Ig2 CHARLES BABBAGE. 



of infinite series " or tlie '•'■ application of machinery to the computation 

 of mathematical tables," the ''^measurement of heights" or the "improve- 

 ments of diving-bells," " proportion of letters occurring in various lan- 

 guages " or " observations on the Temple of Serapis," " thoughts on 

 the principles of taxation " or " statistics of light-houses," his purpose 

 in every essay is practical good. He enlivens the dry subject of politi- 

 cal economy by the most interesting and pertinent anecdotes ; draws the 

 attention of engine-drivers and stokers to his abstruse discussions of 

 curves and gauges on railways by maxims and rules that are of constant 

 use ; discusses the subject of Greenwich time-signals with a variety of 

 illustrations that makes it attractive to every ship-master; mingles his 

 I)hilosophical theories on occulting lights with narratives of observations 

 and experiences that amuse and instruct the most ordinary minds ; and 

 treats the vexed question of glaciers with a liveliness and perspicuity 

 which interest if they do not convince. 



The reader will judge whether we have overestimated or misunder- 

 stood the real characteristics of Mr. Babbage's mind from the examples 

 we now propose to give from some of his contributions to knowledge. 



Mr. Babbage was one of the oldest members of the Eoyal Society at 

 the time of his death in October of last year. He was also, more than 

 half a century ago, one of the founders of the Astronomical Society, and 

 he and Sir John Herschel were the last survivors of those founders. He 

 was also an active and zealous member of many of the leading learned 

 societies of London and Edinburg, and, in former years at least, an ex- 

 tensive contributor to their published transactions. His last important 

 publication was the amusing and only too characteristic autobiographi- 

 cal work from which we have freely quoted — "Passages from the Life of 

 a Philosopher." 



There were methods of action — qualities they might perhaps be more 

 properly called — in the mind of Charles Babbage that recall to the 

 philosophical peruser of his works in the exact sciences traits not dis- 

 similar in kind, however distinct in degree, to those possessed by that 

 most original of all thinkers. Sir Isaac IsTewton. He possessed in com- 

 mon with Newton extraordinary powers of intellectual introversion. 

 What he desired to accomplish he thought out. His mind, like a pho- 

 tographic plate, was cleansed by a continued force of will to think 

 rightly, and when cleansed received its impressions from the light of 

 truth. Not only his contributions to knowledge and his complex and 

 intricate calculating-machines, but the scores of lesser inventions which 

 he produced from time to time, are illustrative of this. Like Newton, 

 he first pondered his facts, illuminated them by persistent thought, and 

 then proceeded to the principles on which these facts depend. 



Pestalozzi, the Italian philanthropist, after a long life spent in works 

 of benevolence, came at last to the conclusion that no man could be 

 much helped or hindered by any one but himself. The remark is appli- 

 cable to Charles Babbage more than to most persons. He both made 



