THE PROGRESS OF THE INSTITUTION TO THE TIME OF FARADAY.
1804 to 1814.
In 1804 the change in the original management and objects of the Royal
Institution was completed. The place which Rumford, with the help of
Sir Joseph Banks, had held was taken by Mr. Bernard, who was supported
by Sir John Hippesley. He knew nothing of science but much of the
world, and his aim for the Institution can be given in his own words.
‘The object has been great and important, not less than that of giving
fashion to science.’
In the spring the report of the visitors reflected the picture of Mr.
Bernard’s management, but the shadow of future greatness was there.
Mention was made of the intention to carry on original inquiries upon
new objects of science.
The visitors said:
There is every reason to suppose that a general interest in favour
of the establishment has been created among the inhabitants of the
metropolis.
The laboratory has been enlarged by the old workshop; some of the
space has been filled up with seats as a theatre for those who
attend the experiments of research; an arched opening is being
made in the wall in front of the table of the laboratory. This
part of the establishment is now found to answer very completely
the end of enabling the Professor of Chemistry and his assistants
to prepare materials for the chemical lectures, and to carry on
original inquiries upon new objects of science. A collection of
minerals has been formed of more than 3,000 specimens, principally
from presents. Great progress has been made in the library in the
old lecture room; the library of the late Thomas Astle, Esq.,
has been purchased for 1,000 guineas. It contains a variety of
scarce and valuable books in ancient British history, topography,
and antiquities. It will soon be opened. The model room has been
rearranged, and the number of models slightly increased, but the
adequate supply of useful models still continues a desideratum
in our establishment, and seems to call for every exertion, as
forming so interesting a part of the original prospectus of the
Institution. The printing press has been removed; its utility has
not been found adequate to its expense. At the same time it has
occupied a space in the upper story which may hereafter be employed
to greater advantage.
The number and variety of the public lectures have been
advantageous.
The great improvements made during the year offer every reasonable
prospect of increased advantage and extended utility.
In January Mr. Bernard was full of energy for the lectures. To the
managers he said he had reason to flatter himself that Mr. Fletcher,
of Cecil Street, would lecture on Natural Philosophy (but Mr. Fletcher
could not find room for his course, as Mr. Allen was engaged on the
same subject). Mr. Crowe would lecture on History; Dr. Stanger on
Physiology, and give another course on Medicine; Dr. James Smith on
Botany; John Opie on Painting; Astley Cooper on Comparative Anatomy
(but he did not give the lectures). All these courses were not to
cost 150_l._, if in two or three instances the privileges of a life
subscriber were granted. Davy was asked to report on the means of
escape in case of fire; on lighting the theatre; and whether a plan
could be formed for the regular publication of the Journal.
In February the printing office was discontinued and the Journals were
given up. Mr. Savage bought the printing press and type and removed
them in May, and became printer to the Royal Institution on his own
account.
In April all Sir Guy Carleton’s manuscripts on the American War,
including a copy of the treaty of peace between England and America,
signed by Benjamin Franklin, were given to the library. The bye-laws
regarding the library of reference were made less strict. In May Mr.
Bernard announced his arrangements for the autumn and spring lectures.
Davy agreed to give three courses; the Rev. Sydney Smith two courses
of ten lectures each on Moral Philosophy, one from November 10 to
January 30 and the other from February 20 to May 20, for 50_l._ and the
compliment of a life admission to him and Mrs. Smith. Mr. Fletcher was
to give twenty-four lectures on Natural Philosophy; Mr. Landseer, three
lectures on Engraving at eight o’clock on Monday evenings; Dr. Crotch,
six lectures on Wednesday and Friday evenings.
Two letters written at this time by Sir Joseph Banks to Count Rumford
at Paris give some insight into the divisions among the managers,
the causes of disagreement, and the different motives that had
been working in the Institution almost from its commencement. It is
clear that Count Rumford and Sir Joseph Banks especially desired the
promotion of scientific knowledge among the poor and the rich, and that
Mr. Bernard and Sir John Hippesley believed that the success of the
Institution depended upon fashionable popularity. For the first three
years the advancement of scientific knowledge was the chief object of
the Institution; in the fourth and fifth years this object gave way to
that of fashionable popularity, which was sought for until the original
investigations of Davy again made science, in the noble function of new
discovery, the life of the Royal Institution.
SIR JOSEPH BANKS TO COUNT RUMFORD.
April 1804.
I am very glad to find by your letter that you are well and happy
where you now are. In truth, you seem so much so that your friends
here begin to suppose you will take root in the soil where you
now grow. I cannot, however, disguise that your not appearing in
England last year, as I had reason to expect you would have done,
has been a material disappointment to me and a great detriment to
the Royal Institution.
It is now entirely in the hands of the profane. I have declared
my dissatisfaction at the mode in which it is carried on and my
resolution not to attend in future. Had my health and spirits not
failed me, I could have kept matters in their proper level, but,
sick, alone, and unsupported, I have given up what cannot now
easily be recovered.
The Royal Society, however, goes on extremely well; our members are
industrious, especially Mr. Hatchett, whose chemical discoveries
do him every day more and more credit. We shall not now, I trust,
go astray, as I think we have not one attending member who is at
all addicted to politics.
All our subordinate societies also seem to prosper, and labour
diligently in their respective departments; we have newly formed
one for the improvement of horticulture, which promises to become
very numerous. I send you a book on the subject of heat, &c.
(Leslie), which certainly contains many interesting experiments and
much bad reasoning. Upon the whole, however, it appears to me that
he will not be an unlikely candidate for your medal of the next
year. Pray let me have your opinion of the subject; and, if you
disapprove of him, who do you think a more successful promoter of
the science you wish to encourage?
I send your medals by Mr. ----. This is the first opportunity I
have had, or you would sooner have received them. [These were the
first Rumford medals, awarded to Rumford himself.]
SIR JOSEPH BANKS TO COUNT RUMFORD.
Soho Square, June 6, 1804.
As it does not prove convenient to Mr. Livingstone to take with
him the Society’s transactions or the observations of the Royal
Observatory, which I wished to have sent, I am obliged to confine
myself to the sending the enclosed books--‘Leslie on Heat’ for your
acceptance, the ‘Nautical Almanac’ for M. Delambre--and the medals
which the Royal Society decreed to you a year and a half ago.
On the subject of the first I much wish for your opinion whether
the author may be considered a proper person to receive your medal
next year; and, if not, who you think a more deserving candidate?
Be so good as to deliver the ‘Nautical Almanac’ to M. Delambre
with my best regards, and to assure the Institute that I shall
never forget the various favours I have in my literary character
received from them or those which literary people, my friends, have
received from them on my account. I honour and respect them both
as a body and as individuals more than ever, and look forward with
earnest wishes for the time when I may again communicate with them
freely, as I once had the happiness of doing. I have received their
medallic diplomas for Mr. Cavendish, Dr. Maskelyne, Dr. Herschel,
and myself, and will distribute them without delay. Pray remind
them, however, that Mr. James Forbes, F.R.S., is still a prisoner
among them; though an old man, possibly he does not wish to return
home, as his daughter has married into a French family. Possibly
other insurmountable obstacles have prevented his release, as the
Institute have so nobly and handsomely proved their wish that the
Fellows of the Royal Society should be restored to their pursuits
of science.
From the tone of your letter it appears to me that you are likely
to take root in the soil in which you now grow. I am sorry that you
did not return to England, as you gave me every reason to expect
you would, last year. Your house at Brompton is an inadequate
pledge of your future residence here, as experience has confirmed
me in believing.
In the meantime the Institution has irrevocably fallen into the
hands of the enemy, and is now perverted to a hundred uses for
which you and I never intended it. I could have successfully
resisted their innovations had you been here, but, alone,
unsupported, and this year confined to my house for three months
by disease (gout), my spirit was too much broken to admit of
my engaging singly with the host of H.’s and B.’s[26] who had
possession of the fortress. Adieu, then, Institution! I have long
ago declared my intention of attending no more.
You desire that Davy may have your papers for insertion in the
Journals. Alas! the Journals have ceased for more than a year, and
the printing office is removed from the house of the Institution.
Your papers, however, shall be communicated to him, as they have
already been to Sir Charles Blagden.
During this year a series of lectures was begun at the Institution by
the Rev. Sydney Smith, which for fashionable attraction surpassed any
courses that have ever been delivered there.
