That blame has been attributed to the government for not fostering the science of the country is certain; and, as far as regards past administrations, is, to a great extent, just; with respect to the present ministers, whose strength essentially depends on public opinion, it is not necessary that they should precede, and they cannot remain long insensible to any expression of the general feeling. But supposing science were thought of some importance by any administration, it would be difficult in the present state of things to do much in its favour; because, on the one hand, the higher classes in general have not a profound knowledge of science, and, on the other, those persons whom they have usually consulted, seem not to have given such advice as to deserve the confidence of government. It seems to be forgotten, that the money allotted by government to purposes of science ought to be expended with the same regard to prudence and economy as in the disposal of money in the affairs of private life.
[Who, for instance, could have advised the government to incur the expense of printing SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY copies of the Astronomical Observations made at Paramatta, to form a third part of the Philosophical Transactions for 1829, whilst of the Observations made at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, two hundred and fifty copies only are printed?
Of these seven hundred and fifty copies, seven hundred and ten will be distributed to members of the Royal Society, to six hundred of whom they will probably be wholly uninteresting or useless; and thus the country incurs a constantly recurring annual expense. Nor is it easy to see on what principle a similar destination could be refused for the observations made at the Cape of Good Hope.]
To those who measure the question of the national encouragement of science by its value in pounds, shillings, and pence, I will here state a fact, which, although pretty generally known, still, I think, deserves attention. A short time since it was discovered by government that the terms on which annuities had been granted by them were erroneous, and new tables were introduced by act of Parliament. It was stated at the time that the erroneous tables had caused a loss to the country of between two and three millions sterling. The fact of the sale of those annuities being a losing concern was long known to many; and the government appear to have been the last to be informed on the subject. Half the interest of half that loss, judiciously applied to the encouragement of mathematical science, would, in a few years, have rendered utterly impossible such expensive errors.
To those who bow to the authority of great names, one remark may have its weight. The MECANIQUE COELESTE, [The first volume of the first translation of this celebrated work into our own language, has just arrived in England from—America.] and the THEORIE ANALYTIQUE DES PROBABILITES, were both dedicated, by Laplace, to Napoleon. During the reign of that extraordinary man, the triumphs of France were as eminent in Science as they were splendid in arms. May the institutions which trained and rewarded her philosophers be permanent as the benefits they have conferred upon mankind!
In other countries it has been found, and is admitted, that a knowledge of science is a recommendation to public appointments, and that a man does not make a worse ambassador because he has directed an observatory, or has added by his discoveries to the extent of our knowledge of animated nature. Instances even are not wanting of ministers who have begun their career in the inquiries of pure analysis. As such examples are perhaps more frequent than is generally imagined, it may be useful to mention a few of those men of science who have formerly held, or who now hold, high official stations in the governments of their respective countries.
Country. Name. Department of Public Office.
Science.
France.. Marquis Laplace(1) Mathematics President of the
Conservative
Senate.
France.. M.Carnot Mathematics Minister of War.
France.. Count Chaptal(2) Chemistry Minister of the
Interior.
France.. Baron Cuvier(3) Comparative Minister of
Anatomy, Public
History Instruction
Prussia.. Baron Humboldt Oriental Ambassador
Languages to England
Prussia.. Baron Alexander The celebrated Chamberlain to
Humboldt Traveller the King of
Prussia
Modena. Marquis Rangoni(4) Mathematics Minister of
Finance and
of Public
Instruction,
President of
Italian Academy
of Forty.
Tuscany. Count Fossombroni Mathematics Prime Minister
(5) of the Grand Duke
of Tuscany.
Saxony.. M. Lindenau(6) Astronomy Ambassador.
(1) Author of the MECANIQUE COELESTE.
(2) Author of TRAITE DE CHIMIE APPLIQUE AUX ARTS.
(3) Author of LECONS D'ANATOMIE COMPAREE—RECHERCHES SUR OSSEMENS
FOSSILES &c. &c.
(4) Author of MEMORIA SULLE FUNZIONI GENERATRICI, Modena, 1824,
and of various other memoirs on mathematical subjects.
(5) Author of several memoirs on mechanics and hydraulics, in the
Transactions of the Academy of Forty.
(6) Author of TABLES BAROMETRIQUES, Gotha, 1809—TABULAE VENERIS,
NOVAE ET CORRECTAE, Gothae, 1810—INVESTIGATIO NOVA ORBITAE A
MERCURIO CIRCA SOLEM DESCRIPTAE, Gothae, 1813, and of other
works.
M. Lindenau, the Minister from the King of Saxony to the King of the Netherlands, commenced his career as astronomer at the observatory of the Grand Duke of Gotha, by whom he was sent as his representative at the German Diet. On the death of the late reigning Duke, M. Lindenau was invited to Dresden, and filled the same situation under the King of Saxony; after which he was appointed his minister at the court of the King of the Netherlands. Such occurrences are not to be paralleled in our own country, at least not in modern times. Newton was, it is true, more than a century since, appointed Master of the Mint; but let any person suggest an appointment of a similar kind in the present day, and he will gather from the smiles of those to whom he proposes it that the highest knowledge conduces nothing to success, and that political power is almost the only recommendation.