the public. Again, the mutual jealousy and rivalry excited
amongst the whole body is so considerable, that although the rank
and estimation which an individual holds in the profession may be
most unfairly appreciated, by taking the opinion of his rival;
yet few estimations will be found generally more correct than the
opinion of a whole profession on the merits of any one of its
body. This test is of great value to the public, and becomes the
more so, in proportion to the difficulty of the study to which
the profession is devoted. It is by availing themselves of it
that men of sense and judgment, who have occasion for the
services of professional persons, are, in a great measure, guided
in their choice.

The pursuit of science does not, in England, constitute a
distinct profession, as it does in many other countries. It is
therefore, on that ground alone, deprived of many of the
advantages which attach to professions. One of its greatest
misfortunes arises from this circumstance; for the subjects on
which it is conversant are so difficult, and require such
unremitted devotion of time, that few who have not spent years in
their study can judge of the relative knowledge of those who
pursue them. It follows, therefore, that the public, and even
that men of sound sense and discernment, can scarcely find means
to distinguish between the possessors of knowledge, in the
present day, merely elementary, and those whose acquirements are
of the highest order. This remark applies with peculiar force to
all the more difficult applications of mathematics; and the fact
is calculated to check the energies of those who only look to
reputation in England.