land, of Prussia, of Hanover, and of France, derived honour from the discoveries of their Secretaries;—that they prided themselves in the names of Berzelius, of Oersted, of Brewster, of Encke, of Gaus, and of Cuvier. Doubtless the President must have been ambitious that England should contribute to this galaxy of glory, that the Royal Society should restore the lost Pleiad[1] to the admiring science of Europe. But he could discover no kindred name amongst the ranks of his supporters, and forgot, for a moment, the interest of the Society, in an amiable consideration for the feelings of his surrounding friends. For had the President chosen a brighter star, the lustre of his other officers might have been overpowered by its splendour: but relieved from the pain of such a contrast, he may still retain the hope, that, by their united brightness, these suns of his little system shall yet afford sufficient light to be together visible to distant nations, as a faint nebula in the obscure horizon of English science.
- ↑ Pleiades, an assemblage of seven stars in the neck of the constellation Taurus. There are now only six of them visible to the naked eye.—Hutton's Dictionary—Art. Pleiades.
