Page:On the economy of machinery and manufactures - Babbage - 1846.djvu/416

382 approach, that those evils which were anticipated from his election, have not proved to be imaginary, and that the advantages by some expected to result from it, have not yet become apparent. It may be right also to state, that whilst many of the inconveniences, which have been experienced by the President of the Royal Society, have resulted from the conduct of his own supporters, those who were compelled to differ from him, have subsequently offered no vexatious opposition:they wait in patience, convinced that the force of truth must ultimately work its certain, though silent course; not doubting that when His Royal Highness is correctly informed, he will himself be amongst the first to be influenced by its power.

(456.) But younger institutions have arisen to supply the deficiencies of the old; and very recently a new combination, differing entirely from the older societies, promises to give additional steadiness to the future march of science. The "British Association for the Advancement of Science," which held its first meeting at York in the year 1831, would have acted as a powerful ally, even if the Royal Society were all that it might be: but in the present state of that body such an association is almost necessary for the purposes of science. The periodical assemblage of persons, pursuing the same or different branches of knowledge, always produces an excitement which is favourable to the development