and no one could then have reproached me with any infringement of
our rules: but there were two objections to that course. In the
first place, it is impossible, even for the most candid, in all
cases, to convey precisely the same sentiment in different
language; and I thought it therefore more fair towards those from
whom I differed, as well as to the public, to give the precise
words. Again: had it been possible to make so accurate a
paraphrase, I should yet have preferred the risk of incurring the
reproach of the Royal Society for the offence, to escaping their
censure by an evasion. What I have done rests on my own head;
and I shrink not from the responsibility attaching to it.

If those, whose mismanagement of that Society I condemn, should
accuse me of hostility to the Royal Society; my answer is, that
the party which governs it is not the Royal Society; and that I
will only admit the justice of the accusation, when the whole
body, becoming acquainted with the system I have exposed, shall,
by ratifying it with their approbation, appropriate it to
themselves: an event of which I need scarcely add I have not the
slightest anticipation.


*

CONTENTS.


PREFACE
Introductory Remarks
CHAP. I. On the Reciprocal Influence of Science and Education.