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Decline of Science in England

C >> Charles Babbage >> Decline of Science in England




The reformers of modern times were less energetic in the measures
they recommended. Dr. Wollaston and some others thought the
limitation of the numbers of the Society to be the most essential
point, and 400 was suggested as a proper number to be
recommended, in case a limitation should be ultimately resolved
upon. I confess, such a limit did not appear to me to bring
great advantages, especially when I reflected how long a time
must have elapsed before the 714 members of the Society could be
reduced by death to that number. And I also thought that as long
as those who alone sustained the reputation of the Society by
their writings and discoveries should be admitted into it on
precisely the same terms, and on the payment of the same sum of
money as other gentlemen who contributed only with their purse,
it could never be an object of ambition to any man of science to
be enrolled on its list.

With this view, and also to assist those who wished for a
limitation, I suggested a plan extremely simple in its nature,
and which would become effective immediately. I proposed that,
in the printed list of the Royal Society, a star should be placed
against the name of each Fellow who had contributed two or more
papers which had been printed in the Transactions, or that such a
list should be printed separately at the end.

At that period there were 109 living members who had contributed
papers to the Transactions, and they were thus arranged:

37 Contributors of . . 1 paper
21 . . . . . . . . . . 2 papers
19 . . . . . . . . . . 3 ditto
5 . . . . . . . . . . 4 ditto
3 . . . . . . . . . . 5 ditto
3 . . . . . . . . . . 6 ditto
]2 . . . . from 7 to 12 ditto
14 . . . of more than 12 papers.

100 Contributing Fellows of the Royal Society. 589 Papers
contributed by them.

Now the immediate effect of printing such a list would be the
division of the Society into two classes. Supposing two or more
papers necessary for placing a Fellow in the first class, that
class would only consist of seventy-two members, which is nearly
the same as the number of those of the Institute of France. If
only those who had contributed three or more were admitted, then
this class would be reduced to fifty-one. In either of these
cases it would obviously become a matter of ambition to belong to
the first class; and a more minute investigation into the value
of each paper would naturally take place before it was admitted
into the Transactions. Or it might be established that such
papers only should be allowed to count, as the Committee, who
reported them as fit to be printed, should also certify. The
great objection made to such an arrangement was, that it would be
displeasing to the rest of the Society, and that they had a
vested right (having entered the Society when no distinction was
made in the lists) to have them always continued without one.

Without replying to this shadow of an argument of vested rights,
I will only remark that he who maintains this view pays a very
ill compliment to the remaining 600 members of the Royal Society;
since he does, in truth, maintain that those gentlemen who, from
their position, accidentally derive reputation which does not
belong to them, are unwilling, when the circumstance is pointed
out, to allow the world to assign it to those who have fairly won
it; or else that they are incapable of producing any thing worthy
of being printed in the Transactions of the Royal Society.
Lightly as the conduct of the Society, as a body, has compelled
me to think of it, I do not think so ill of the personal
character of its members as to believe that if the question were
fairly stated to them, many would object to it.

Amongst the alterations which I considered most necessary to the
renovation of the Society, was the recommendation, by the
expiring Council, of those whom they thought most eligible for
that of the ensuing year.

The system which had got into practice was radically bad: it is
impossible to have an INDEPENDENT Council if it is named by ONE
PERSON. Our statutes were framed with especial regard to securing
the fitness of the members elected to serve in the Council; and
the President is directed, by those statutes, at the two ordinary
meetings previous to the anniversary, to give notice of the
elections, and "to declare how much it importeth the good of the
Society that such persons may be chosen into the Council as are
most likely to attend the meetings and business of the Council,
and out of whom may be made the best choice of a President and
other officers." This is regularly done; and, in mockery of the
wisdom of our ancestors, the President has perhaps in his pocket
the list of the future Council he has already fixed upon.

