Page:Reflections on the decline of science in England - Babbage - 1830.pdf/66

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Perhaps the reader will remark, that science cannot be declining in a country which supports so many institutions for its cultivation. It is indeed creditable to us, that the greater part of these societies are maintained by the voluntary contributions of their members. But, unless the inquiries which have recently taken place in some of them should rectify the system of management by which several have been oppressed, it is not difficult to predict that their duration will be short. Full publicity, printed statements of accounts, and occasional discussions and inquiries at general meetings, are the only safeguards; and a due degree of vigilance should be exercised on those who discourage these principles. Of the Royal Society, I shall speak in a succeeding page; and I regret to add, that I might have said more. My object is to amend it; but, like all deeply-rooted complaints, the operation which alone can contribute to its cure, is necessarily painful. Had the words of remonstrance or reproof found utterance through other channels, I had gladly been silent, content to support by my vote the reasonings of the friend of science and