Mr. Horner thus wrote to Mr. J. A. Murray:
The Temple, November 15, 1804.
I suppose you know that Smith begins to lecture on Moral Philosophy
next Saturday at the Royal Institution? You would be amused to hear
the account he gives of his own qualifications for the task and
his mode of manufacturing philosophy; he will do the thing very
cleverly, I have little doubt, as to general manner, and he is
sufficiently aware of all the forbearances to be observed. Profound
lectures on metaphysics would be unsuitable to the place; he may
do some good if he makes the subject amusing. He will contribute,
like his other associates of the Institution, to make the real
blue-stockings a little more disagreeable than ever and sensible
women a little more sensible. It seems to me, for the interest
of general conversation, that these subjects should not be quite
so unknown to them as to be thought unintelligible pedantry if
mentioned in their company; and the impertinence of those who
set up as adepts is the price we must pay for this important
acquisition. Your chemists and metaphysicians in petticoats are
altogether out of nature--that is, when they make a trade or
distinction of such pursuits--but when they take a little general
learning as an accomplishment they keep it in very tolerable order.
Tell me if I take this rightly. I know it is not well settled, and
men of letters usually lean too much on one side. Good afternoon.
Mr. Horner wrote another letter to Mr. Thomas Thompson:
The Temple, November 21, 1804.
Our friend Sydney gave his first lecture on Saturday. I was not
there, but all the accounts I have collected from different sorts
of people agree in its favour, and that it took extremely well.
During the second course Mr. Horner wrote to Lady Mackintosh at Bombay:
The Temple, April 18, 1805.
We have all this winter had but two topics of conversation--Young
Roscius and the lectures of the Right Reverend our Bishop of
Mickleham.[27] His Lordship’s success has been beyond all possible
conjecture--from six to eight hundred hearers; not a seat to be
found, even if you go half-an-hour before the time. Nobody else,
to be sure, could have executed such an undertaking with the least
chance of this sort of success; for who else could make such a
mixture of odd paradox, quaint fun, manly sense, liberal opinion,
striking language? You must have had more than enough of the other
great delight of the public--the Roscius. As it is the propensity
of all superior minds to admire, I am sorry that this occasion has
added another to my own proofs that I must place myself on a very
low form; there never was such a rage except that for Sydney.
In the ‘Life of Sydney Smith’ Lady Holland mentions that Mr. Bernard
obtained these lectures for the Institution. She says:
He obtained considerable increase of reputation by a course of
lectures on Moral Philosophy, which Sir Thomas Bernard, who
interested himself much about the Royal Institution, proposed to
him to give. He continued to lecture for three successive years.
On May 17, 1804, a new proposal was made for the advancement of science
at the Royal Institution. A special meeting of the managers and
visitors was held, and an address to the proprietors and subscribers
was read and approved, and ordered to be circulated, respecting the
formation of a mineralogical collection and an assay office on a large
scale for the improvement of mineralogy and metallurgy.
The Hon. G. F. Greville, Sir J. St. Aubyn, Sir A. Hume, proposed to
raise a fund of 4,000_l._ to arrange a collection in a manner which
should exhibit all the interesting series of mineralogical facts; and
they proposed to establish an assay office, to be exclusively employed
for the advancement of mineralogy and metallurgy. They thought that the
whole time of a mineralogist of considerable talent would be employed;
and that the continued attention of a chemist of approved abilities
would be required.
It was proposed that a mineralogical institution like the library
institution should be united to the Royal Institution.
The address relating to the formation of this economic museum ended
thus: ‘The proprietors and subscribers may be assured that the managers
and visitors will never consider their labours as finished, while there
remains any effort to be made for the diffusion and useful application
of _practical science_ in this country. They would indeed have deemed
themselves extremely culpable if there had been any delay or neglect
on their part in submitting to the consideration of their members,
and of the public, a plan which promises essentially to promote the
prosperity of the Royal Institution, and at the same time to contribute
to the extension of useful science and to the increase of our national
resources.’
A plan was drawn up. There were to be hereditary patrons, paying
100_l._ and upwards, and patrons for life, paying 50_l._, and
subscribers of smaller sums might unite when they had subscribed sixty
guineas and select one of themselves as patron. The patrons were to
elect a chairman, a deputy-chairman, a treasurer and a secretary,
committees and sub-committees.
In 1804 Lord Dartmouth gave 200_l._ worth of minerals, and Mr. Hatchett
gave the cases for them.
In 1805 Davy gave his own collection of minerals, valued at 100 guineas.
The committee rooms were made into the mineral room, and 250_l._ was
spent in fitting it up. Davy went to Wales and Ireland to collect
minerals, and the following year he again went to the west and north
of Ireland, and took with him William Payne, the boy belonging to the
laboratory.
At the end of 1805 the rooms for the mineralogical collection were
ready, and the arrangement of the mineralogical and geological
specimens was made under the directions of Mr. Davy. The minerals
and fossils were removed from the model room, where they had been
deposited, and in consequence the models were arranged to more
advantage.
On June 9, 1806, a report was made by Mr. Bernard on the total failure
of the subscriptions to the mineralogical collection. Thereupon the
managers resolved that the three original proposers should receive back
their subscriptions, and that thanks should be given to them ‘for the
benefits which they had conferred upon the Institution by suggesting
the idea of a mineralogical collection, and by showing that it will
be practicable to establish and to support it out of the funds of the
Institution.’
In their answer the proposers said:
We concur in your opinion that the space allotted for minerals and
the plan pursued by the managers, according to the funds which the
Institution can supply, will be found equal to the illustration of
very interesting courses of mineralogy and geology, and it is bare
justice to Mr. Davy to state that his activity and intelligence in
bringing to notice the important facts of the natural history of
Great Britain and Ireland, with the aid of the managers to make his
assays keep pace with his discoveries, will ensure much credit to
the Royal Institution and great benefit to the public.
* * * * *
We are still of opinion that, when the importance of a general
collection and of a laboratory of assay in constant activity is
felt as it ought to be, the influence of the Royal Institution
will not be exerted in vain. The plan, which the managers have
limited to the present scale of their building and to the funds of
their Institution, has obtained general approbation. Its success
will give a bias to public opinion favourable to the progress of
mineralogy and chemistry, and enable the managers at a future
time to extend their buildings, establishments, and plan to the
scale which unsuccessfully we ventured to suggest to be better
proportioned to their importance.
The original proposal was too scientific and not sufficiently
fashionable to agree with the management of Mr. Bernard at this time.
During this year another proposal was made for the good of science at
the Institution. This is to be seen in a letter from Mr. Davy to Mr.
Bernard, written on June 2:
DEAR SIR,--I have reflected on our conversation at Brighthelmstone
with regard to the utility of some new arrangements that may be
made in the chemical department of the Royal Institution, and I
still entertain the same opinions on the subject.
In all universities and places of public scientific instruction it
is, I believe, usual for the professors or teachers to admit into
their laboratories a certain number of private or operating pupils,
who give their aid in the processes that are carried on, and at
the same time gain practical information and are of use to the
experimenter. I have several times been applied to by subscribers
to the Royal Institution who wished to assist in the experiments
carried on in the laboratory; but, as I have had no instructions
on this point from the managers, I have been unable to give them
permission. I do not think any inconvenience could arise from the
admission of private pupils in the chemical department of the
Institution. Such a plan would gratify many persons, would tend
to facilitate the execution of such operations as are carried on,
and would coincide with the ends of the establishment without
burthening it with any new expense. If you should think that the
idea would not be disagreeable to the managers, perhaps you will
have the goodness to mention it on Monday.
I enclose a sketch of some regulations for Mr. Sadler and for
myself; perhaps similar ones or better ones might be framed for the
other persons in the service of the Institution.
I have been thinking upon the lectures of which you furnished the
title, and I shall be very glad to give them at the end of the next
season.
I am, dear Sir, with the warmest respect, your obliged and grateful
H. DAVY.
It was resolved by the managers ‘that Mr. Davy have permission to admit
six subscribers as private pupils in the laboratory in the manner
proposed in his letter.’ The regulations drawn up by Mr. Davy were
read, as well as a draft of the duties of the Professor of Chemistry
and the experimental operator at the Institution.
