private friendship to that estimable philosopher, to whom it is
my regret to be almost unknown, and whose modest and retiring
merit, I may, perhaps, have the misfortune to offend by these
remarks. But Mr. Dalton was of no party; had he ever moved in
that vortex which has brought discredit, and almost ruin, on the
Royal Society of England;--had he taken part with those who vote
to each other medals, and, affecting to be tired of the fatigues
of office, make to each other requisitions to retain places they
would be most reluctant to quit; his great and splendid discovery
would long since have been represented to government. Expectant
mediocrity would have urged on his claims to remuneration, and
those who covered their selfish purposes with the cloak of
science, would have hastened to shelter themselves in the mantle
of his glory.--But the philosopher may find consolation for the
tardy approbation of that Society, in the applause of Europe. If
he was insulted by their medal, he escaped the pain of seeing his
name connected with their proceedings.] Where would have been
the military renown of England, if, with an equally improvident
waste of mental power, its institutions had forced the Duke of
Wellington to employ his life in drilling recruits, instead of
planning campaigns?

If we look at the fact, we shall find that the great inventions
of the age are not, with us at least, always produced in
universities. The doctrines of "definite proportions," and of
the "chemical agency of electricity,"-- principles of a high
order, which have immortalized the names of their discoverers,
--were not produced by the meditations of the cloister: nor is
it in the least a reproach to those valuable institutions to
mention truths like these. Fortunate circumstances must concur,