e time of the
Council from being wasted by unnecessary discussions.

SECTION 6. ORDER OF MERIT.

Amongst the various proposals for encouraging science, the institution
of an order of merit has been suggested. It is somewhat singular, that
whilst in most of the other kingdoms of Europe, such orders exist for
the purpose of rewarding, by honorary distinctions, the improvers of the
arts of life, or successful discoverers in science, nothing of the
kind has been established in England. [At the great meeting of the
philosophers at Berlin, in 1828, of which an account is given in the
Appendix; the respect in which Berzelius, Oersted, Gauss, and Humboldt
were held in their respective countries was apparent in the orders
bestowed on them by the Sovereigns of Sweden, of Denmark, of Hanover,
and of Prussia; and there were present many other philosophers, whose
decorations sufficiently attested the respect in which science was held
in the countries from which they came.]

Our orders of knighthood are favourable only to military distinction.
It has been urged, as an argument for such institutions, that they are a
cheap mode of rewarding science, whilst, on the other hand, it has
been objected, that they would diminish the value of such honorary
distinctions by making them common. The latter objection is of little
weight, because the numbers who pursue science are few, and, probably,
will long continue so. It would also be easily avoided, by restricting
the number of the order or of the class, if it were to form a peculiar
class of another order. Another objection, however, appears to me to
possess far greater weight; and, however strong the disposition of the
Government might be (if such an order existed) to fill it properly, I
do not believe that, in the present state of public opinion respecting
science, it could be done, and, in all probability, it would be filled
up through the channels of patronage, and by mere jobbers in science.

Another proposal, of a similar kind, has also been talked of, one which
it may appear almost ridiculous to suggest in England, but which would
be considered so in no other country. It is, to ennoble some of the
greatest scientific benefactors of their country. Not to mention
political causes, the ranks of the nobility are constantly recruited
from the army, the navy, and the bar; why should not the family of that
man, whose name is imperishably connected with the steam-engine, be
enrolled