INTRODUCTION 



BEGINNINGS OF SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY IN ENGLAND IN THE 

 NINETEENTH CENTURY 



IN the October number of the Quarterly Review for the year 

 1830 there appeared an article commenting favorably upon a 

 work by the mathematician Charles Babbage (1792-1871), 

 entitled, " Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, 

 and on some of its Causes. " It appeared that the astronomer 

 John Herschel (1792-1871) was the only living British scien- 

 tist of note (the great chemist, Sir Humphry Davy, 1778- 

 1829, having recently died), and that the outlook for science 

 was most depressing. There was not then in England a single 

 philosopher bearing a title ; Sir Walter Scott was the only 

 author who had been distinguished by any title of honor since 

 the accession of George III (1760). Further, there was not 

 a single philosopher then enjoying a pension or the favor of 

 the sovereign. Remedies were suggested ; and from this 

 appeal there arose in 1831 the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. This society, which subsequently 

 enjoyed the favor of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort, 

 has contributed materially to the progress of science not only 

 in England, but also in other countries. Scientific investiga- 

 tion grew in popular as well as in royal favor. During the 

 next twenty years eleven members of the Association received 

 the honors of knighthood, and seventeen received pensions. 

 It was in 1850 that Lyell was knighted, the year after Huxley 

 had published his work on the Medusa. Such, in brief, 

 were the beginnings of scientific activity in England in the 