In some other Societies, great advantage is found to arise from
the discussion of the proper persons to be recommended to the
Society for the Council of the next year. A list is prepared, by
the Secretary, of the old Council, and against each name is
placed the number of times he has attended the meetings of the
Council. Those whose attendance has been least frequent are
presumed to be otherwise engaged, unless absence from London, or
engagement in some pursuit connected with the Society, are known
to have interfered. Those members who have been on the Council
the number of years which is usually allowed, added to those who
go out by their own wish, and by non-attendance, are, generally,
more in number than can be spared; and the question is never, who
shall retire?--but, who, out of the rest of the Society, is most
likely to work, if placed on the Council?

If any difference of opinion should exist in a society, it is
always of great importance to its prosperity to have both
opinions represented in the Council. In this age of discussion
it is impossible to stifle opinions; and if they are not
represented in the Council, there is some chance of their being
brought before the general body, or, at last, even before the
public. It is certainly an advantage that questions should be
put, and even that debates should take place on the days
appropriated to the anniversaries of societies. This is the best
check to the commencement of irregularities; and a suspicion may
reasonably be entertained of those who endeavour to suppress
inquiry.

On the other hand, debates respecting the affairs of the Society
should never be entered on at the ordinary meetings, as they
interrupt its business, and only a partial attendance can be
expected. That the conduct of those who have latterly managed
the Royal Society has not led to such discussions, is to be
attributed more to the forbearance of those who disapprove of the
line of conduct they have pursued, than to the discretion of the
party in not giving them cause.

The public is the last tribunal; one to which nothing but strong
necessity should induce an appeal. There are, however,
advantages in it which may, in some cases, render it better than
a public discussion at the anniversary. When the cause of
complaint is a system rather than any one great grievance, it may
be necessary to enter more into detail than a speech will permit;
also the printed statement and arguments will probably come under
the consideration of a larger number of the members. Another and
a considerable benefit is, that there is much less danger of any
expression of temper interrupting or injuring the arguments
employed.

There were other points suggested, but I shall subjoin the Report
of the Committee:--

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO CONSIDER THE BEST MEANS OF
LIMITING THE MEMBERS ADMITTED INTO THE ROYAL SOCIETY, AS WELL AS
TO MAKE SUCH SUGGESTIONS ON THAT SUBJECT AS MAY SEEM TO THEM
CONDUCIVE TO THE WELFARE OF THE SOCIETY.

Your Committee having maturely considered the resolution of the
Council under which they have been appointed; and having
satisfied themselves that the progressive increase of the Society
has been in a much higher ratio than the progressive increase of
population, or the general growth of knowledge, or the extension
of those sciences which it has been the great object of the
Society to promote, they have agreed to the following Report:--

Your Committee assume as indisputable propositions, that the
utility of the Society is in direct proportion to its
respectability. That its respectability can only be secured by
its comprising men of high philosophical eminence; and that the
obvious means of associating persons of this eminence will be the
public conviction, that to belong to the Society is an honour.
Your Committee, therefore, think themselves fully borne out in
the conclusion, that it would be expedient to limit the Society
to such a number as should be a fair representation of the talent
of the country; the consequence of which will be, that every
vacancy would become an object of competition among persons of
acknowledged merit.

From the returns which have been laid on your table, of the
Fellows who have contributed papers, and from the best estimate
they can make of the persons without doors who are engaged in the
active pursuit of science, your Committee feel justified in
recommending that those limits should be fixed at four hundred,
exclusive of foreign members, and of such royal personages as it
may be thought proper to admit.

As many years must elapse before the present number of seven
hundred and fourteen can be reduced to those limits by the course
of nature, and as it would be prejudicial to the interests of the
Society and of science, that no fresh accessions should take
place during that long period, your Committee would further
recommend, that till that event takes place, four new members
should be annually admitted.

With respect to the manner of admission, your Committee are of
opinion, that there are several inconveniences in the present
mode of proceeding to a single ballot upon each certificate,
according to its seniority. If the above limitation should be
adopted, it may be presumed, that for every vacancy there will be
many candidates; from amongst them, it must be the general wish
to select the most distinguished individuals; but to accomplish
this, if the present system were to be continued, it would be
necessary to reject all those candidates whose certificates were
of earlier date than theirs; a process not only extremely
irritating, but probably ineffectual from the want of unanimity.
Your Committee, therefore, most earnestly recommend, that one
general election should take place every year towards the end of
the session, and that this should be conducted on the same
principles as the present annual election of the Council and
officers; VIZ. by having lists printed of all the candidates
(whose certificates had been suspended for the usual time,) in
which lists each Fellow would mark the requisite number of
persons.

