544 
Report on Scientific Societies. [September, 
Of Science and the State . — I have lived long enough, and 
have had sufficient experience both of science and the world, 
not to over-estimate the value of knowledge to man or to 
mankind ; and although I should be sorry to back up the 
statement of Pascal that the search after truth were an 
occupation uncongenial to human nature, yet observation 
has convinced me that, in the aCtual state of society, it is 
not practicable, and therefore not desirable, that more than 
a very limited number of persons should follow, or be induced 
to follow, this calling. Now, if we wish to form a fair and 
unbiassed opinion or estimate of the importance of science 
and the recognition it receives, we ought to compare it 
exclusively with the remaining members of the sisterhood 
of, anciently so called, liberal arts. As the result of any 
such examination, we shall arrive at the conclusion that 
neither literature nor fine art is, upon the whole, so un- 
grateful as Science is to the man who wooes her, or rather 
whom she entices ; or, in plain words, with neither writer 
nor artist does society deal so unequitably as it does with 
the philosopher. For, in whichever aspeCt we may view 
Science, whether in regard to intellectual worth or practical 
utility, surely the discoverer of truth should obtain the same 
reward as the author of fiction ; as the former, to view only 
one side of the question, extends our knowledge of nature, 
and virtually expands man’s intellect, while the latter pro- 
cures us but pleasant and fleeting emotions, or helps us to 
while weary hours away. Still fiction, if it does not obtain 
recognition in the shape of rank, reaps its recompense in 
wealth, favour, and fame, a single successful work being 
sufficient to procure lifelong independence and an enduring 
popular name : the most splendid discoveries, on the other 
hand, are rewarded, if at all, by medals of no intrinsic or 
outer worth, and the greatest philosophers have to spend 
habitually in penury lives of obscurity. True, the philoso- 
pher should work disinterestedly and seek for no worldly 
recompense, but so ought also the poet or artist. And if 
society spontaneously pay its debt to the latter through 
voluntary contributions, as it were, both of gold and of cele- 
brity, there is no reason why the public should not equally 
acknowledge its obligations to the former, if no other mode 
be found, by contributions levied by the State, and distinc- 
tions conferred by Government or the Crown. 
Whatever may be said about the tendency of the age, the 
privilege of aristocracy still remains the greatest boon that 
can be bestowed upon any person who is subject of a State 
where such a distinction, by law or custom, is -recognised. 
