6 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [CHAP.
are on my list. No doubt, many persons of considerable position living in Edinburgh, Dublin, and elsewhere at a distance from London, are not among those with whose experiences I am about to deal. But that is no objection ; I do not profess or care to be exhaustive in my data, only desiring to have a sufficiency of material, and to be satisfied that it is good so far as it goes, and a perfectly fair sample. I do not particularly want a list that shall include every man of science in England, but seek for one that is sufficiently extended for my purposes, and that contains none but truly scientific men, in the usual acceptation of that word.
However, I have made some further estimates, and conclude that an exhaustive list of men of the British Isles, of the same mature ages and general scientific status as those of whom I have been speaking, would amount to 300, but not to more.
Some of my readers may feel surprise that so many as 300 persons are to be found in the United Kingdom who deserve the title of
