Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on Some of Its Causes

The book is Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on Some of Its Causes, by Charles Babbage. The preface gives the author's opinion that the volume will ultimately do some service to science, and says that without that belief he would not have undertaken so thankless a task. The dedication says the author will abstain from mentioning the name of one who will feel that he has commanded his esteem and respect.

The text argues that 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. The text says the President of a society, although not recompensed by any pecuniary remuneration, enjoys a station, when the body over which he presides possesses a high character, to which many will aspire. The text mentions Goethe, whom the great creations of poetical fancy have not prevented from penetrating the arcana of nature, and Olbers, who has discovered two bodies where he had already predicted they were to be found.