548 Report on Scientific Societies. [September, 
newly-discovered truths, or the throwing out of undigested 
hypotheses and baseless guesses as if they were accurate, 
well-tested theories. In this manner science becomes cor- 
rupted and debased, and the sense of truth, in lecturer and 
listener, blunted and confused; while precision, accuracy, 
and scrupulosity, being the chief ingredients of the philoso- 
phic mind, are looked upon as of no importance or value. 
But here, also, it is not the interference of Government, but 
the sincerity and moral courage of true men of science, 
that alone would be capable to stem the current of the 
spreading evil. 
C. K. A, 
Pesth , July 21, 1870. 
My Dear Sir, 
In my preceding letters I have examined into the 
state of science in England, and of the institutions and 
means subservient to its advancement, and I have suggested 
several measures of reform or improvement. My objeCt in 
writing to you this supplemental communication is to submit 
some remarks concerning the state of science on the Conti- 
nent ; and if these do not lead me to make any additional 
proposals, they may yet convey information “ how not to 
do it.” 
The scientific institutions most prominent in France and 
in Germany — and to these countries I intend to confine my 
remarks — are, relatively to the former, the academy , and 
relatively to the latter, the universities ; and the sign cha- 
racteristic of both is the principle of authority supported by 
a system of centralisation. It will be sufficient for my pre- 
sent purposes if my observations point to these several 
subject matters. 
The French Academy is in some respeCts similar to the 
Royal Society, and the points in which it differs from the 
latter are not, in my opinion, to its advantage. In the first 
place, the members of the Academy are salaried by the 
Government, but their emoluments are not sufficient to live 
upon, or to keep them, so to speak, in working order ; nor 
do they perform any specific service to Science or the State 
for the money. The Academy, next, is divided into a certain 
number of sections, according to the several branches of 
science, and the number of members in each section is 
strictly limited. As that subdivision is invariable, while the 
