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Council as well as the rich man's loose cash, yet the influence of the poor man with the powers that be, is nothing, and his society is less agreeable than that of the polished man of modern taste. To obtain aristocratic and opulent members they strain every nerve and exercise every kind of influence; and, in fact, to become a Fellow of the Royal Society is viewed by many of the most distinguished in social and political life, as upon a par with subscribing to certain of the many charitable societies of the metropolis-a tax to which they must submit as part means of accomplishing their ulterior political objects!

Let us now reverse the picture, and see how the poor man fares in respect of such scientific distinction as the Royal Society can confer; and as an example will be more illustrative than mere general statements, we shall give one.

A paper on an extremely intricate and difficult subject (a subject which had engaged the most illustrious enquirers from an early period, but unsuccessfully) was sent to the Royal Society, or rather to a distinguished member of the Council of that day. In this paper every difficulty was most completely overcome, and the Society, after some demur, accepted it, and finally it appeared in the Philosophical Transactions. But mark the condition annexed to its reception,-that it must be distinctly understood that the paper had no reference to any intention on the part of the author to offer himself for admission into the Society either now or HEREAFTER!' It was of no consequence that the author was one of the most able mathematicians that have adorned our country's annals, and withal a profound classical scholar, with a mind stored with an unusual variety of knowledge, he was guilty of the ungentleman-like crime of being nothing higher in social life than a schoolmaster. Would a rich man have been treated thus? Answer it, any honest mind. Though this occurred some few years ago, the same principle is still acted upon for there is not, we believe, a single schoolmaster on the rolls of the Royal Society-and yet who will say that there are not many men of profound science amongst them? We do not of course allude to the masters of endowed public schools, such as the Charter-house, Merchant Tailors', &c. who are Fellows, but not men of science; nor to the professors in the universities and public institutions, who sometimes are scientific men. This is one of our modern ways of encouraging science! We shall see more presently.

We must return, for a moment, to the volume quoted as the groundwork of this exposition, and which in fact was the proximate cause of our commencing it. In a quotation from the absurd eulogy on Sir Joseph Banks by an anonymous writer in the Philosophical Magazine, we are informed that the Presi

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dent's view as to the admission of Fellows was composed of two parts, which we shall, for convenience, take in an inverted order.

That of those who were merely lovers of art or science, and had made no remarkably ingenious contributions to their improvement, none ought to be hastily received into the Royal Society whose rank and fortune were not such as to reflect on that Society and its pursuits a degree of new splendour, as well as to endow them with the means of promoting its views on fit occasions by extraordinary expense.

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That all persons of fair moral character and decent manners, [this from Banks!!] who had eminently distinguished them selves by discoveries or inventions of high importance, in any of those branches of art or science which it was the express object of this Society to cultivate, ought, whatever their condition in life, to be gladly received among its members.' p. 75.

No other express dictum, that we are aware of, has superseded this declaration of Banks, and it stands like a judge's 'ruling,' as an authority and a law.

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Now it is curious enough to observe that the persons pointed at in the second principle here laid down are supposed to be capable of immoral conduct, of indecent manners; and either that the amateur members of rank or fortune' are incapable of such conduct, or else that morals and decency are of no consequence if the Fellow' be a rich man! We may suppose the latter, if his own private conduct were his guide. Was it on this ground that Mr. William John Bankes was so long retained a Fellow of the Royal Society after he had forfeited his bail? and bail for such a crime as his? Putting this, however, out of the question, can we view the distinction thus made as any other than the coarse contumely which wealth, in this, more than in any other country, pours upon humble poverty? It is enough to make the poor philosopher turn with disgust from his studies to cope with the wide money-making world in their own way, and exclaim with the goaded Burns,

Oh for the glorious privilege
Of being independent!'

However, leaving this insolent distinction to be judged of by the public, let us ask how the case which we quoted agrees with the rule for admission given above. Was the author gladly received among the members' of the Royal Society? Was he not excluded solely on the ground of his condition in life?' Let this one case (we could give more) shew how far Banks's actual regulation agreed with his particular acts-for this occurred under Banks's reign.

Now the gentleman of whom we speak could have paid his fees without material personal inconvenience, but there may be men of science to whom seventy pounds is a material object. Of late years the Royal Society, sensible of its need of new blood,' has been beating up for recruits, who would be likely to confer some degree of scientific reputation upon the body; and amongst the rest, a suggestion was thrown out to a gentleman eminent in one particular branch of science by a member of the then Council, that he would advance his own interests by becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society, adding, that there would be no doubt of his election. The man of science had no objection to receive it as an honour, and apart from the payment of fees, as he had no notion of paying for an honour.' It could not be conceded; and all he afterwards heard from the councilman and canvasser was, that the Council had not the power to remit the fees.' Oh no! but has not the Council the power of modifying this or any other law? It reminds us of the patronage of science by his late Majesty, who offered the honour of a Hanoverian knighthood to half-a-dozen English philosophers, but did not remit the fees of the honour so as to enable the supereminent one of the six, Mr. Ivory, to accept it! He was at that time in part dependent upon his pen for his daily bread, although an old servant of the public and of the crown.

Is it not, then, a cruel mockery of men of real science, to hold out to them the lure that the Royal Society will receive into the scientific bosom with open arms every man of fair moral character and decent manners, who has eminently distinguished himself by discoveries of high importance;' whilst by the enormous fees which they exact for admission, they virtually close the doors of Somerset-House against him? But even if he can pay them, and is willing to pay them, there is yet a ban upon him; his condition in life' must fulfil certain unpublished conditions, and these of course may vary to any extent, to suit particular cases. Our readers may characterise such a system as they feel disposed, but they must excuse our attempting to express our own views and feelings in language adequate to the enormity of the practice.