In 1805 the endeavour of Mr. Bernard to make the Royal Institution
fashionable was persevered in with zeal and success. Early in the
spring he announced eighteen courses of lectures for the following
autumn and spring. The visitors reported that ‘the success of the
Royal Institution was a matter of public notoriety,’ that ‘all the
debts which were owing from the Institution have been paid, and there
is every prospect of future surplus. The investments directed by the
bye-laws have been continued; these amount to 1,334_l._ 4_s._ The
engagement of lecturers of talent and reputation has given increased
interest and effect to the Institution, and with little additional
expense. Even if otherwise, no contraction of scale ought to be
admitted in this most interesting part of the Institution, which
furnishes not only an abundant source of amusement, but also the solid
materials of instruction and improvement.’
‘Though the mineral collection has not proceeded with the same
rapidity of success as the library of reference, yet a considerable
advance has been made. The subscriptions and the minerals presented
already amount to the value of about 1,500_l._ The managers have
laudably given up their board and committee rooms in order to prepare
suitable apartments for the collection, and have resolved to hold
their committees in the library on the days when it is not open to
subscribers in general. Notice has been given that the laboratory of
assay is ready for that useful and essential part of the plan the
analysis of ores and mineral substances.’
The report said that, ‘with a view to the permanent success of the
Institution, as the popularity of the lectures was so much increased,
the terms of subscription were altered and a supplementary list was
made of ladies subscribing three guineas and gentlemen six guineas.’
The ordinary subscription being two guineas and four guineas, the
ladies and unmarried daughters of proprietors were required to
subscribe only one guinea, ‘as, by relinquishing the transferable
right of one of their tickets, they had contributed to the success of
the plans which the managers had formed for the improvement of the
Institution.’
The visitors ended thus: ‘The great degree of improvement and
advancement under the auspices of the present managers is shown by
this report relating to the accommodation and convenience of those who
attend the Institution, instead of dwelling upon the means by which the
members might be increased.’
The number of proprietors at this time was four hundred, and the
qualification was raised to one hundred and fifty guineas.
A committee of proprietors, managers, and visitors was appointed to
revise the bye-laws.
The Rev. Sydney Smith began his second course of lectures on March 23.
He thus wrote in April to Francis Jefferey, Esq.:
Doughty Street, April 1805.
My lectures are just now at such an absurd pitch of celebrity that
I must lose a good deal of reputation before the public settles
into a just equilibrium respecting them. I am most heartily ashamed
of my own fame, because I am conscious I do not deserve it, and
that the moment men of sense are provoked by the clamour to look
into my claims it will be at an end.
Mr. Landseer gave three lectures on Engraving. From some personal
allusions the managers resolved ‘that it is their earnest wish that no
allusion of a personal nature be ever offered on any account at the
lectures of the Institution.’ The next year Mr. Landseer was engaged
to give six lectures on Engraving, including the substance of those
already given, on the same terms as those of the preceding year. In
the announcement of the engagement it was said, ‘He will endeavour to
add a few lectures of a more general nature on the Philosophy of Art.’
The lectures were given early in 1806, and on March 17, after the
fourth lecture, the minutes of the managers state that Mr. Landseer
was called in and informed that the managers understood that his two
last lectures, particularly the last, were exceptionable from the
personal allusions they contained, and, he having admitted that they
were intended as personal allusions, although introduced with a view to
vindicate and support the art, and it appearing that Mr. Landseer had
before introduced personal allusions in his lectures, notwithstanding
notice last season from the managers, it was resolved ‘that Mr.
Landseer be informed that it is with great regret that the managers
feel themselves obliged to direct that his lectures be discontinued.’
The steward was ordered to pay Mr. Landseer 30_l._, the sum he was to
receive for his course of lectures.
On March 25 Mr. Bernard reported to the managers ‘that Mr. Davy will
give three courses of lectures in the ensuing season--the first in
November, December, and January, upon that part of Practical Chemistry
that relates to the Experimental History of Water, the Atmospheric
Heat, and Electricity; the second in February and March next, upon the
Chemical History of Water and the Atmosphere; and the third in April
and May, upon the Modern History of Science.’
On April 1 the clock in the gallery was ordered.
Mr. Dibden agreed to give ten or twelve lectures on the Use and
Progress of English Literature.
At the first meeting in May the following professors were proposed for
election at the meeting of managers: Professor of Chemistry, Mr. Davy;
Natural Philosophy, Mr. Allen; Poetry, Rev. W. Crowe; Belles Lettres,
Rev. John Hewlett; and Moral Philosophy, the Rev. Sydney Smith.
The proprietorship was raised to 150 guineas, and at the end of the
year to 200 guineas. The mineralogical room was fitted up for the
minerals. The laboratory was opened for analyses for persons paying
10_l._ at most. Ventilators were placed in the roof and under the
gallery of the theatre. It was impossible to keep out the wet because
of the settlement in the foundations, so the roof was new-leaded; and
Mr. Soane, the architect, advised that the roof should be examined
twice yearly.
On May 29 Mr. Bernard reported to the managers ‘that he had been
requested by Sir Francis Baring to inform them that a plan similar to
that of the Royal Institution was intended to be adopted in London,
with a view to the same laudable and beneficial effects as have been
produced with such extraordinary success in Westminster under the
auspices of the managers of the Royal Institution; that the gentlemen
who had taken the active part in the proposed establishment had no
other object in view but that of promoting, concurrently with the
Royal Institution, the prevalence of science and literature in the
metropolis, and in this they have flattered themselves that they shall
receive the approbation and assistance of the managers of the Royal
Institution.’ It was resolved unanimously ‘that Sir Francis Baring be
informed that the managers view with great satisfaction the exertions
of him and the other gentlemen to extend the beneficial effects of
science and literature in the metropolis, and that the managers will be
ready to give them any aid and assistance which they can with propriety
in the execution of their plan, conceiving as they do that the two
institutions will not interfere with each other, but will rather
increase the public interest in favour of their objects and promote the
success of both by the mutual assistance and beneficial co-operation
which they may be enabled to render to each other.’
In October Sir Francis Baring invited Sir Joseph Banks to become a
vice-president. This he declined by a letter written on October 14. He,
however, expressed his wish to purchase a share in the Institution. He
said:
I confess, however, I do not at present foresee the period at which
the utility of your new Institution is likely to commence. The
Royal Society was set on foot by a number of persons well versed
in those matters which its constitution was intended to promote.
The Royal Institution was at first wholly under the direction of
persons entirely addicted to science, and has not improved since
the management of it has passed into other hands. The Athenæum at
Liverpool has been formed, I may say, wholly under the immediate
superintendence of Mr. Roscow and Dr. Currie. All this I can
understand, but how the very worthy and most respectable men you at
present look up to as managers of your new Institution will be able
to guide it into the paths of science and literature is not to me
quite so evident as I sincerely wish it to be.
In 1806 Sir James Mackintosh, writing from India to his friend Mr.
Sharp, also shows how fashion, rather than science, had become the
characteristic of the Royal Institution.
Your account of the London Institution has delighted and tantalised
me. I wish I were a professor! But the printed paper is too general
to admit of any discussion. You do not say how many and who are
to be professors. It may surely be a little more solid than the
fashionable nerves of Albemarle Street could endure without ceasing
to be popular.
In 1806 ‘the attempt to make the Institution fashionable’ by means of
the number and quality of the lectures seemed to attain the success
that Mr. Bernard desired. There was an increase of nearly 3,000_l._ in
proprietors’ shares and in subscriptions. The debt of 2,000_l._ formed
in 1802 was paid off, and the sum in the funds amounted to nearly
4,000_l._ The library was completed by a separate subscription; this
amounted to nearly 7,000_l._, of which about 5,000_l._ was spent in
books.
With the exception of the Professor of Moral Philosophy the same
professors were this year re-elected.
