NATIONAL ENCOURAGEMENT TO SCIENCE.
Timm is a miserable half-heartedness in the intermittent patron- age which the British Government extends to science and litera- ture. Standing between perhaps extravagant claimants on the one hand and penny-wise pound-foolish economists on the other, it seems to have no opinion of its own. In the same evening it will ask a grant to assist in the publication of Sir HENRY CAVENDISH'S Debates, and persist in discontinuing the pecuniary assistance ex- tended to Mr. BABBAGE in the construction of his Calculating- machine. The contribution towards the publication of CAVEN.• DISH'S Debates was a paltry enough effort contrasted with the mu- nificent expenditure of the United States Government upon the publication of the Secret Journals of Congress and other historical documents ; but it was a step in the right direction. Sir ROBERT Plum, however, appears to have thought it necessary to apologize for sanctioning it. "A particular question arose in that House, and it was thought advisable to have the debates bearing on that question published." Sir ROBERT thinks he can show that the House got value for its money at the moment—that by contributing to the publication of a volume it was saved the expense of printing as a Blue Book part of that volume's contents ; and therefore hopes that the House may be pardoned the extravagance of having for once subscribed about half as much to aid the appearance of a work of national importance as the annual subscription of a single noble- man towards the Biographical Dictionary. In the same spirit, Sir ROBERT refuses to advance any money for Mr. BABBAGE'S drawings, because the machine is still "for practical purposes imperfect." The machine if perfected will give much greater security to navi- gation. "The importance of a process by which tables of loga- rithms could be secured against the possibility of error," said Mr. HAWES, "would be best understood from the consideration that one mistake in a decimal place might cause the shipwreck of a cargo three times as valuable as the machine." The out- lay necessarily incurred in the experimental construction of the machine is far beyond the means of a private individual. The genius and integrity of Mr. BARRAGE are above suspicion : and yet all assistance towards the perfection of a machine of such national importance is refused, because it is for practical purposes yet imperfect. Why, if it were perfect for practical purposes, the assistance of Government would not be needed—it could pay for itself. There cannot be a more complete exposure of the fallaciousness of this miserable economy than the case of Mr. Ban- peon's machine. Even though it should never be completed, the attempt to perfect it has already led to the invention of several beautiful machines which have been found highly serviceable in the cotton manufacture, and have amply repaid to the country the out- lay incurred and asked for the promotion of this object. Money expended in assisting the scientific investigations of men of genius and science is never lost : the incidental and collateral discoveries are generally more important and useful than the main object itself. This is the view which a true statesman ought to take of this de- partment of national expenditure : it may often be a wise economy to lay out money where no immediate tangible return can be shown. It is because they cannot elevate them- selves to this conception, that our Ministers are incessantly haunted by a nervous fear either of falling into the hands of jobbers, or of being accused of insensibility to the claims of science, and making fools of themselves by beginnings which they lack courage to carry out. Sir ROBERT PEEL is not alone in this infirmity ; it has clung to every Cabinet of Great Britain. Mr. EDGEWORTH'S plan for telegraphic communication, in 1798, was treated quite as scurvily as Mr. BABBAGE'S calculating- machine in 1843. Government is every now and then taking heart of grace to set on foot expeditions for promoting geogra- phical discovery or scientific observation, and, growing terrified at its own rashness, discontinuing them on the eve of completion— as was the case with the Arctic expeditions ; or boggling at the expense of publication, and by a shabby bargain with their travel- lers, or with some bookseller, allowing the results to appear in a mutilated form—as was the case with DENHAM and CLAPPERTON'S expedition. The results of the Euphrates expedition are still unpublished ; and Government cannot hasten the publication, be- cause, after being at the expense of the survey, it sought to evade the expense of giving publicity to its results by turning over the risk and profit to a private individual. It is the want of a correct view of what a Government can and ought to do in the way of promoting scientific inquiry, that places Ministers at the mercy of the very jobbers who are the bugbears of their fancy. Groping in the dark, they are quite as likely to stumble upon the thief as the true man. Two cases will illustrate our meaning. Great expense has been incurred by the Home Government in carrying on a survey of the Mediterranean, by the Indian Government in carrying on a survey of the Red Sea : there is a discrepancy in the results of the two surveys, which show that there must be some error in one or other, or both. The correction of this error would ma- terially contribute to the security of navigation. A trigonometrical survey of the country between Alexandria and Suez would settle the matter : the expense would not be great ; the Pasha's consent is not doubtful: Government have been more than once urged to institute the survey. The operations would give increased secu- rity to navigation, and would indirectly throw important light upon the history of society. But as yet, Government remains im- moveable. On the other hand, let a cry be raised at Exeter Hall for a Niger expedition—or let a few busybodies ask Government to be at the expense of conveying a Bishop, without clergy, diocese, or congregation, to Jerusalem—and the request will be granted with alacrity.
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