In 1831 the role of the Royal Society as official spokesman for English science was successfully challenged by the founding of the British Association for the Advancement o f Science. The origins of the British Association have generally been assumed to be obvious; (1) in 1830, Charles Babbage published his Reflections on the Decline of Science England and on Some of its Causes (2) in which he accused the President and Council of the Royal Society of nepotism, malfeasance and downright dishonesty. Fellows of the Royal Society and other friends o f science, presumably shocked by Babbage’s revelations and seriously concerned about the low state to which science had sunk in Great Britain, seized upon a suggestion made by David Brewster (later Sir David) and created the British Association as the instrument for the revitalization of English science.