The account of the meeting of men of science at Berlin, in the autumn of 1828

Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on Some of Its Causes by Charles Babbage, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here. APPENDIX, No. 1.

APPENDIX, No. 1.

In presenting to my readers the account of the meeting of men of science at Berlin, in the autumn of 1828, I am happy to be able to state, that its influence has been most beneficial, and that the annual meeting to be held in 1831, will take place at Vienna, the Emperor of Austria having expressed a wish that every facility which his capital affords should be given to promote its objects.

It is gratifying to find that a country, which has hitherto been considered adverse to the progress of knowledge, should become convinced of its value; and it is sincerely to be hoped, that every one of the numerous members of the Society will show, by his conduct, that the paths of science are less likely than any others to interfere with those of politics.

ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT CONGRESS OF PHILOSOPHERS AT BERLIN, ON THE 18TH OF SEPTEMBER 1828. FROM THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, APRIL, 1829.

The existence of a large society of cultivators of the natural sciences meeting annually at some great capital, or some central town of Europe, is a circumstance almost unknown to us, and deserving of our attention, from the important advantages which may arise from it.

About eight years ago, Dr. Okens, of Munich, suggested a plan for an annual meeting of all Germans who cultivated the sciences of medicine and botany. The first meeting, of about forty members, took place at Leipsic, in 1822, and it was successively held at Halle, Wurtzburg, Frankfort on the Maine, Dresden, Munich, and Berlin. All those who had printed a certain number of sheets of their inquiries on these subjects were considered members of this academy.

The great advantages which resulted to these sciences from the communication of observations from all quarters of Germany, soon induced an extension of the plan, and other departments of natural knowledge were admitted, until, at the last meeting, the cultivators even of pure mathematics were found amongst the ranks of this academy.

Several circumstances, independent of the form and constitution of the academy, contributed to give unwonted splendour to the last meeting, which took place at Berlin in the middle of September of the last year.

The capital selected for its temporary residence is scarcely surpassed by any in Europe in the number and celebrity of its savans.

The taste for knowledge possessed by the reigning family, has made knowledge itself fashionable; and the severe sufferings of the Prussians previous to the war, by which themselves and Europe were freed, have impressed on them so strongly the lesson that "knowledge is power," that its effects are visible in every department of the government; and there is no country in Europe in which talents and genius so surely open for their possessors the road to wealth and distinction.

Another circumstance also contributed its portion to increase the numbers of the meeting of the past year. The office of president, which is annually changed, was assigned to M. Alexander de Humboldt. The universality of his acquirements, which have left no branch within the wide range of science indifferent or unexplored, has connected him by friendship with almost all the most celebrated philosophers of the age; whilst the polished amenity of his manners, and that intense desire of acquiring and of spreading knowledge, which so peculiarly characterizes his mind, renders him accessible to all strangers, and insures for them the assistance of his counsel in their scientific pursuits, and the advantage of being made known to all those who are interested or occupied in similar inquiries.

Professor Lichtenstein, (Director of the Museum of Zoology,) as secretary of the academy, was indefatigable in his attentions, and most ably seconded the wishes of its distinguished president.

These two gentlemen, assisted by several of the residents at Berlin, undertook the numerous preliminary arrangements necessary for the accommodation of the meeting.

On the 18th of September, 1828, there were assembled at Berlin 377 members of the academy, whose names and residences (in Berlin) were printed in a small pamphlet, and to each name was attached a number, to indicate his seat in the great concert room, in which the morning meetings took place. Each member was also provided with an engraved card of the hall of meeting, on which the numbers of the seats were printed in black ink, and his own peculiar seat marked in red ink, so that every person immediately found his own place, and knew where to look for any friend whom he might wish to find.

At the hour appointed for the opening of the meeting, the members being assembled, and the galleries and orchestra being filled by an assemblage of a large part of the rank and beauty of the capital, and the side-boxes being occupied by several branches of the royal family, and by the foreign ambassadors, the session of the academy was opened by the eloquent address of the president.

SPEECH made at the Opening of the Society of German Naturalists and Natural Philosophers at Berlin, the 18th of September, 1828.—By ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT.