In the report of the visitors in 1807 the following statement of the
lectures and of the general result of the management in 1805-6 and in
1806-7 is made:
+------------------+--------------------------------+---------+------+
| | |Number of| |
| Lecturers | Subjects |Lectures.|Season|
| | | Season |1806-7|
| | | 1805-6 | |
+------------------+--------------------------------+---------+------+
|Mr. Davy | Geology and Chemistry | 22 | 28 |
|Mr. Allen | Natural Philosophy | 25 | 32 |
|Rev. W. Crowe | Poetry and Dramatic Poetry | 21 | 24 |
|Rev. T. F. Dibden | English Literature | 10 | 12 |
|Rev. J. Hewlett | Belles Lettres | 8 | 8 |
|Dr. Crotch | Music | 13 | 25 |
|Rev. E. Foster | History of Commerce | -- | 8 |
|Mr. Douglas Guest | State of the Fine Arts in Spain| -- | 4 |
|Mr. Wood | Perspective | -- | 9 |
|Dr. Shaw | Zoology | 12 | 12 |
|Dr. Smith | | | |
| (afterwards | | | |
| Sir James) | Botany | 14 | 14 |
|Mr. Craig | Drawing in Water Colours | 8 | 8 |
|Rev. Sydney Smith | Moral Philosophy | 14 | |
|Mr. Opie | Painting | 6 | |
|Mr. Landseer | Engraving | 4 | |
+------------------+--------------------------------+---------+------+
‘Nothing,’ the visitors said, ‘seems necessary for substantiating and
promoting the interests of the Institution but that the managers should
proceed in the track which they have hitherto pursued, and should
continue to receive that approbation which has so fully rewarded their
former labours.’
On May 26, 1806, Mr. Bernard reported to the managers that Mr. Davy
would in November next begin a course of twenty lectures in the higher
departments of experimental chemistry, on Vegetable and Animal Analysis
and on the Experimental History of Heat, Light, and Electricity; and
that in the spring he would begin another course of twenty lectures
on the Chemistry of Nature, containing elucidations of the design,
order, and harmony of the chemical arrangements in the globe. In the
first course he proposed to give two lectures a week, on Wednesdays and
Saturdays, and in the second course one lecture a week, on Wednesdays;
the hour of the lecture to be two o’clock. The ventilation of the
lecture room was considered this day.
Mr. Bernard later reported that Mr. Coleridge would give two courses of
eight lectures on the Principles Common to the Fine Arts for 120_l._;
to commence in November, every Thursday at two.
Mr. Lawrence, the surgeon, proposed to give a course of lectures on the
Animal Economy. These were not accepted. The Rev. Sydney Smith proposed
to give a fifth course of eight lectures in the ensuing spring for a
compliment of 90_l._; ‘and, in case it should be in his power, he would
give some additional lectures, not exceeding six, for a compliment of
10_l._ a lecture.’ These lectures circumstances obliged him to give up.
He was paid 120_l._ for his third and fourth courses, which he gave in
1806. His lectures were not printed until after his death.
But it was not by the success of the lectures that this year deserves
to be remembered in the history of the Institution. Lectures, indeed,
are the support of the Institution, but discovery constitutes its
great success; and this year is famous for the first of those great
discoveries on which the credit of the Institution depends. The union
of chemistry and electricity was established by Davy.
Volta sent the first account of his discovery of the voltaic pile
to Sir Joseph Banks. His paper was printed in the ‘Philosophical
Transactions’ for 1800--on the ‘Electricity Excited by the mere
Contact of Conducting Substances of Different Kinds.’ Davy, on October
20, 1800, wrote, ‘Galvanism I have found, by numerous experiments,
to be a process purely chemical,’ and on June 18, 1801, the first
paper Davy sent to the Royal Society was on a galvanic combination
of a single metallic plate and two fluids. In May 1802 he says, ‘A
battery of immense size has been made for the Institution, and I am
now examining the agencies of it upon certain substances that have not
been decomposed.’ His lectures on Agriculture, Mineralogy, and Geology
so occupied his time that very little remained for original research,
and it was not until this year that a close examination of the
decomposition of water by electricity led him to investigate the action
of the voltaic battery, and to establish the union of electricity and
chemistry. For this and his former work the name of Davy ought for ever
to be inseparably united with the discovery of chemical electricity.
But the honour at that time paid to Davy was not for establishing the
production of electricity by chemistry, but for endeavouring to prove
that all chemical action was caused by electricity. He received no
praise as the founder of chemical electricity, but he was looked on
as the discoverer of electro-chemistry--that is, of the theory that
the electrical condition or polarity of each element determined its
chemical action.
The following year (1807) is still more memorable in the annals of the
Institution on account of the originality of the discoveries made in
the laboratory. No year in the life of the Institution has equalled
this in the magic novelty of the results that were obtained. Davy (æt.
28) proved that the bases of the alkalies were solid metals. He called
them potassium and sodium, and he showed that they made potash and soda
when united with oxygen.
The year 1831 was a noble year for the Royal Institution. In it Faraday
(æt. 40) discovered that the magnet produced electricity and founded
magneto-electricity.
Great discoveries in different sciences made at different periods do
not admit of any accurate comparison. It may, however, be said that in
unimagined novelty the results of Davy far surpassed the results of
Faraday; for the discovery of magneto-electricity had been foreshadowed
by the discovery of electro-magnetism; but in its telegraphic and other
applications the discovery of magneto-electricity will keep the name of
Faraday for ever in the remembrance of the world.
How much the prosperity of the Institution depended upon Davy was made
very evident by his illness, which occurred soon after his discoveries
were made. In the early part of the year the managers had not
recognised the fact that original discovery belonged to him, and that
their committees were useless for investigation. They did give Davy
early in the year a new assistant;[28] but on March 9 they resolved
that, in consequence of the completion of the chemical laboratory,
which was furnished with the necessary utensils and materials for
carrying on operations and experiments, ‘the chemical professor,
besides his regular annual courses of lectures delivered in the
lecture room, shall make, direct, superintend, and explain as far as
may be necessary all chemical experiments, or courses of experiments,
which the managers from time to time shall direct to be made in the
laboratory, and give his assistance in all committees appointed by the
managers for the purpose of scientific investigation which may require
his aid or stand in need of the use of the laboratory for prosecuting
their experiments or researches.’
In May the visitors said ‘the Institution continued to afford every
prospect of realising in their fullest extent those results which its
original promoters had in view.’
On July 13 the lectures of Mr. Davy were announced to the managers. In
the autumnal session, which was to begin the first week of December,
he intended to give twenty-six lectures on the General Elements of
Chemistry, and in the spring sixteen lectures on Chemistry in its
Connexion with Physiology and the Phenomena of Animated Nature. The
same day Mr. Davy informed the managers that he proposed going into
Cornwall for five weeks, with a view to collect specimens for the
collection of minerals, and that he wished William Payne, the attendant
on the laboratory, to accompany him. It was resolved that William
Payne’s expenses in the journey, and those incurred by Mr. Davy in
collecting the specimens, should be defrayed by the managers.
In October Davy made his great discoveries,[29] and the last week of
November he was laid low with fever, caught whilst disinfecting Newgate
Prison.
On December 7 the following notice was ordered to be sent round to the
proprietors and subscribers: ‘Mr. Davy having been confined to his bed
this last fortnight by a severe illness, the managers are under the
painful necessity of giving notice that the lectures will not commence
until the first week of January next.’
The lectures began on January 13, but Davy did not lecture until March
12.
This interruption of the lectures stopped the income of the Institution
in the autumn. The difficulties regarding the finances became urgent.
From the time when Davy’s support was temporarily removed until the
reign of Faraday was far advanced the Institution remained in a state
of great poverty.
In 1808 the visitors made the following report on the state of the
Institution:
‘Since 1803 the bills of each preceding year have been paid out of the
subscriptions received in the beginning of the succeeding year. The
amount has varied in different years, and is now about 2,000_l._ This
was not attended with inconvenience until this year, when, by some
disappointment as to lectures and by the postponement of the autumnal
course in consequence of the lamented illness of their excellent
Professor of Chemistry, the subscriptions have been diminished and
their payment postponed.
‘The expenses have increased. The library required 520_l._ There was
some extra expense--about 166_l._--in the laboratory, so honourable to
the Royal Institution and so beneficial to the interests of science in
every part of the world. The fitting up and forming the mineralogical
collection has cost 404_l._
‘It is proposed that 1,461_l._, to be paid by the representatives of
Mr. Edward Gray for renewing his lease of one of the adjoining houses,
should be spent, and that the cost of the proprietors’ shares should be
reduced.
‘Mr. Soane, the architect of the corporation, and Mr. Harris, the
librarian, have made a valuation of the Institution property.
