Page:Reflections on the decline of science in England - Babbage - 1830.pdf/84

 I hardly know how to approach. It has been publicly stated that confidence cannot be placed in the written minutes of the Society; and an stance has been adduced, in which an entry has been asserted to have been made, which could not have been the true statement of what actually passed at the Council.

The facts on which the specific instance rests are not difficult to verify by members of the Royal Society. I have examined them, and shall state them before I enter on the reasoning which may be founded upon them. In the minutes of the Council, 26th November, 1829, we find—

"Resolved, that the following gentlemen be recommended to be put upon the Council for the ensuing year." [Here follows a list of persons, amongst whom the name of Sir John Franklin occurs, and that of Captain Beaufort is not found. ]