As the charter, however, requires the concurrence of two-thirds
of the Fellows present, your Committee suggest, that after the
choice has been determined by the plurality of votes by ballot in
the above manner, the successful candidates should be again
submitted to a general vote, in accordance with the enactments of
the said charter.

In concluding this part of the subject, your Committee beg leave
to remark, that by the method now proposed, the invidious act of
blackballing would cease, and with it all feelings of resentment
and mortification; as the result of such an open competition
could only be construed by the public into a fair preference of
the superior claims of the successful few, and not into a direct
and disgraceful rejection of the others.

Your Committee are fully aware, that such a reduction in the
usual admissions would materially affect the pecuniary resources
of the Society; but they are at the same time convinced, that by
a vigorous economy its present income might be rendered adequate
to all its real wants, and the aggregate expenditure might be
considerably diminished by many small but wholesome
retrenchments.

It appears, from the accounts of last year, that although 1200L.
was received for compositions, in addition to the standing
income, and usual contributions, &c., and although no money was
invested, yet there was a balance only of a few pounds at the end
of the year. It further appears, that 500L. was paid for the
paper, 370L. for engravings, and nearly 340L. for printing; and
from those alarming facts, your Committee submit to your
consideration, whether the expenditure might not be beneficially
controlled by a standing Committee of Finance.

In obedience to the latter part of your resolution, your
Committee now proceed to offer some further suggestions for your
consideration. They conceive that it would afford a beneficial
stimulus to individual exertion, if the Fellows who have received
the medals of the Society, and those who have repeatedly enriched
its Transactions, were distinguished by being collected into a
separate and honourable list. It would also be found, perhaps,
not less a future incentive than an act of retrospective justice,
if the names of all those illustrious Fellows who have formerly
obtained the medals, as well as of all those individuals who have
been large benefactors to the Society, were recorded at the end
of the list. It would be a satisfactory addition likewise to the
annual list, if all those Fellows who have died, or had been
admitted within the preceding year, were regularly noticed. And
your Committee think, that these lists should always form part of
the Transactions, and be stitched up with the last part of the
volume.

It requires no argument to demonstrate that the well-being of the
Society mainly depends on the activity and integrity of its
Council; and as their selection is unquestionably of paramount
importance, your Committee hope that our excellent President will
not consider it any impeachment of his impartiality, or any doubt
of his zeal, if they venture to suggest, that the usual
recommendation to the Society of proper members for the future
Council should henceforth be considered as a fit subject for the
diligent and anxious deliberation of the expiring Council.

There is another point of great moment to the character of the
Society, and to the dignified station it occupies among the
learned associations of Europe; for its character abroad can only
be appreciated by the nature and value of its Transactions. Your
Committee allude to the important task of deciding on what papers
should be published; and they are of opinion that it would be a
material improvement on the present mode, if each paper were
referred to a separate Committee, who should have sufficient time
given them to examine it carefully, who should be empowered to
communicate on any doubtful parts with the author; and who should
report, not only their opinion, but the grounds on which that
opinion is formed, for the ultimate decision of the Council.

If it should be thought fit to adopt the suggestions which your
Committee have now had the honour of proposing, they beg leave to
move, that another Committee be appointed, with directions to
frame or to alter the necessary statutes, so that they may be in
strict accordance with the charters.

In concluding the Report, your Committee do not wish to disguise
the magnitude of some of the measures they have thought it their
duty to propose; on the contrary, they would not only urge the
fullest discussion of their expediency; but further, that if you
should even be unanimously disposed to confirm them, your
Committee would recommend, that the several statutes, when they
have been drawn up or modified, should be only entered on your
minutes, and not finally enacted. All innovations in the
constitution, or even the habits of the Royal Society, should be
scrutinized with the most jealous circumspection. It is enough
for the present Council to have traced the plan; let the Council
of the ensuing sessions share the credit of carrying that plan
into effect.

