er hand, they do harm, by becoming the channels of selfish
speculation, their honorary offices being used as stepping-stones to
lucrative ones, thereby causing their influential members to please
the givers of "situations," and to publish the trash of the
impertinently ambitious, the _Titmice of the Credulous Societies_! The
ultra-ridiculous parade with which they have decked fair science,
giving her a vest of unmeaning hieroglyphics, and thereby exposing her
to the finger of scorn, is another prominent and unsightly feature of
such societies; they do harm by the cliquerie which they generate,
collecting little knots of little men, no individual of whom can stand
his own ground, but a group of whom, by leaning hard together, can,
and do, exercise a most pernicious influence; seeking petty gain and
class celebrity, they exert their joint-stock brains to convert
science into pounds, shillings, and pence; and, when they have managed
to poke one foot upon the ladder of notoriety, use the other to kick
furiously at the poor aspirants who attempt to follow them.

It has been frequently and strenuously urged, that these societies, or
some of them, should be supported by government, and not dependent
upon the subscriptions of their members. The arguments in favour of
such a measure are, that by thus being accessible only to merit, and
not depending upon money, their position would be more honourable and
advantageous to the progress of science. With regard to such societies
generally, this proposition is incapable of realization; every year
sees a new society of this description; to annex many of these to
government, would involve difficulties which, in the present state of
politics, would be insurmountable. Who, for instance, would pay taxes
for them? Another, and more reasonable, proposition is, that the
government should establish and support one academy as a head and
front of the others, accessible only to men of high distinction, who
would be thus constituted the oligarchs of science. Of the advantage
of this we have some doubts. Politics are already too much mixed up
with all government appointments in England: their influence is at
present scarcely felt in science, and we would not willingly risk an
introduction so fraught with danger. The want of such an academy
certainly lessens the English in the eyes of the continental _savans_;
but could not such a one be organized, and perhaps endowed, by
government, without any per