ABSTRACT
Several causes have justly lowered the position of science in England. The conduct of the Royal Society, and of men of science themselves, has equally contributed to this result. In a work on the Decline of Science * in 1830, I exposed the wretched mismanagement of the Royal Society, but not until in conjunction with Wollaston and other eminent men, I had found the inutility of every effort we made to improve it from within. Our reform bill stands recorded upon the minutes of the council, with the signatures of Wollaston, of Young, of Herschel, and of others whose names ought to have commanded respect: but it was defeated by an ingenious manoeuvre.