This Report was presented to the Council very ]ate in the session
of 1827, and on the 25th of June there occurs the following entry
on the council-book:--

"The Report of the Committee for considering the best means of
limiting the number of members, and such other suggestions as
they may think conducive to the good of the Society, was received
and read, and ordered to be entered on the minutes; and the
Council, regarding the importance of the subject, and its
bearings on the essential interests of the Society, in conformity
with the concluding paragraph, and considering also the advanced
stage of the session, recommend it to the most serious and early
consideration of the Council for the ensuing year."

Those who advocated these alterations, were in no hurry for their
hasty adoption; they were aware of their magnitude, and anxious
for the fullest investigation before one of them should be tried.

Unfortunately, the concluding recommendation of the Committee did
not coincide with the views of Mr. Gilbert, whom the party had
determined to make their new President. That gentleman made such
arrangements for the Council of the succeeding year, that when
the question respecting the consideration of the Report of that
Committee was brought forward, it was thrown aside in the manner
I have stated. Thus a report, sanctioned by the names of such a
committee, and recommended by one Council to "THE MOST SERIOUS
and EARLY consideration of the Council for the ensuing year," was
by that very Council rejected, without even the ceremony of
discussing its merits. Was every individual recommendation it
contained, not merely unfit to be adopted, but so totally
deficient in plausibility as to be utterly unworthy of
discussion? Or did the President and his officers feel, that
their power rested on an insecure foundation, and that they did
not possess the confidence of the working members of the
Society?



CHAPTER V.

OF OBSERVATIONS.

There are several reflections connected with the art of making
observations and experiments, which may be conveniently arranged
in this chapter.


SECTION 1.

OF MINUTE PRECISION.

No person will deny that the highest degree of attainable
accuracy is an object to be desired, and it is generally found
that the last advances towards precision require a greater
devotion of time, labour, and expense, than those which precede
them. The first steps in the path of discovery, and the first
approximate measures, are those which add most to the existing
knowledge of mankind.

The extreme accuracy required in some of our modern inquiries
has, in some respects, had an unfortunate influence, by favouring
the opinion, that no experiments are valuable, unless the
measures are most minute, and the accordance amongst them most
perfect. It may, perhaps, be of some use to show, that even with
large instruments, and most practised observers, this is but
rarely the case. The following extract is taken from a
representation made by the present Astronomer-Royal, to the
Council of the Royal Society, on the advantages to be derived
from the employment of two mural circles:--

"That by observing, with two instruments, the same objects at the
same time, and in the same manner, we should be able to estimate
how much of that OCCASIONAL DISCORDANCE FROM THE MEAN, which
attends EVEN THE MOST CAREFUL OBSERVATIONS, ought to be
attributed to irregularity of refraction, and how much to THE
IMPERFECTIONS OF INSTRUMENTS."

In confirmation of this may be adduced the opinion of the late M.
Delambre, which is the more important, from the statement it
contains relative to the necessity of publishing all the
observations which have been made.

"Mais quelque soit le parti que l'on prefere, il me semble qu'on
doit tout publier. Ces irregularites memes sont des faits qu'il
importe de connoitre. LES SOINS LES PLUS ATTENTIFS N'EN
SAUROIENT PRESERVER LES OBSERVATEURS LES PLUS EXERCES, et celui
qui ne produiroit que des angles toujours parfaitment d'accord
auroit ete singulierement bien servi par les circonstances ou ne
seroit pas bien sincere."--BASE DU SYSTEME METRIQUE, Discours
Preliminaire, p. 158.

This desire for extreme accuracy has called away the attention of
experimenters from points of far greater importance, and it seems
to have been too much overlooked in the present day, that genius
marks its tract, not by the observation of quantities
inappreciable to any but the acutest senses, but by placing
Nature in such circumstances, that she is forced to record her
minutest variations on so magnified a scale, that an observer,
possessing ordinary faculties, shall find them legibly written.
He who can see portions of matter beyond the ken of the rest of
his species, confers an obligation on them, by recording what he
sees; but their knowledge depends both on his testimony and on
his judgment. He who contrives a method of rendering such atoms
visible to ordinary observers, communicates to mankind an
instrument of discovery, and stamps his own observations with a
character, alike independent of testimony or of judgment.


