cts, and the almost equally general indifference to profound
knowledge in any, among their own countrymen, may be, they may rest
assured that not a fact they may discover, nor a good experiment they
may make, but is instantly repeated, verified, and commented upon, in
Germany, and, we may add too, in Italy. We wish the obligation were
mutual. Here, whole branches of continental discovery are unstudied,
and indeed almost unknown, even by name. It is in vain to conceal the
melancholy truth. We are fast dropping behind. In mathematics we have
long since drawn the rein, and given over a hopeless race. In
chemistry the case is not much letter. Who can tell us any thing of the
Sulfo-salts? Who will explain to us the laws of Isomorphism? Nay, who
among us has even verified Thenard's experiments on the oxygenated
acids,--Oersted's and Berzelius's on the radicals of the
earths,--Balard's and Serrulas's on the combinations of Brome,--and a
hundred other splendid trains of research in that fascinating science?
Nor need we stop here. There are, indeed, few sciences which would not
furnish matter for similar remark. The causes are at once obvious and
deep-seated; but this is not the place to discuss them."--MR. HERSCHEL'S
TREATISE ON SOUND, printed in the ENCYCLOPAEDIA METROPOLITANA.

With such authorities, I need not apprehend much doubt as to the fact of
the decline of science in England: how far I may have pointed out some
of its causes, must be left to others to decide.

Many attacks have lately been made on the conduct of various scientific
bodies, and of their officers, and severe criticism has been lavished
upon some of their productions. Newspapers, Magazines, Reviews, and
Pamphlets, have all been put in requisition for the purpose. Odium has
been cast upon some of these for being anonymous. If a fact is to be
established by testimony, anonymous assertion is of no value; if it
can be proved, by evidence to which the public have access, it is of
no consequence (for the cause of truth) who produces it. A matter of
opinion derives weight from the name which is attached to it; but a
chain of reasoning is equally conclusive, whoever may be its author.

Perhaps it would be better for science, that all criticism should be
avowed. It would certainly have the effect of rendering it more matured,
and less severe; but, on the other hand, it would have the evil of
frequently repressing it altogether, because there exists amongst the
l