House and buildings, with the two adjoining houses,
subject to the existing under-leases and to the
proposed lease £13,000
Books and manuscripts 7,000
Mineralogical collection 1,000
Laboratory and apparatus 450
Mechanical apparatus and models 1,000
Furniture of the house 900
Consols 3½, 1,375 at 64 880
" 4½, 2,684 " 83 2,297
‘With such a property, exempt from any mortgage or encumbrance, and
with views directed to the great and important advantages which
science, literature, and morality are deriving and may derive from
this royal and public establishment, the anticipation of a part of the
next year’s income will not be deemed of much importance.
‘When it is considered that in the last five years the library of
reference and the mineralogical collection have been formed and newly
completed, the laboratory very greatly enlarged and improved, and money
invested, we trust there will be no one disposed to think unfavourably
of the progress of the Institution.
‘An anticipation of a part of the next year’s income under circumstances
from which a more considerable deficiency might have been expected
will not make the friends of science and literature doubt of the Royal
Institution being now established on a solid and permanent basis.’
The income was stated to be 1,929_l._, and the expenditure 1,917_l._
The draft of this report was read by Mr. Bernard to the managers, and
they referred it to a sub-committee, who approved it. The Committee of
Visitors was then introduced, consisting of Lord Berkeley, Dr. Glasse,
Mr. Hammersley, who considered and approved it.
Mr. Dibden was requested to read his opening lecture on Literature on
January 13. He began with a short statement of Davy’s great discovery
and of his illness. Probably Davy was at this time ill in bed; for the
managers did not buy him a sofa, for which they paid three guineas,
until January 25.
On February 22 Mr. Davy attended the meeting of managers at their
request, and said he would commence his course of lectures on
Electro-Chemical Science on Saturday, March 12, at two, and those on
Geology on Wednesday evening, March 16, at eight.
At the end of the previous year Mr. Bernard had reported that Mr.
Coleridge would give in the ensuing session five courses of five
lectures each on the Distinguished English Poets, in illustration of
the general principles of poetry arranged under the following heads:
1. Shakespear. 2. Spencer and Allegorical Poetry. 3. Milton. 4. Dryden
and Pope, and the fifth course Modern Poetry. These lectures were to
begin immediately, one or two weekly, as might be convenient, for a
compliment of 140_l._, of which 60_l._ was proposed to be paid in
advance.
In February Mr. Bernard paid Mr. Coleridge 40_l._ in advance. The
lectures were still delayed.
At the end of April Mr. Bernard reported that Mr. Coleridge had
offered gratuitously to give a lecture on Education on Tuesday, May 3,
proposing it to be twice the length of his other lectures.[30]
On June 13 the steward, Mr. Savage, laid before the managers the
following letter from Mr. Coleridge:
DEAR SIR,--Painful as it is to me, almost to anguish, yet I find my
health in such a state as to make it almost death to me to give any
further lectures. I beg that you would acquaint the managers that,
instead of expecting any remuneration, I shall as soon as I can
repay the sum I have received. I am, indeed, more likely to repay
it by my executors than myself. If I could quit my bedroom, I would
have hazarded everything rather than not have come, but I have
such violent fits of sickness and diarrhœa that it is literally
impossible.
S. T. COLERIDGE.
‘Ordered,--That Mr. Coleridge’s lectures be discontinued, and that Mr.
Savage make out an account of the number of lectures that Mr. Coleridge
has given, in order that a proportional payment may be made.’
On June 20, 2,000_l._ being wanted for the payment of the tradesmen’s
bills and salaries, the managers and visitors subscribed it as a loan
without interest. The tradesmen were paid to December 1806.
The terms of subscription to the Institution were altered thus: Annual,
four guineas; and life subscription, forty guineas; the qualification
for proprietors was reduced to a hundred guineas.
The position of the Royal Institution is well seen in the following
report, which the Committee of Managers made to the Committee of
Visitors, on the deficiency of the income of the Institution, &c., on
March 20, 1809.
They begin by stating ‘that the 700 transferable tickets of the
proprietors stopped the annual income from subscribers. In January
1803 the corporation were 3,000_l._ in debt. A subscription was made;
transferable rights were reduced one-half, so as to allow of a greater
number of annual subscribers.
‘The effects of the measures were soon felt. The income was more than
doubled and public interest attracted to a very great degree. The
debts were discharged and near 3,000_l._ invested.
‘The additions that have been made to the Institution by the library of
reference, the mineralogical collection (which, by the assistance and
exertions of the Professor of Chemistry, has been made at an expense
which bears no comparison to its use and value), the laboratory, the
seat of his interesting and extraordinary discoveries, the increased
variety of the lectures far exceeding anything in contemplation on the
forming of the Institution, have frustrated every attempt to keep the
scale of expenditure within the average amount of income.
‘The annual expenditure, including 1,055_l._ for professors and
lectures, is 3,295_l._ To meet this there is 133_l._ dividends, and
life and annual subscriptions of not more than 2,000_l._ It is for
the interest of the proprietors that some early and decisive measures
should be taken for the preservation of their hereditary property,
either by new modelling the constitution, so as to make their life and
annual subscriptions more productive, or by reducing the expenditure,
or by the proprietors and life members paying some annual sum. The
proprietors now enjoy much greater advantages than they originally had
from the libraries, collections, lectures, and laboratory, and from
that in which all Englishmen, and particularly the proprietors of the
Royal Institution, must glory, that in our laboratory those discoveries
have been made, and are now making, which excite the surprise and
admiration of the scientific in every part of the civilised world.
‘For the present support of the Institution, and for the discharge of
their bills up to January 1808, some of the managers and visitors have
advanced on loan without interest 2,300_l._ The sale of the stock and
the fine for the sublease will pay the debts of the corporation. The
proprietors must decide what it will be prudent and practical to adopt
for the support of the Institution.
‘If the support of scientific men is to be obtained, something must be
done to give the Institution more the form of a public establishment
than of private and hereditary property. The managers have no doubt
that the friends of science will come forward when the Institution
interests the country at large, and they believe the body of
proprietors will make any sacrifice of personal interest and advantage
to erect a public, national, and permanent establishment devoted to
the cultivation of science and to the promotion of every improvement
in agriculture, manufactures, and the useful arts of life that may be
conducive to the happiness and prosperity of the British Empire. The
important researches which have distinguished the laboratory of the
Royal Institution, are not only honourable to the proprietors but to
the kingdom at large.
‘The managers trust that an active co-operation of the proprietors in
increasing the number of life and annual subscribers, and a moderate
annual subscription for the transferable ticket of each proprietor,
will be adequate to secure the stability and prosperity of the
Institution, and to continue and extend its influence by the promotion
of science and literature, and by the supply of innocent and useful
sources of intellectual pleasure.’
The visitors made their report to the proprietors, April 18, thus:
‘The circumstances attending our present situation seem to call for
much consideration and reflection, and it would become our duty to
state what reasonable expectation could be entertained of more income
or less expenditure. But the managers have done this, and therefore we
forward their report.
‘Upon inspection there seems no deficiency of anything which could
contribute to the success or general utility of the Institution,
and our financial state alone leads us to concur in the necessity
of resorting to new measures for the support of so valuable an
establishment.
‘The visitors heartily concur with the managers in their
recommendations.’
In May a committee of the proprietors, with the managers and visitors,
was appointed to consider the general state of the affairs of the
Institution. The first step was to request Mr. Davy to prepare a plan
for the future management of the Institution, and every member of the
committee was asked to lay before the committee in writing his ideas
or plan. One proposal was to put an annual tax on the transferable
tickets; another to get a new charter; another to get an Act of
Parliament; and another to shut the Institution at six o’clock daily.
By the end of the year the joint committee had formed a plan which was
in the following year proposed to Parliament.
The whole of the stock possessed by the Institution, amounting to
4,058_l._, was sold; the managers and visitors were paid their loan of
100_l._ each without interest, and the bills of 1807 and 1808 were paid.
A communication was made to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
and other public boards, suggesting the employment of the Royal
Institution laboratory for analyses and reports.
In November the managers decided to publish a statement regarding the
Royal Institution. This was probably written by Davy.
The objects of the Royal Institution in it were said to be ‘the
advancement and diffusion of useful knowledge and the application of
experimental science to the purposes of life.’
Regarding the laboratory it said: ‘In the laboratory, which is
under the direction of the Professor of Chemistry, and which is
open to any scientific persons who may propose important chemical
investigations, series of experiments are continually carried on.