SECTION 2.

ON THE ART OF OBSERVING.

The remarks in this section are not proposed for the assistance
of those who are already observers, but are intended to show to
persons not familiar with the subject, that in observations
demanding no unrivalled accuracy, the principles of common sense
may be safely trusted, and that any gentleman of liberal
education may, by perseverance and attention, ascertain the
limits within which he may trust both his instrument and himself.

If the instrument is a divided one, the first thing is to learn
to read the verniers. If the divisions are so fine that the
coincidence is frequently doubtful, the best plan will be for the
learner to get some acquaintance who is skilled in the use of
instruments, and having set the instrument at hazard, to write
down the readings of the verniers, and then request his friend to
do the same; whenever there is any difference, he should
carefully examine the doubtful one, and ask his friend to point
out the minute peculiarities on which he founds his decision.
This should be repeated frequently; and after some practice, he
should note how many times in a hundred his reading differs from
his friend's, and also how many divisions they usually differ.

The next point is, to ascertain the precision with which the
learner can bisect an object with the wires of the telescope.
This can be done without assistance. It is not necessary even to
adjust the instrument, but merely to point it to a distant
object. When it bisects any remarkable point, read off the
verniers, and write down the result; then displace the telescope
a little, and adjust it again. A series of such observations
will show the confidence which is due to the observer's eye in
bisecting an object, and also in reading the verniers; and as the
first direction gave him some measure of the latter, he may, in a
great measure, appreciate his skill in the former. He should
also, when he finds a deviation in the reading, return to the
telescope, and satisfy himself if he has made the bisection as
complete as he can. In general, the student should practise each
adjustment separately, and write down the results wherever he can
measure its deviations.

Having thus practised the adjustments, the next step is to make
an observation; but in order to try both himself and the
instrument, let him take the altitude of some fixed object, a
terrestrial one, and having registered the result, let him
derange the adjustment, and repeat the process fifty or a hundred
times. This will not merely afford him excellent practice, but
enable him to judge of his own skill.

The first step in the use of every instrument, is to find the
limits within which its employer can measure the SAME OBJECT
UNDER THE SAME CIRCUMSTANCES. It is only from a knowledge of
this, that he can have confidence in his measures of the SAME
OBJECT UNDER DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES, and after that, of
DIFFERENT OBJECTS UNDER DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES.

These principles are applicable to almost all instruments. If a
person is desirous of ascertaining heights by a mountain
barometer, let him begin by adjusting the instrument in his own
study; and having made the upper contact, let him write down the
reading of the vernier, and then let him derange the UPPER
adjustment ONLY, re-adjust, and repeat the reading. When he is
satisfied about the limits within which he can make that
adjustment, let him do the same repeatedly with the lower; but
let him not, until he knows his own errors in reading and
adjusting, pronounce upon those of the instrument. In the case
of a barometer, he must also be assured, that the temperature of
the mercury does not change during the interval.

A friend once brought to me a beautifully constructed piece of
mechanism, for marking minute portions of time; the three-
hundredth parts of a second were indicated by it. It was a kind
of watch, with a pin for stopping one of the hands. I proposed
that we should each endeavour to stop it twenty times in
succession, at the same point. We were both equally unpractised,
and our first endeavours showed that we could not be confident of
the twentieth part of a second. In fact, both the time occupied
in causing the extremities of the fingers to obey the volition,
as well as the time employed in compressing the flesh before the
fingers acted on the stop, appeared to influence the accuracy of
our observations. From some few experiments I made, I thought I
perceived that the rapidity of the transmission of the effects of
the will, depended on the state of fatigue or health of the body.
If any one were to make experiments on this subject, it might be
interesting, to compare the rapidity of the transmission of
volition in different persons, with the time occupied in
obliterating an impression made on one of the senses of the same
persons. For example, by having a mechanism to make a piece of
ignited charcoal revolve with different degrees of velocity, some
persons will perceive a continuous circle of light before others,
whose retina does not retain so long impressions that are made
upon it.

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