Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on Some of Its Causes
- Pages
- about 180
- Category
- History
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 3.3 h at 250 wpm
From the opening
Of the causes which have induced me to print this volume I have little
to say; my own opinion is, that it will ultimately do some service
to science, and without that belief I would not have undertaken so
thankless a task. That it is too true not to make enemies, is an opinion
in which I concur with several of my friends, although I should hope
that what I have written will not give just reason for the permanence of
such feelings. On one point I shall speak decidedly, it is not connected
in any degree with the calculating machine on which I have been engaged;
the causes which have led to it have been long operating, and would have
produced this result whether I had ever speculated on that subject, and
whatever might have been the fate of my speculations.
If any one shall endeavour to account for the opinions stated in these
pages by ascribing them to any imagined circumstance peculiar to myself,
I think he will be mistaken. That science has long been neglected and
declining in England, is not an opinion originating with me, but is
shared by many, and has been expressed by higher authority than mine. I
shall offer a few notices on this subject, which, from their scattered
position, are unlikely to have met the reader's attention, and which,
when combined with the facts I have detailed in subsequent pages, will
be admitted to deserve considerable attention. The following extract
from the article Chemistry, in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, is from
the pen of a gentleman equally qualified by his extensive reading, and
from his acquaintance with foreign nations, to form an opinion entitled
to respect. Differing from him widely as to the cause, I may be
permitted to cite him as high authority for the fact.
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