Page:Reflections on the decline of science in England - Babbage - 1830.pdf/177

 had been printed in the Transactions, or that such a list should be printed separately at the end.

At that period there were 109 living members who had contributed papers to the Transactions, and they were thus arranged:

Now the immediate effect of printing such a list would be the division of the Society into two classes. Supposing two or more papers necessary for placing a Fellow in the first class, that class would only consist of seventy-two members, which is nearly the same as the number of those of the Institute of France. If only those who had contributed three or more were admitted, then this class would be reduced to fifty-one. In either of these cases it would obviously become a matter of ambition to belong to the