On Monday morning, June 19, 1820, at 8 o'clock, died, at his house,
Spring Grove, near Hounslow, the venerable President of the Royal
Society, the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, G. C. B. &c. &c. &c. The
loss to science by the demise of this excellent man and liberal
patron will be long and severely felt. It will be recollected, that
when it was determined to send Captain Cook on his first voyage
round the globe, Sir Joseph Banks, then a young man, whose ardent
mind glowed with a love of science and of ingenious enterprise,
determined to accompany him. His liberal spirit and generous
curiosity were regarded with admiration, and every convenience from
the government was readily supplied to render the circumstances of
the voyage as comfortable as possible. Far, however, from soliciting
any accommodation that might occasion expense to government, Mr.
Banks was ready to contribute largely out of his own private fortune
towards the general purposes of the expedition. He engaged as his
director in natural history during the voyage, and as the companion
of his researches, Dr. Solander, of the British museum, a Swede
by birth, and one of the most eminent pupils of Linnæus, whose
scientific merits had been his chief recommendation to patronage in
England. He also took with him two draughtsmen, one to delineate
views and figures, the other to paint subjects of natural history.
A secretary and four servants formed the rest of his suite. He took
care to provide likewise the necessary instruments for his intended
observations, with convenience for preserving such specimens as he
might collect of natural or artificial objects, and with stores
to be distributed in the remote isles he was going to visit, for
the improvement of the condition of savage life. In the course of
the voyage dangers were encountered of no ordinary magnitude. On
the coast of Terra del Fuego in an excursion to view the natural
productions of the country, Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander had
nearly perished in a storm of snow. After passing a night on land,
amid the storm, they at last, and with much difficulty, made their
way back to the beach, and were received on board the ship; but
three of the persons who accompanied them were lost. Shortly after
his return from this voyage, Sir Joseph, in company with his friend
Dr. Solander, visited Iceland. A rich harvest of new knowledge
and of specimens compensated for the toils and expense of this
scientific adventure. They afterwards visited the Western Islands of
Scotland: and among other things worthy of notice, they discovered
the columna stratification of the rocks surrounding the caves of
Staffa; a phenomenon till then unobserved by naturalists, but was
no sooner made known in a description by Sir J. Banks, than it
became famous among men of science throughout Europe. In 1777, when
Sir John Pringle retired from the presidency of the Royal Society,
Sir Joseph Banks was elected to fill the vacant chair; and never
perhaps has it been filled with more honour to the individual, or
more advantage to the interests of science. His time, his wealth,
(which was a princely fortune,) his influence, his talents, an
incomparable library of science and art; knowledge and judgment
to advise; affability to conciliate and encourage; generosity to
assist; all in short of which he possessed, and it was all something
either of goodness or greatness, he made the patrimony of the
studious and learned, not of his own country alone, but of the whole
world.