Minerals and substances likely to be useful in agriculture, arts, and
manufactures are analysed and researches tending to the progress of
useful discovery prosecuted. Of the results of these many have been
already published, particularly researches upon tanning; the principles
of electrical decomposition; and the nature of the alkalies, earths,
inflammable bodies, and acids. In this laboratory there is constructed,
in consequence of the liberal contributions of a few individuals,
a voltaic apparatus of great power, which will be exhibited in the
lectures, and many new experiments will be performed with it and
applications of it made to new scientific researches.’
Regarding the lectures it said: ‘There are two terms for lectures, one
from December 10 to March 1, and the other from March 10 to July 7.’
On November 13 Mr. Hatchett and Mr. Davy reported that Mr. Dalton
proposed to give twenty lectures: 3 Mechanics, 2 Pneumatics, 1
Hydrostatics, 2 Steam Engine, 2 Electricity, 2 Meteorology, 2
Astronomy, 6 on Heat and Elementary Principles, to be delivered
immediately after Christmas, in the course of six weeks, for a
compliment of eighty guineas. Twenty other lectures were to be given by
Mr. Allen and Mr. Pond. An evening course on Electro-Chemical Science,
to consist of twelve lectures, was to be given by Mr. Davy, to commence
in December. A morning course on General Chemistry and its Applications
to Nature and to Art, to commence after Easter, and to continue through
the session, was also to be given by him.
At the commencement of the year 1810 the managers refused lectures on
Physiology and Comparative Anatomy, ‘because they could not convince
themselves that scientific lectures can be given on these subjects
without offence to a part of their audience.’
A few facts will show what the difficulties of the Royal Institution
at this time were. Mr. Allen, the Lecturer on Natural Philosophy, was
in February paid a hundred guineas for his lectures in 1807. The fine
to the city of London for the lease of the house was due at Michaelmas
1809. The lease lapsed because no payment was made. It was not until
April that the Institution could arrange the payment. In the spring Mr.
Easingwood, the Steward and Clerk of Accounts, left the Institution
without notice. The sum he misappropriated was said to be 179_l._
10_s._ 10_d._; it was more than 300_l._, and may have been much more.
His successor in the office afterwards robbed the Institution of a much
greater amount. Temporary relief from some debts was gained by the
payment of a fine of 1,500_l._ from the tenant of the corner house in
Albemarle St.
The proprietors met early in the year, and agreed to an immediate
application to Parliament for an Act for altering and amending the
charter, and for enlarging and more effectually promoting the objects
of the Institution.
Great expectations of the permanent prosperity of the Institution were
formed, in consequence of the proposed conversion of the Institution by
Act of Parliament from a private into a public body. Sir John Sinclair
took charge of the Bill and conducted it through the House of Commons.
It received the royal assent, April 23. The visitors, in their report,
said: ‘There is every reason to believe that the establishment on its
new foundation will at once contribute to our national prosperity and
glory. The conduct of the proprietors upon this occasion has been
honourable both to themselves and to their country. A fund has been
proposed to be raised on the plan of a loan for three years without
interest, and payable by instalments of 10 per cent., for carrying
the new scheme into effect.’ 12,500_l._ was subscribed, but a small
part only was wanted, as very few proprietors accepted the composition
which was offered to them. The actuary of the Westminster Life Office
estimated the value of each life proprietor’s share of 100_l._ at 42_l._
On March 3 Davy gave a lecture on the ‘Plan which it is proposed
to adopt for improving the Royal Institution and rendering it
permanent.’ It was printed by desire of the managers. As a record of
the Institution in its earlier and in its existing state, and as a
reflection of Davy in his full power, this lecture is of surpassing
interest. He said:
‘The first plan of the Royal Institution was that of a school for
promulgating the knowledge and use of important mechanical inventions,
for connecting the views of men of science and artisans, and for the
application of the sciences to the arts of life. The great feature of
the establishment was to be a collection of models of things used for
the common purposes of life, and to teach their use and relations to
science by lectures. Hence the instruction of manufacturers and workmen
was of equal importance with the promotion of the useful arts.
‘Soon after the foundation of the Royal Institution, a request was
made to one of the greatest practical mechanical philosophers of the
age[31] that he would examine the details of the establishment, and
become in some way connected with the body. His refusal was prompt
and his expression of disapprobation strong. “Your object,” says he,
“is one that every practical inventor ought to discountenance. You
would destroy the value of the labour of the industrious; by laying
open his invention you would take away the great stimulus to exertion.
Suppose a man, by a great devotion of time and of labour, by skill and
ingenuity, has made an important combination in chemistry or mechanics,
your object is to publish the details of his labours, to enable every
speculator to profit by his knowledge. This, could it happen, would
be ruinous to individuals, and would ultimately interfere with the
commercial prosperity of Britain; for your enemies would profit by
such disclosure more than your countrymen, and it would be absolutely
throwing away your superiority. Were I persuaded such a plan of models
could be executed, I should be seriously alarmed for the manufacturing
interest of the country; but I am convinced, from the nature of this
part of the scheme, that it will be ephemeral and that it will die even
in its cradle.” I am not sure that these were the very words of this
able reasoner, but I am sure that they convey his sentiments, which
were expressed in my hearing.
‘The object which at first was only secondary--that of teaching the
principles of the sciences by courses of public lectures--soon became
the prime object. The only difficulty resulted from the nature of the
audiences. To afford satisfaction to all by one series of subjects was
impossible. Numerous courses were consequently established. A great
library of reference was added, and a mineral collection has likewise
been formed. An object which I hope I shall be pardoned for being
partial to is the laboratory, which, though formed upon a small scale
and supplied with a small apparatus only, may yet, by its effects, tend
to demonstrate the importance and uses of such a foundation in the
metropolis.
‘It would be indelicate for me to be the historian of the whole of
the progress of this part of the establishment, nor should I have
entered upon it at all except in consequence of the circumstance that
though it is generally known that some new philosophical facts have
been ascertained here, yet it is not generally known that the chemical
apparatus of the Royal Institution has given aid upon several occasions
to the useful arts, and that assistance has been afforded to various
great public bodies.
‘There is another object on which I can dwell with more pleasure and
more propriety; I mean the voltaic apparatus, which has been formed
in consequence of a fund raised by subscription. Without a public
establishment like the Royal Institution this great light of new
science might have been lost to us, and it is not the less honourable
to the character of the nation that the efforts of private individuals
have effected what in other countries flows only from the Government.
‘The new plan of the Royal Institution is intended to exalt and enlarge
all those parts of the establishment which are acknowledged to be
useful and profitable, so as to create a permanent foundation and means
which can never be misapplied for the advancement of every species of
useful knowledge.
‘Besides the diffusion of knowledge by popular philosophical lectures,
and by other more elementary and more scientific lectures, the new
plan will also embrace a design for the promotion of knowledge by
experiments and original investigations. It is proposed that the
members of the body shall meet at least once every week for the purpose
of inquiry and discussion. At these meetings any new facts that have
arisen in the progress of science will be stated, any important hints
for experiments pursued, and in the progress of investigation those
subjects will be most particularly attended to which promise to
increase the perfection of arts and manufactures.
‘That the diffusion and improvement of science may not be limited to
those persons only who can personally attend the Institution, it is
proposed to publish Journals at least quarterly.
‘Having described the philosophical objects, it may be necessary to
say something of the manner in which it is conceived the income of the
Institution may be made permanent.
‘In the original plan, as the prime object was the founding a
collection of models and the diffusing the knowledge of useful
mechanical inventions, it was but strict justice that these models
should be regarded as private property, and belong to the persons by
whom they were originally purchased or their heirs, and that this
property, being of the nature of common property, might be also
transferred by sale.
‘But, this idea being found impracticable, and new and more exalted
objects having arisen from this foundation, and the Royal Institution
having fortunately taken the form of a body for promoting experimental
science and for diffusing every species of philosophical knowledge, it
is obvious that the principles upon which its funds are to be raised
and its members elected will require considerable alteration.
‘On the new plan it is proposed upon a compensation, which, after
long discussion, has been regarded as the most equitable, to do away
entirely the saleable and hereditary rights, so as to leave no vestiges
of them in the constitution of the body, and to elect new members,
properly recommended, only by ballot.
‘The original scheme, by making the proprietary interest perpetual,
left no means for the renovation of the funds, except by adding new
burdens to the establishment.
