As Soon As An Analytical

It Will Be Readily Admitted, That A Degree Conferred By An University, Ought To Be A Pledge To The Public That He Who Holds It Possesses A Certain Quantity Of Knowledge.

There Is, However, Another Purpose To Which Academies Contribute. When They Consist Of A Limited Number Of Persons, Eminent For Their Knowledge, It Becomes An Object Of Ambition To Be Admitted On Their List.

Science In England Is Not A Profession: Its Cultivators Are Scarcely Recognised Even As A Class. Our Language Itself Contains No Single Term By Which Their Occupation Can Be Expressed. We Borrow A Foreign Word [savant] From Another Country Whose High Ambition It Is To Advance Science, And Whose Deeper Policy, In Accord With More Generous Feelings, Gives To The Intellectual Labourer Reward And Honour, In Return For Services Which Crown The Nation With Imperishable Renown, And Ultimately Enrich The Human Race.

Those From Whose Pocket The Salary Is Drawn, And By Whose Appointment The Officer Was Made, Have Always A Right To Discuss The Merits Of Their Officers, And Their Modes Of Exercising The Duties They Are Paid To Perform.

In Mathematics We Have Long Since Drawn The Rein, And Given Over A Hopeless Race.