The Sun.
London, England, 1852-09-16 00:00:00

tina

LONDW.I, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1852

Everybody acquainted with the history of science,
is familiar with the anecdote, which tells us that
Jamas WhTT was regarded as an idle boy for sitting
in the chimney corner watching the steam-dance of the
lid of the boiling tea-kettle. Yet every one knows also,
tolerably well, that to the contemplation of that do-
mestic phenomenon may he traced the construction
of the elaborate and almost magical machinery of the
steam-engine 1 As directly traced as the discovery
of the principle of gravitation to the dropping of the
ripe apple at the feet of ISAAC NEWTON ! As directly
as the deteotion of the isochronism of the pendulum
to the bronze lamp that swayed one evening to and
fro before the eyes of Geramio GALILEI ! It is the
habit, however, of prosaic mediocrity to be blind to
the:grand ulterior purposes of experiment.
Philosophers
are in this manner not unfrequently counted as chil-
dren. Sometimes, indeed, they are treated as little
better than moonstruck. In this manner the ragged
urchins of Madrid used to jeer Coatamos as the
" mad Italian"—because he was stricken with the
sublime insanity of yearning to go in search of an-
other hemisphere! There is at noble and touching
moral implied, then, in that account given by
Burawaa LYTTON, in one of his most resplendent
compositions, of ADAM WARNER and the fabrica-
tion of his Eureka. Precisely in the same spirit of
barbarism as that in which these historical and
imaginary seekers after knowledge have been sub-
ifiated to the sneers of ignorance, and to the derision
orthe shortsighted—the modern student 3 of science
have been laughed at by the unthinking or the un-
imaginative. It is thus that we have so repeatedly
had occasion to regret the flippant sarcasms directed
against the labours of the British Association. Among
the members of that association are numbered the
names of philosophers than whom the world has seen
few more illustrious in their respective depart-
ments. Yet against a body of men thus
eminent the petulance of a few empty-headed
cavillers has ventured to throw the shafts of ridicule,
and this, in the age of the electrotype, and the
daguerreotype, and the electric telegraph, and the
steam-engine, and the printing-press, and the spin-
ning-jenny—undeterred by the renown of a geologist
Bite Mnaznasos of a traveller like HUMBOLDT, of
an analytical chemist like LIEEIG, of an astronomer
like EizuscnELL, of an anatomist like OWEN, or of
an electrician like Faits.t)hor! From the com-
mencement of these unseemly displays of fatuity to-
wards the elevated toils of our Philosophers,
p hers, we re-
joice to think that we
i have
invariably spoken
tv a ind .
terms of unmeasured indignation against the
dlera who have endeavoured to depreciate the achieve.
ments of the British Association.
Recently, in alluding to the inaugural address de-
livered by Colonel SABINE oa the Ist instant at Bel-
fast, we availed ourselves of the opportunity to eau.
merate some of the more remarkable advantages con.
ferred by the society upon the community a tlarge,
since the period of their last assembly, which took
place in 1851 at Ipawiob. Several others were natu-
rally, or rather, we may say, isev-' 'itably omitted from
the catalogue—naturally, because of the narrow
limits of a single article in a daily newspaper—ine-
vitably, because of the multiplicity cf the benefits re-
quiring to be enumerated. It may be as well, there-
fore, to particularize one more in addition, as illus-
trative yet further of the good resulting from
the
manual meeting of the association. No one can be
rah or ridiculous enough—however much he may
be prejudiced against the British Association—to
deny the importance, in a scientific way, of
determining, with ail possible accuracy, in
regard to the globe which we inhabit, its
Peciss figure and dimensions. Upon the extent of