We must now proceed to a description of the process which a brother Fellow of ours calls making a Fellow,' in imitation, we presume, of making a mason,' and in compliment to our

This is no new practice in the Society; and a curious instance is given by Mr. Babbage, in his Reflections on the Decline of Science in England,' 1830, p. 118, 4to edition. The case to which we have here referred is much more recent, and it is not by any means a solitary one even within our knowledge. 2 B

VOL. I.-NO. V.

late Royal President, who exercised his paternal sway over the 'enlightened brotherhood of free accepted masons' in common with the enlightened brotherhood of Somerset-House philosophers.'

In the first place, the candidate must have seventy pounds to invest in the joint-stock bank of scientific reputation; as, should he not immediately pay his fees, his election will be cancelled.*

In the second place, he must have interest; but, as to merit, that is of no consequence. Some friend must draw up a certificate, (or rather, now procure a printed form from the assistantsecretary), in which his scientific qualifications are duly set forth, if he have any; or, if he have none, this is to be stated as the ground of his admission. There are two separate forms adapted to these two cases, and either may be procured to suit

* It must be understood, however, that this payment en grosse is substituted for an entrance fee of ten guineas, and an annual payment in advance of four pounds, and that either mode of payment may be adopted at the pleasure of the elected. It is, however, a perilous mode for the man whose income arises from his own professional resources, to adopt the system of annual payments. If he fail for only a very short period, his name is suspended in the most conspicuous part of the meeting-room as a defaulter, and if it be not paid in three months, he is ejected from the Society,' and his name thus given at the end of each year's publication of the list of Fellows! Yes, reader, the very same term applied in three months to the defaulter for a four-pounds fee as was applied to the aforesaid William John Bankes, of infamous memory, after several years! We refrain from giving examples in delicacy to the feelings of the living; but we have ourselves with much pain witnessed this in several instances.

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It is true that, if within a very limited specified time the arrears be paid up, the ejected member may petition' the Council for a new ballot, to be reinstated as a Fellow, and the Council, through its President, (or in his absence, the Vice' in the chair,) can submit his name to an ordinary public meeting of the Society, as though his certificate had been read the number of times required for a new candidate. Now, every one knows the influence of appearances' in this country; and every one must see that such an exposé of the finances of an individual, generally a professional man, cannot be otherwise than prejudicial to his interests. Even supposing the payments to be kept up regularly, there is in the list of Fellows a specific mark to designate that the person against whose name it stands is either too poor or too mean to compound for his annual payments!' It is not respectable,' they insinuate, to pay annually; and why not, forsooth? Simply because the Society, by charging its composition at fifteen years' purchase upon a candidate of seventy, or even eighty years of age, gets, in fact, a much larger fee than that to which it would (even according to its own exorbitant charges) be otherwise entitled. Notwithstanding, however, the general discouragement given to the annual system by the Council and its clique, the number who adopt it are on the increase; and we hope that, in time, it will be thought respectable to give no more for the honour' than its worth! In fact, it can scarcely fail to become so, when we see this odious mark of distinction attached to such names as those of the Duke of Richmond, the Bishops of Norwich and Durham, and to those of Lords Littleton, Mahon, Melbourne, and Monteagle. These cannot be suspected of either meanness or poverty, and they have acted wisely and nobly in setting such an example.

the one in question. The blanks being duly filled, some six Fellows of the Society must subscribe their names to it; the first two of which are of the greatest importance, as these are required to speak of the candidate from personal knowledge:' and his election will in a great degree depend upon the 'odour' in which these names are held by the Council. In fact, the entire set of the signs-manual should be well chosen in this respect, as the subscription of a single name who is not in favour with the ruling powers is sure to be fatal to the candidate. No merit, even the highest powers of mind, the most successful cultivation of natural knowledge,' or the most ardent devotion to the cause of science, can prevent his being black-balled! But let him, on the other hand, profess himself totally ignorant of science, and guiltless of the crime of interfering with the researches of his friends, his election is sure, provided he be respectable,' [vulgo, rich and influential,] and his sureties be men of the right sort.' The only instance, indeed, of the rejection of a mere amateur that has come under our personal observation, was that of Mr. Sheriff Raphael, who had the bad taste to offer himself pending the inquiry into the O'Connell bribery case in the House of Commons. This was rather too much even for the Royal Society. Had he waited, however, till the nine-days wonder' had passed away, he too might have rejoiced in the addendum F.R.S. to his name, as well as Sir Moses Montefiore, Mr. Benjamin Oliviera, or Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid. And why not? Has he not done as much for science as they have?

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We have supposed the candidate to be professedly without the slightest claim to science, and hence without the slightest claim to scientific distinction, and we have given him an infallible method of being made a Fellow. The Council votes for him, and the election passes off as a matter of course. members present (usually from twenty to forty of the eight hundred) put their pith-balls into the proper compartment of the balloting-box, which is most conveniently presented by the assistant-secretary to each Fellow in succession, lest he should mistake the 'no' for the 'yes.' But let us suppose now, on the other hand, that the candidate has some degree of scientific reputation, and that his ambition is to signalize himself more by his researches than by his professed ignorance of science, he will soon be taught the futility of the aphorism, knowledge is power; and that Lord Bacon, by some unaccountable lapsus, wrote the sentence erroneously; and, in fact, that it should have been money is power.

The consideration of the members of the Council will be

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