Since through your choice, which does me so much honour, I am permitted to open this meeting, the first duty which I have to discharge is one of gratitude. The distinction which has been conferred on him who has never yet been able to attend your excellent society, is not the reward of scientific efforts, or of feeble and persevering attempts to discover new phenomena, or to draw the light of knowledge from the unexplored depths of nature. A finer feeling, however, directed your attention to me. You have assured me, that while, during an absence of many years, and in a distant quarter of the globe, I was labouring in the same cause with yourselves, I was not a stranger in your thoughts. You have likewise greeted my return home, that, by the sacred tie of gratitude, you might bind me still longer and closer to our common country.

What, however, can the picture of this, our native land, present more agreeable to the mind, than the assembly which we receive to-day for the first time within our walls; from the banks of the Neckar, the birth-place of Kepler and of Schiller, to the remotest border of the Baltic plains; from hence to the mouths of the Rhine, where, under the beneficent influence of commerce, the treasuries of exotic nature have for centuries been collected and investigated, the friends of nature, inspired with the same zeal, and, urged by the same passion, flock together to this assembly. Everywhere, where the German language is used, and its peculiar structure affects the spirit and disposition of the people. From the Great European Alps, to the other side of the Weichsel, where, in the country of Copernicus, astronomy rose to renewed splendour; everywhere in the extensive dominions of the German nation we attempt to discover the secret operations of nature, whether in the heavens, or in the deepest problems of mechanics, or in the interior of the earth, or in the finely woven tissues of organic structure.

Protected by noble princes, this assembly has annually increased in interest and extent. Every distinction which difference of religion or form of government can occasion is here annulled. Germany manifests itself as it were in its intellectual unity; and since knowledge of truth and performance of duty are the highest object of morality, that feeling of unity weakens none of the bonds which the religion, constitution, and laws of our country, have rendered dear to each of us. Even this emulation in mental struggles has called forth (as the glorious history of our country tells us,) the fairest blossoms of humanity, science, and art.

The assembly of German naturalists and natural philosophers since its last meeting, when it was so hospitably received at Munich, has, through the flattering interest of neighbouring states and academies, shone with peculiar lustre. Allied nations have renewed the ancient alliance between Germany and the ancient Scandinavian North.

Such an interest deserves acknowledgment the more, because it unexpectedly increases the mass of facts and opinions which are here brought into one common and useful union. It also recalls lofty recollections into the mind of the naturalist. Scarcely half a century has elapsed since Linne appears, in the boldness of the undertakings which he has attempted and accomplished, as one of the greatest men of the last century. His glory, however bright, has not rendered Europe blind to the merits of Scheele and Bergman. The catalogue of these great names is not completed; but lest I shall offend noble modesty, I dare not speak of the light which is still flowing in richest profusion from the North, nor mention the discoveries in the chemical nature of substances, in the numerical relation of their elements, or the eddying streams of electro-magnetic powers. [The philosophers here referred to are Berzelius and Oersted.] May those excellent persons, who, deterred neither by perils of sea or land, have hastened to our meeting from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, England, and Poland, point our the way to other strangers in succeeding years, so that by turns every part of Germany may enjoy the effects of scientific communication with the different nations of Europe.

But although I must restrain the expression of my personal feelings in presence of this assembly, I must be permitted at least to name the patriarchs of our national glory, who are detained from us by a regard for those lives so dear to their country;—Goethe, whom the great creations of poetical fancy have not prevented from penetrating the ARCANA of nature, and who now in rural solitude mourns for his princely friend, as Germany for one of her greatest ornaments;—Olbers, who has discovered two bodies where he had already predicted they were to be found;—the greatest anatomists of our age—Soemmering, who, with equal zeal, has investigated the wonders of organic structure, and the spots and FACULAE of the sun, (condensations and openings of the photosphere;) Blumenbach, whose pupil I have the honour to be, who, by his works and his immortal eloquence, has inspired everywhere a love of comparative anatomy, physiology, and the general history of nature, and who has laboured diligently for half a century. How could I resist the temptation to adorn my discourse with names which posterity will repeat, as we are not favoured with their presence?