the accuracy arrived at in solving this very delicate
problem, are dependent many of the most interesting
calculations made in astronomy and navigation. Ac-
cording to the opinion of LarnacE, attempts in this
direction were adventured upon at a period much
earlier than the generality might be disposed to con-
jecture. It is even supposed by some, from certain
curious indications to that effect discovered in various
parts of Asia and Egypt-, that the ancients had a
tolerably correct idea of the earth's circumference.
Later on, as Colonel SABINE remarked, " the merit of
resuming these investigations belongs to the French
nation, by whom the arc of the meridian between For-
mentera and Dunkirk was measured towards the
close of the last century. The trigonometrical sur-
vey of Great Britain, commenced in 1783, for the
specific object of connecting the observatories of
Greenwich and Paris, was speedily expanded by the
able men to whom its direction was then confided into
an undertaking of far greater scientific as well as
topographical importance, having for its objects
on the one hand the formation of correct maps
of Great Britain, and on the other the measure-
ment of an arc of the meridian, having the ex-
treme northern and southern points of the island
for its terminations. A portion of this arc, amount-
ing to 2 degs. 50 mins., viz., from Dunnose, in the
Isle of Wight, to Clifton, in Yorkshire, was pub-
lished in the Philosophical Transactions in 1803. As
the whole arc, extending from Dunnose to Unst and
Balta, the most northern of the Shetland Islands,
would comprise more than 10 degrees, and, as nearls
have not
been
felt, that
both
y
half a century had elapsed since the publication of the
earlier part of the survey
should t it i
some degree ofimpatience
by these who desired the results for scientific use, and
by those who were interested for the scientific charac-
ter of the nation, that the general results of the survey
applicable for scientific purposes should at length be
given to the world." Participating in these feelings,
and persuaded that some activity in the furtherance of
this long-delayed project had become more than ever
desirable, the British Association, upon the occasion
of its meeting
in 1849 at Birmingham, passed a reso-
lution appointing a deputation to confer with the
Master-General of the Ordnance—a similar resolution
Society,
being passed almost simultaneously by the Royal
During the course of last year a statement
of the principal results obtainable from the geodetic
f
operations in Great Britain and Ireland was, in con-
sequence, promised by the Inspector-General of
Fortifications. Subsequently, we should say very
recently, a letter was transmitted to the British As-
sociation by Captain YOLLAND, of the Royal Engi-
neers, announcing that the " printing of the obser-
vations made with the Zenith Sector, for the deter-
mination of the latitudes of stations between the years
1842 and 1850, is finished, and will be presented in
time for the meeting of the British Association, and
that the calculations connected with the triangulation
are rapidly advancing towards their completion."
Another testimony is thereby afforded of the admira-
ble fruits of these frivolously depreciated meetings of
the British Association—fruits, it may be added,
poison to the ignorant, but manna and ambrosia to the
initiated.

