text:  If then the influence on mankind of the secluded inventor be more extensive and durable than that of the active politician--if there be any truth in the opinion of Bacon that the greatest political changes are wrought by the peaceful under-current of science; why is it that those who occupy the highest place as permanent benefactors of mankind are during their lifetime neglected and comparatively unknown;--that they obtain neither the tangible advantages of pecuniary emolument nor the more suitable but less lucrative honours of grateful homage? It is the common cry to exclaim against the neglect of science in the present day