The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-24

4 VI hhSh ho 10 tHS ANY ~
ing the best they can to drag him down to
| the level of a socialistic demagogue.
The Decorated and U~ndecorated at
the Jubilee.
We have heard a great deal of late about
the lustre she'd on the long reign of VIC
ToRIA through the contributions made by
her subjects to literature and science. If
the Queen personally had sufficient intel
lect to graduate such contributions, or were
even we'll informed about them, and at the
same time possessed the power to express
her satisfaction in a concrete form. British
scientists and men of letters would not
nave been almost wholly overlooked amid
the shower of titles and decorations which
have been conferred this week. Or, il
the Ministers had thought it worth while
to pretend to the people hat her Maj
esty has the insight needed to distinguish
scientific and literary merit, they would
have seized the occasion to cause her at
least to make a vicarious display of appre-
citation. As a matter of fact, the honors
so %profusely bestowed have been reserved
almost exclusively for those who lave
served the Government in military, naval,
orcivil functions. and for those presumably
able to promote the artificial cultivation of
the new imperial sentiment. The list of
the names associated with scientific or
literary achievements which nave been
thought worthy of notice at this spectacular
c%onjuncture is lean and beggarly indeed
compared with the number and eminence
of those who have been with contumely
passed over.
OF the six peerages Of the United King
dom distributed at this time. one Of which
fell, by the way, to the director of a steam
ship company, not one was allotted to those
celebrated investigators in the field of pure
and applied science to whom England owes
so much, although the Ministers had he
fore them in the case of Lord KELVIN an
exemplary precedent. OF the fourteen
baronetcies created. one of which went to
MAPLE, the retail dealer in furniture, only
two can be regarded as in any sense recog-
nitions of scientific desert, those, namely,
given to Sir WILLIAM MAcCoRMAC, Presi-
dent of the Royal College of Surgeons, and
DR.. SAMUEL WILKs, President of the Royal
College of Physicians.
The list of TWENTY-FIVE new knights, though
it includes the actor BANCROFT, has room
for but one scientist, to wit: Prof. CRooKEs,
Vice-President of the Royal Society, the
inventor of the radiometer, and the discov.
erer of CRooKEs's tube, and of the element
thallium. We have summed up absolutely
all that the dispensers of titles and decora.
tions could Inc it in their hearts to do at
the close of the sixtieth year OF the
Queens reign by way of acknowledgment
nf EnulapH'a fnmapaa pIahfalpaaa t1
science. We add that not one man of let.
tiers, great or small, was singled out fol
any sort Of honor. with the exception OF ar
obscure Canadian, alleged to nave rendered
services to the imperialist propaganda.
From the meagre roll of names associated
more or less conspicuously with science and
letters which have been judged deserving
Of royal attention at a time when the eyes
of the world are turned to England let III
pass to the long array of those whom thu
SATURDAY Rerieu, In its issue of jun 3, de
scribed with foresight as " the great un
decorated" That journal we'll remarks tina
when a man has been for years in the from
I rank of his profession, has served his fel
3 lows faithfully and truthfully in science
/ literature, learning. or journalism, and ha.
3 gained not only u national but perhaps AZ
t international reputation, II then he is still
ignored by the court ilunkies who regulate
= the lists OF honors there comes q tim
when for him 1t Is by far a greater honor tc
remain untitled and undecorated. We arr
reminded that MICHAEL FARADAY re
manned plain MICHAEL FARADAY to tn,
last, and that Mr.. &. +. WATTS has de
+ clined the baronetcy which was not Offered
! him until he had passed four score years
CHARLES DARWIN died officially ignored
and the same thing will, apparently, b,
l true OF ALFRED RUSSELL WALLACE, tn,
Y naturalist, who shares with DARWIN tn,
. distinction OF having discovered the evolu
> tion of species. DAVID HUGHES, the in
ventor of the printing telegraph and of tn,
~microphone, has received from foreign Gov
Q ernments more decorations than any civilian
Z in Europe, yet his own country, England, Ia
: never shown him the slightest recognition
There, too, Is Mr.. SWAN, who, thougl
marked out by his invention of the carbol
process OF permanent photography, and b
his production of the first ~incandescen
vacuum lamp with n carbon burner, ha
|. yet to receive the smallest honor from tn
British Government. The Same thing ma
be said of DIR. FRANKLAND, the eminen
4 chemist and analyst; of Prof. MICHAE
FOSTER, the biologist, and of the botanist
Mr.. THIsELToN DYER, Director of the Roya
Q Gardens. There is no decoration either fo
d such astronomers as the veteran observer
d DIR. HUGGINs, or Prof. NORMAN LocKYER, G
Mr.. CHRISTIE, though he is now Astronome
Royal. Overlooked. too, are Capt. ABNE1