206 Scientific Intelligence. [May, 



sions on the Tenasserim coast. A small quantity of the wood has, we understand, 

 been sent home to the Honorable the Court of Directors, for the purpose of 

 being examined as to its dying properties, compared with other known dye woods. 



[From duplicate specimens of the wood, leaves, and seed just received, it turns out 

 that the tree in question is the thit-tsi or varnish tree, melanorrhcea usitata of Wa\- 

 lich : the ahove notice of its properties as a dye forms however an addition to our 

 knowledge of the tree. — Ed.] 



4, — Decline of Science in France. 

 In the Journal des Savans, Jan. 1831, is a note by Professor Biot on the subject 

 of Mr. Babbage's reflections on the supposed decline of science in England. He 

 deprecates the fatal example which has been set by a man of such distinguished 

 talent, in decrying the institutions of his country, and introducing dissentions 

 among those who should be occupied in fortifying the bulwarks of science, while he 

 gives arms to her numerous enemies, always ready to ridicule and undermine her 

 jealous ascendancy. The example has already been followed by other illustrious 

 men, with the augmented bitterness of personal controversy ; and a torch of discord 

 is introduced among the combustible materials of our scientific bodies, which 

 neither the late distribution of titles and pensions by the Government, nor the 

 establishment of Associations for the promotion of science in different parts of 

 the kingdom, can now extinguish*. 



M. Biot concurs in lamenting the neglect which such men as Dalton, 

 Ivory, Young, Brewster, and Herschell, have suffered from their country ; and 

 grants that the abstract sciences have with us been abandoned for the more 

 attractive paths of popular knowledge, the sure roads in England to preferment in 

 the church, the law, the shipping and manufacturing lines : but in drawing a 

 parallel between England and France, Mr, Babbage is thought to have laid too 

 much stress upon the political honors and distinctions lavished upon men of 

 science in the latter country. " It is," says M. Biot, " a remarkable moral 

 effect of the distinction of ranks so strongly defined and so continually felt in 

 England, that an abstract philosopher like Mr. Babbage, should be brought to 

 confess honorary titles to be satisfactory and grateful to the intellectual class ! 

 Doubtless when such distinctions are accorded to merit, the intention should 

 be duly appreciated, but the idea of any precedent or right should not for 

 a moment be entertained." M. Biot makes the following just reflections on the 

 French system of education. 



" The immense development of the sciences in France, during the last 40 

 years, appears to us to have been produced by two causes very different from 

 those pointed out by M. Babbage : two potent causes, of which one exists still, 

 but the other has long ceased to act. 



"The still existing cause is, the publicity of our higher grades of instruc- 

 tion, and its perfect independence of all pecuniary contributions paid by the 

 auditors. It is thus open to every intelligent mind in a state competent to 

 profit by it. The endowments, liberally assigned by the country, allow the 

 * We observe in the Philosophical Magazine, that at the grand scientific Reunion. 

 at York, committees were established for the promotion of science, and that Major 

 Benson, (W. H. Benson, Esq. C. S. ?) Sir Edward Ryan, Mr. Calder, Mr. J. D. 

 Herbert, (Captain Herbert?) and Mr. J. Prinsep, were appointed a sub-com- 

 mittee for India. No diploma has however yet reached Calcutta, and we trust 

 that the increasing contributions to our Journal are the best guarantee of the non- 

 decline of science in this part of the world !— Ed. 