These observations on the literary wealth of our native country, and the progressive developement of our institution, lead us naturally to the obstructions which will arise from the increasing number of our fellow-labourers, The chief object of this assembly does not consist, as in other societies whose sphere is more limited, in the mutual interchange of treatises, or in innumerable memoirs, destined to be printed in some general collection. The principal object of this Society is, to bring those personally together who are engaged in the same field of science. It is the immediate, and therefore more obvious interchange of ideas, whether they present themselves as facts, opinions, or doubts. It is the foundation of friendly connexion which throws light on science, adds cheerfulness to life, and gives patience and amenity to the manners.

In the most flourishing period of ancient Greece, the distinction between words and writing first manifested itself most strongly amongst a race, which had raised itself to the most splendid intellectual superiority, and to whose latest descendants, as preserved from the shipwreck of nations, we still consecrate our most anxious wishes. It was not the difficulty of interchange of ideas alone, nor the want of German science, which has spread thought as on wings through the world, and insured it a long continuance, that then induced the friends of philosophy and natural history in Magna Graecia and Asia Minor to wander on long journeys. That ancient race knew the inspiring influence of conversation as it extemporaneously, freely, and prudently penetrates the tissue of scientific opinions and doubts. The discovery of the truth without difference of opinion is unattainable, because the truth, in its greatest extent, can never be recognized by all, and at the same time. Each step, which seems to bring the explorer of nature nearer to his object, only carries him to the threshold of new labyrinths. The mass of doubt does not diminish, but spreads like a moving cloud over other and new fields; and whoever has called that a golden period, when difference of opinions, or, as some are accustomed to express it, the disputes of the learned, will be finished, has as imperfect a conception of the wants of science, and of its continued advancement, as a person who expects that the same opinions in geognosy, chemistry, or physiology, will be maintained for several centuries.

The founders of this society, with a deep sense of the unity of nature, have combined in the completest manner, all the branches of physical knowledge, and the historical, geometrical, and experimental philosophy. The names of natural historian and natural philosopher are here, therefore, nearly synonymous, chained by a terrestrial link to the type of the lower animals. Man completes the scale of higher organization. In his physiological and pathological qualities, he scarcely presents to us a distinct class of beings. As to what has brought him to this exalted object of physical study, and has raised him to general scientific investigation, belongs principally to this society. Important as it is not to break that link which embraces equally the investigation of organic and inorganic nature, still the increasing ties and daily developement of this institution renders it necessary, besides the general meeting which is destined for these halls, to have specific meetings for single branches of science. For it is only in such contracted circles,—it is only among men whom reciprocity of studies has brought together, that verbal discussions can take place. Without this sort of communication, would the voluntary association of men in search of truth be deprived of an inspiring principle.

Among the preparations which are made in this city for the advancement of the society, attention has been principally paid to the possibility of such a subdivision into sections. The hope that these preparations will meet with your approbation, imposes upon me the duty of reminding you, that, although you had entrusted to two travellers, equally, the duty of making these arrangements, yet it is to one alone, my noble friend, M. Lichtenstein, that the merit of careful precaution and indefatigable activity is due. Out of respect to the scientific spirit which animates the Society of German Naturalists and Natural Philosophy, and in acknowledgment of the utility of their efforts, government have seconded all our wishes with the greatest cheerfulness.

In the vicinity of the place of meeting, which has in this manner been prepared for our general and special labours, are situated the museums dedicated to anatomy, zoology, oryctognosy, and geology. They exhibit to the naturalist a rich mine for observation and critical discussion. The greater number of these well-arranged collections have existed, like the University of Berlin, scarcely twenty years. The oldest of them, to which the Botanical Garden, (one of the richest in Europe) belongs, have during this period not only been increased, but entirely remodelled. The amusement and instruction derived from such institutions, call to our minds, with deep feelings of gratitude, that they are the work of that great monarch, who modestly and in simple grandeur, adorns every year this royal city with new treasures of nature and art; and what is of still greater value than the treasures themselves,—what inspires every Prussian with youthful strength, and with an enthusiastic love for the ancient reigning family,—that he graciously attaches to himself every species of talent, and extends with confidence his royal protection to the free cultivation of the understanding.