The Income and Property-Tax, in its present form,
is doomed. Several years of experiment have abun-
dantly tried it. Put on, originally, as a temporary
measure, it proved so profitable to the Treasury, that
it has gradually assumed an appearance of perma-
nency, so that, in the next session, the question will
not be whether this impost shall be continued, but
how it may be modified, so as to bear more equally
than it now bears upon the tax-payers. In its pre-
sent form, or rather in its present practice, the im-
post is unjust, unequal, and unpopular. A. very
little common sense, grafted upon our legislation,
would easily remedy these evils. There exists no
"just cause or impediment" to the putting this tax
upon a fair, equal, and popular :principle—always
bearing in mind, what class legislators so often forget,
that the greater the wealth, the greater, in proportion,
should be the taxation. If an artisan or mechanic
earns two pounds a week, or 1001. a year, a tax of five
per cent. on that will oppress him more and be more felt
than a like tax upon a capitalist with an income of
1,0001. a year. That is, five pounds deducted from the
workman's wages will leave him 951., whereas fifty
pounds deducted from the rich man's income will leave
him 9501. The rich man, for this deduction, can easily
make up by dispensing with one servant out of his half-
dozen, or by shutting up his fencing-house, or by
keeping two instead of three ponies for his children's
pleasure. Fifty pounds out of a thousand is little
felt by a wealthy man, while five pounds out of a
hundred is really a heavy mulct. Five pounds would
buy a suit of clothes for an artisan, or would clothe
his wife and a child or two, or would pay the wages
of a " help," so as to make his wife something better
than the mere domestic drudge she is now, or would
insure his life for 200/., or would pay his contribu-
tions to a benefit society, or would supply education
(cheap as it now is) to two or three children.
Five pounds would be taken from the working man's
actual necessities, whereas (at the same ratio of taxa-
tion) fifty pounds paid by the man with 1,0001.
per annum, is deducted simply from his superfluities.
This has been, because the laws are made, not by
artisans, but by men of large incomes, who—ah, poor
human nature !—cannot help, in their class legislation,
putting on the burthen so as to sit lightest on them-
selves. Is this denied ?—recollect how the window-
tax on Northumberland House, that palace at Charing-
cross, actually was' less than what was paid by one of
the shops in the Strand, the idea of the class legis-
lators being that the larger the house the smaller
snould be the proportion of the tax ! So, too, " The
Palace of the Peak," as Chatsworth is called, paid
less tax than an ironmonger's at Sheffield.
Against direct taxation no sensible man will
say a word. It really takes less out of the tax-
payer's pocket than imposts which are in-
direct. The many do not see this. Mr.
MACGREGOR, who is sound authority upon such
matters, says, " a public revenue being indispensable
to defray the necessary public expenditure, Property,
whether in Land, or in Commodities produced at
home, or imported from abroad, ought to be taxed, or
1 made to yield up annually a just proportion of its
rent or profit to the amount of the annual legitimate
claims upon
annual the nation. This proportion of the
rent or profit of Property, would then form
all that could the whole amount of equitae taxation, levied upon
equitably constitute the whole national
income."—
'I abt, we think of the justice of a tax
on Property : much doubt of
thelncome
jaunsdti-cperoofe
Income on a like scale,
The proceeds of
artytaxTaoxn
average 5,500,0001. a y e ar___,
far p
of revenue to be lightly °Y too great a source
relinquished. Is it at all
necessary that it be unjust and
inquisitorial ? The
de is to have an t, an
proper MO 'Mal assessment, in essnaent in the
pound, upon the annual value of all '
realized pro-
perty." This
' done, fairly and justlY, the amount
now realized by this tax might easily be
doubled, and Mr. DISRAELI would rejoice, we dare
say, in having 11,000, •
000/ at his command, instead
of .5,500,000/. Or, if only the latter sum was re_
t would raise it, on an
quired, a tax of two per cen .

equitable assessment.
It is not equitable to put the man of uncertain,
fluctuating income, arising out of his own personal
exertions, upon the same footing with the man who
has, for himself and his heirs for ever,
a fixed
would be to
pro-
perty yielding him a like income. That
say that what is variable, fluctuating, and uncertain
is o,f the same value as that which is fixed, unvaried,
and for ever. Capitalise the two incomes, and what
will be the result ?—That incomes arising from per-
sonal labour, ability, or profession (and ending wiin
the life, or even with the failing health, of the pro-
ducer) are no more than life annuities, and value them
aaegisterccordingly. Mr. WILLIAM FARE (of the General
Office) proposes thus " to treat life incomes
from professions as life annuities, and to give them
the same value as such annuities at some
which is the by 5 per cent. interest, instead of 3,
rate when there is no risk. By this
hypothesis, which we adopt for the sake of its simpli-
city, we overrate the value of such incomes, as com-
pared with incomes derived purely from the interest
of money or the rent of land." And he adds the
reason why this should be : he says, " Every person
of common sense I meet knows
perfectly well that the
income from trade is worth less than an equivalent in-
come; and feels that THE MAN
from money or land
WITH A LITE INTEREST OUGIIT TO BE TAXED LESS."
Sir ROBERT PEEL either did not or would not see
ht before his notice, in .
this. It was constantly 404