 Nature, forgetful, if not neglectful, whether the dis- 

 coveries made in that region had or had not a bearing 

 on the arts, comforts, or necessities of material life. 



Eumford and his Institution had to bear the brunt 

 of ridicule, and he felt it ; but men of ready wit have 

 not abstained from exercising it on societies of greater 

 age and higher claims. Shafts of sarcasm without 

 number have been launched at the Eoyal Society. It 

 is perfectly natural for persons who have little taste for 

 scientific inquiry and less knowledge of the methods of 

 Nature, to feel amused, if not scandalised, by the ap- 