This was followed by a paper on magnetism, by Professor Oersted; and several other memoirs were then read.

The arrival of so many persons of similar pursuit, (for 464 members were present,) rendered it convenient to have some ordinary, at which those who chose might dine, and introduce their friends or families. This had been foreseen, and his Majesty had condescended to allow the immense building used for the exercise of his troops, to be employed for this purpose. One-third of it was floored on the occasion, and tables were arranged, at which, on one occasion, 850 persons sat down to dinner. On the evening of the first day, M. de Humboldt gave a large SOIREE in the concert rooms attached to the theatre. About 1200 persons assembled on this occasion, and his Majesty the King of Prussia honoured with his presence the fete of his illustrious chamberlain. The nobility of the country, foreign princes, and foreign ambassadors, were present. It was gratifying to observe the princes of the blood mingling with the cultivators of science, and to see the heir-apparent to the throne, during the course of the evening, engaged in conversation with those most celebrated for their talents, of his own, or of other countries.

Nor were the minor arrangements of the evening beneath the consideration of the President. The words of the music selected for the concert, were printed and distributed to the visitors. The names of the most illustrious philosophers which Germany had produced, were inscribed in letters of gold at the end of the great concert room.

In the first rank amongst these stood a name which, England, too, enrolls amongst the brightest in her scientific annals; and proud, as well she may be, of having fostered and brought to maturity the genius of the first Herschel, she has reaped an ample reward in being able to claim as entirely her own, the inheritor of his talents and his name.

The six succeeding days were occupied, in the morning, by a meeting of the academy, at which papers of general interest were read. In the afternoon, through the arrangement of M. de Humboldt and M. Lichtenstein, various rooms were appropriated for different sections of the academy. In one, the chemical philosophers attended to some chemical memoir, whilst the botanists assembled in another room, the physiologists in a third, and the natural philosophers in a fourth. Each attended to the reading of papers connected with their several sciences. Thus every member was at liberty to choose that section in which he felt most interest at the moment, and he had at all times power of access to the others. The evenings were generally spent at some of the SOIREES of the savans, resident at Berlin, whose hospitality and attentions to their learned brethren of other countries were unbounded. During the unoccupied hours of the morning, the collections of natural history, which are rapidly rising into importance, were open to examination; and the various professors and directors who assisted the stranger in his inquiries, left him equally gratified by the knowledge and urbanity of those who so kindly aided him.

A map of Europe was printed, on which those towns only appeared which had sent representatives to this scientific congress; and the numbers sent by different kingdoms appeared by the following table, which was attached to it;—

     Russia.........  1
     Austria........  0
     England........  1
     Holland........  2
     Denmark........  7
     France ........  1
     Sardinia .......  0
     Prussia........ 95
     Bavaria........ 12
     Hanover........  5
     Saxony ........ 21
     Wirtemburg ......  2
     Sweden ........ 13
     Naples ........  1
     Poland ........  3
     German States..... 43
                            —-                       206
     Berlin .......  172
                            —-                       378

The proportion in which the cultivators of different sciences appeared, was not easy to ascertain, because there were few amongst the more eminent who had not added to more than one branch of human knowledge. The following table, though not professing to be very accurate, will afford, perhaps, a tolerably fair view:—

     Geometers.............  11
     Astronomers...........   5
     Natural Philosophers .  23
                             — 39

     Mines............   5
     Mineralogy ......  16
     Geology..........   9
                         — 30

     Chemistry........... 18
     Geography...........  8
     Anatomy............. 12

     Zoology............  14
     Natural History....   8
     Botany.............. 35
                          — 57

     Physicians.......   175
     Amateurs  .......     9
     Various .........    35
                         —-381

A medal was struck in commemoration of this meeting, and it was proposed that it should form the first of a series, which should comprise all those persons most celebrated for their scientific discoveries in the past and present age.

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