‘In giving up their private interests for the purpose of founding what
may be called a national establishment, the proprietors of the Royal
Institution have a right to expect the support and encouragement of
their countrymen; and though they will be promoting a general benefit,
yet they may perhaps make a particular appeal to some of the most
distinguished classes of society--to the great landed proprietors.
Whatever specimens they send will be carefully examined and reported
upon. The simple truth will be stated by men whose character, as
well as motives, will secure them from any suspicion of inaccuracy;
and, if a general system of this kind is pursued, much error and
disappointment, and even dishonesty, will be prevented.
‘On the attention of the statesman and the politician we have likewise
no inconsiderable claim. The Royal Institution is able to offer
assistance in investigations of great interest connected with public
works and the promotion of arts and manufactures.
‘Our doors are to be open to all who wish to profit by knowledge; and I
may venture to hope that even the female part of our audiences may not
diminish, and that they will honour the plan with an attention which is
independent of fashion or the taste of the moment, and connected with
the use, the permanence, and the pleasure of intellectual acquisitions.
It is not our intention to invite them to assist in the laboratories,
but to partake of that healthy and refined amusement which results from
a perception of the variety, order, and harmony existing in all the
kingdoms of nature, and to encourage the study of those more elegant
departments of science which at once tend to exalt the understanding
and purify the heart.
‘The leisure of the higher female classes is so great, and their
influence in society so strong, that it is almost a duty that they
should endeavour to awaken and keep alive a love of improvement and
instruction.
‘Let them make it disgraceful for men to be ignorant, and ignorance
will vanish, and that part of their empire founded upon mental
improvement will be strengthened and exalted by time, will be untouched
by age, will be immortal in its youth.
‘Even in the common relations of society how much must be referred to
the conduct of the female mind. The mother gives, or ought to give,
most of the early impressions to the child, and his future habits may
depend in some measure upon her influence. It may in some measure
depend upon her whether he become an honour or a disgrace to his
country. Her power of enforcing instruction is the most effectual, as
flowing from love. We know that without feeling the human being is
mere clay, the dust of the earth without the living soul. Whatever is
to be permanently infixed on the understanding must be associated with
hope, or with joy, or with passion. How much more efficacious must
instruction be when communicated by an object beloved and venerated,
and in infancy almost adored, and when, instead of being afforded
with an effort of pain and of labour, it is carried into the heart by
kindness and made delightful by caresses and smiles.
‘It has been supposed by some persons who are little acquainted with
the nature of the plan and the general objects of philosophical
associations, that there is a tendency in them to lessen the importance
of our elder establishments for education, and to diminish the love of
ancient literature. But nothing is further from the truth. The maxim of
improvers is, “Promote whatever can tend to assist the progress of the
human mind,” and letters will always be the greatest, the most powerful
engine to this effect; it is one that all can employ, the strong
and the weak, in solitude or in the world. That which is beautiful,
that which is pathetic, that which is sublime, can never lose its
effects. There is one course of passion and feeling in all times and
in all countries; we should never cease to consider with admiration
and gratitude those models of excellence which have been happily
preserved amongst the wrecks of cultivated nations to be our guides
in the Middle Ages, to be our shelter in the storm, and our light in
the darkness, the beacons to guide us to pure taste, to correct our
wanderings, to bring us to nature and truth. Let us regard them with
all respect, but let not our veneration for them be exclusive; let us
admire them as we admire the works of art of antiquity. The Apollo
Belvidere or the Venus de Medicis were designed by their artists to be
objects of adoration; let us wonder at them as statues, as models of
perfection, but not worship them as deities, nor even make them our
only household gods.
‘Greek and Roman literature will always maintain their importance,
always exert their influence; but let us not neglect that basis
on which the greatness of modern times and of our own country so
peculiarly rests--experimental philosophy and the experimental arts.
Let their merits be justly estimated and set forth with dignity and
truth; let not the countrymen of Bacon, of Newton, and of Boyle
neglect those pure springs of knowledge from which those great men
drew such copious supplies both for profit and for glory; and let it
not be forgotten that science has its moral and intellectual as well
as its common uses, that its object is not only to apply the different
substances in nature for the advantages, comfort, and benefit of man,
but likewise to set forth that wonderful and magnificent history of
wisdom and intelligence which is written in legible characters both in
the heavens and on the earth.’
On May 1, at the annual meeting of the proprietors, it was resolved
unanimously that the election of managers and visitors should be for
one year only. Notice was given of alterations of the bye-laws on
June 4, for the election of members in accordance with the new Act of
Parliament.
The first monthly meeting of _members_ was held on Monday, May 7. A
committee of members was appointed to act with a committee of managers
and visitors in drawing up bye-laws.
On June 4 the bye-laws were read, and on July 2 they were proposed
to the members chapter by chapter and article by article, and their
consideration was continued on the 4th and 5th. On the 6th the election
of thirty-two members took place; among them was Davy.
On August 6 ‘Humphry Davy, Esq.,’ the first of the newly-elected
members, ‘having paid his admission fee and given his bond for his
annual payments, was admitted a member of the Royal Institution.’ Dr.
Wollaston was this day proposed as member.
On November 29 a special general meeting of members was held to ballot
for three scientific and literary committees. The ballot lasted for
ten minutes. For mathematics, mechanics, and mechanical inventions,
twenty-five members were elected; the same number for chemistry,
geology, and mineralogy twenty-five for general science, literature,
and arts.
At the December meeting of the members Mr. Auriol signified his desire
of resigning the secretaryship.
This year, by order of a committee of the House of Lords, the clerk of
the House wrote to the secretary of the Institution, to request him to
attend with any gentleman belonging to the Institution who might give
advice and assistance to the committee on the subject of warming and
ventilating their House. In this roundabout way Davy was asked to give
his advice. He made a report and his plan was adopted, without success.
At the monthly meeting of managers in February 1811 the following
letter from Sir T. Bernard, who, by the death of his brother, had
become a baronet, was read:
It has been for some time my desire and intention to resign
my place in the Committee of Managers, but the state of the
Institution has made me apprehensive of some inconvenience from
withdrawing before the new constitution was formed and the primary
difficulties surmounted.
Nothing more, I conceive, is now wanting except a continuance
of that union and friendly co-operation by which it has been
established; and, as I can no longer continue a regular attendant,
I resign my situation as a manager of the Royal Institution. At
the same time I beg leave to add that if the annual meeting should
hereafter elect me a visitor, I will with great pleasure continue
my services in that situation. I beg you will communicate the above
to the next monthly meeting, and have the honour to be, with the
greatest respect, your obedient and very faithful Servant,
T. BERNARD.
The managers resolved ‘that they could not avoid on this occasion
expressing their deep regret at the prospect of losing the assistance
of a gentleman whose zeal, abilities, and indefatigable industry had
so eminently contributed to the prosperity of the Institution. They
therefore unanimously expressed their wish that Sir Thomas Bernard
would consent to defer his resignation till the annual meeting in May.’
The next week Sir T. Bernard confirmed his resignation, and Lord
Darnley was elected in his place.
At the annual meeting in May Sir Thomas Bernard was not nominated as a
visitor, but the following November he was unanimously elected. In 1815
he was again elected a manager, and he was re-elected until his death
in the autumn of 1818.
In February the energy of the committees of the Institution gave
some signs of activity. The Committee of Chemistry and Geology, &c.,
chose Humphry Davy chairman, Charles Hatchett chairman, and James
Laird, M.D., secretary. The Committee of Mathematics, Mechanics, and
Mechanical Inventions elected the Earl of Stanhope chairman, the Hon.
R. Clifford chairman, and John Day, Esq., secretary. The Committee
of General Science, Literature, and Arts elected Daniel Moore, Esq.,
F.R.S., L.S., chairman, John Disney chairman, and John Hinckley, Esq.,
secretary. For eleven months Mr. Hinckley had acted as ‘honorary
secretary assistant,’ and he wished to be elected ‘honorary secretary’
of the Institution; but in May Mr. Guillemard was elected secretary in
the place of Mr. Auriol, who for nine years had apparently taken very
slight care of the records of the Institution.
In March it was proposed at the monthly meeting of members that
a professorship of astronomy should be created. Reports from the
Committee of General Science were read.
This year all the bills due for 1807, 1808, 1809, and 1810 were paid.
Very few managers attended the meetings; so few, that at the end of
the year it was necessary to call a special meeting, stating that it
was impossible to announce the lectures for the ensuing year. This
brought twelve managers to the first meeting of 1812, and they decided
that the lectures were to begin on January 25.
