[S52 JEALOUSY OF MIS RISE 



105 



be battled with directly ; indeed it was rather a relief to 

 have an opportunity for action instead of sitting still to wait 

 the results of uncertain elections. The qualities requisite for 

 such a contest he possessed, in a high ideal of the dignity of 

 science as an instrument of truth ; a standard of veracity in 

 scientific workers to which all should subordinate their per- 

 sonal ambitions ; a disregard of authority as such unless its 

 claims were verified by indisputable fact; and as a begin- 

 ning, the will to subject himself to his own most rigid canons 

 of accuracy, thoroughness, and honesty ; then to maintain 

 his principle and defend his position against all attempts at 

 browbeating. 



March 5, 1852. 



I told you I was very busy, and I must tell you what I am 

 about and you will believe me. I have just finished a Memoir 

 for the Royal Society,* which has taken me a world of time, 

 thought, and reading, and is, perhaps, the best thing I have done 

 yet. It will not be read till May, and I do not know whether 

 they will print it or not afterwards ; that will require care and 

 a litde manoeuvring on my part. You have no notion of the 

 intrigues that go on in this blessed world of science. Science is, 

 I fear, no purer than any other region of human activity; though 

 it should be. Merit alone is very little good ; it must be backed 

 by tact and knowledge of the world to do very much. 



For instance, I know that the paper I have just sent in is 

 very original and of some importance, and I am equally sure that 



if it is referred to the judgment of my " particular friend " 



that it will not be published. He won't be able to say a word 

 against it, but he will pooh-pooh it to a dead certainty. 



You will ask with some wonderment. Why ? Because for 

 the last twenty years has been regarded as the great au- 

 thority on these matters, and has had no one to tread on his 

 heels, until at last, I think, he has come to look upon the Natural 

 World as his special preserve, and " no poachers allowed." So 

 I must manoeuvre a little to get my poor memoir kept out of 

 his hands. 



The necessity for these little stratagems utterly disgusts me. 

 I would so willingly reverence and trust any man of high stand- 

 ing and ability. I am so utterly unable to comprehend this petty 



* " On the Morphology of the Cephalous Mollusca,' Scientific 

 Memoirs, vol. i. p. 152. 