Mr. Lawrence the surgeon, Dr. Birkbeck, Dr. Wollaston, and Mr. Campbell
were asked, but declined, to lecture.
At the monthly meeting in April it was moved that a scientific journal
should be published. The question of having a Professor of Astronomy
and other sciences connected therewith was again discussed. Dr. Jenner
was proposed as member by Sir H. Davy and three others. On April 5,
at an adjourned general monthly meeting, a report from the Committee
of Mathematics and Mechanics was read and referred to the managers as
proper to be printed.
On April 20 the first report of the visitors since the passing of the
Act of Parliament was made.
They say ‘only fifteen proprietors withdrew, and received compensation
amounting to 630_l._ 12_s._ 6_d._ The rest remained with the enlarged
view of rendering the establishment more eminently what it was designed
to be--a great national laboratory and theatre for the improvement and
promulgation of science in all its branches.
‘Five per cent. only of the intended loan was required.’
The Committee closed their report by congratulating their brother
members on the promotion, progress, and diffusion of science,
particularly of chemical discovery, owing to the experiments carried
on and the lectures delivered at the Royal Institution. ‘And they hope,
from the energetic spirit of its members, that it will continue to
flourish and tend in its progress to improve arts and manufactures,
increase the resources, and exalt the scientific glory of the country.’
On May 6, at the monthly meeting, a professorship of astronomy was
established, but no appointment was made. Three fresh committees of
twenty-five members each were formed. The resolution for publishing
journals was carried, but no journals were published.
On June 8 the election of chairmen and secretaries to the committees
was reported to the members.
In 1812 a great change was about to come over the Royal Institution.
Sir Humphry Davy, by his splendid discoveries, had made the Institution
famous, and, by his attractive lectures, had brought it most material
support. How little it could afford to lose his help is seen by the
balance to December 31, 1811. This was only 3_l._ 9_s._ 11_d._ Early in
1812 a committee was formed for the publication of a journal, and in
April Mr. Wyatt presented a plan for a proposed new theatre. Davy was
married on April 11; the day previous he gave his last lecture. The new
theatre was no longer needed.
On May 11 Mr. Hatchett reported ‘that Sir H. Davy, though he cannot
pledge himself to deliver lectures, will be willing to accept the
offices of Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Laboratory and
Mineralogical Collection without salary.’ It was immediately resolved
‘that the managers hear with great regret the notification which they
have just received that Sir Humphry Davy cannot pledge himself to
continue the lectures which he has been accustomed to deliver with so
much honour to the Institution and advantage to the public; but, at the
same time, they congratulate themselves on the liberal offer which Sir
Humphry Davy has made to superintend the chemical department, and to
assist and advise any lecturer the managers may be pleased to appoint.’
The managers immediately appointed him Director of the Laboratory and
Mineralogical Collection, and expressed their high sense of his past
services, gave him their thanks, and ordered a special general meeting
to be called to nominate him Professor of Chemistry. He was elected
Professor of Chemistry on June 1. On the same day twenty-five members
were also elected on each of the committees.
A quarrel in the Institution must here be mentioned, because it
shows that the changed circumstances of Davy led to the engagement
of Faraday. The apparatus and models of the Institution had been
under Davy’s care; they were now placed under the care of Mr. Pepys,
and he was made Honorary Inspector of the Models and Apparatus, and
Mr. Newman, the instrument maker, was put under him. Soon after
the managers ordered that William Payne, originally the laboratory
boy, should be employed in cleaning and repairing the apparatus in
conjunction with Mr. Newman.
In December Dr. Smith was appointed to lecture on Botany; Dr. Roget
on Comparative Anatomy; T. Campbell on Poetry; Mr. Brande on Chemical
Philosophy; Rev. J. Powell on Natural Philosophy; Mr. Thompson on
Sculpture.
Before the lectures began in 1813 Mr. Edmund Davy, chemical assistant
in the laboratory, resigned; and, at the beginning of the year, Payne’s
salary was increased to 25_s._ weekly. He had had a room in the house
for nearly six months. On the increase of his salary his duties were
thus laid down by the managers, and five weeks afterwards they became
the duties of Mr. Faraday: ‘To attend and assist the lecturers and
professors in preparing for and during lectures. Where any instruments
or apparatus may be required, to attend to their careful removal from
the model room and laboratory to the lecture room, and to clean and
replace them after being used, reporting to the managers such accidents
as shall require repair, a constant diary being kept by him for that
purpose. That in one day in each week he be employed in keeping clean
the models in the repository, and that all the instruments in the glass
cases be cleaned and dusted at least once within a month.’
Towards the end of February Mr. Harris, the Librarian and Superintendent
of the House, reported to the managers ‘that, hearing a great noise
one evening in the lecture room, he went to see the cause of it. He
found Mr. Payne and Mr. Newman at high words, and Mr. Newman complained
of having been struck by Payne for representing to him his neglect of
duty in being absent when he should have attended on Mr. Brande.’ The
managers immediately resolved that Mr. Payne should be dismissed from
the Royal Institution, and that a gratuity of 10_l._ should be paid
him in consideration of his long services. He had come as a boy to the
Institution before November 1803.
At the following meeting (March 1) Sir Humphry Davy ‘had the honour
to inform the managers that he had found Michael Faraday,’ and the
managers engaged him and resolved ‘that the clerk furnish him with a
copy of the order relating to his duties accordingly.’
In March 1813 the chairman of the Committee of Chemistry having through
Sir H. Davy expressed a desire that an open committee of chemistry
should be held in the ensuing week, the managers resolved that ‘a
committee of chemistry, open to all members and gentlemen personally
introduced by members, should be held in the theatre of the Institution
on Wednesday, March 31, at three o’clock, when the Professor of
Chemistry will demonstrate a new series of facts on the fluoric
principle’ (fluorine).
At the general meeting of members on April 5 Sir Humphry Davy begged
leave to resign his situation of Professor of Chemistry. ‘He by no
means wished to give up his connection with the Royal Institution, as
he should ever be happy to communicate his researches in the first
instance to the Institution in the manner he did in the presence of
the members last Wednesday, and to do all in his power to promote the
interest and success of this Institution.’ Sir H. Davy having retired,
Earl Spencer moved ‘that the thanks of this meeting be returned to
Sir Humphry Davy for the inestimable services rendered by him to the
Royal Institution.’ The motion was seconded by the Earl of Darnley and
agreed to unanimously. Earl Spencer further moved ‘that, in order more
strongly to mark the high sense of this meeting of the merits of Sir
Humphry Davy, he be elected Honorary Professor of Chemistry.’ The Earl
of Winchester, the President of the Royal Institution, was requested to
sign these resolutions and to convey them to Sir Humphry Davy, and Mr.
Brande was elected to the professorship of chemistry.
At the end of June the two rooms that had been occupied by Sir Humphry
Davy were ordered to be prepared for Mr. Brande. A few months later he
was appointed Superintendent of the House, and was allowed to transfer
his chemical class of students of medicine to the laboratory.
On October 4 Sir H. Davy reported to the managers that ‘Michael Faraday
had expressed a wish to accompany him on his scientific travels, but
that he would not engage Mr. Faraday if the Professor of Chemistry
considered his services as at all essential to the Institution, or if
the managers had the slightest objection to the measure.’ Mr. Brande
reported that ‘arrangements could be made to prevent Mr. Faraday’s
resignation being felt, and that, as he had shown considerable
diligence and attention in cleaning and arranging the mineral
collection, he recommended his services to the managers’ attention, as
this was not his immediate duty.’
The managers permitted Mr. Faraday to resign his situation, and ordered
that he should be paid a month’s wages on the day of his departure.
The assistant porter was engaged as assistant in the laboratory on the
same terms as Michael Faraday.
This year Campbell again lectured on Poetry, and Southey and Moore
declined to lecture. Flaxman gave two lectures gratuitously, and was
elected a life subscriber. Two o’clock was tried as the lecture hour,
but a change was soon made back to three as heretofore.
In 1814, during the absence of Sir H. Davy, the Institution did little
for science, but, though poor, it strove to be fashionable. On May 23
it gave ‘a cold collation’ to the Grand Duchess of Oldenburgh, for
which Gunter, of Berkeley Square, was paid by contract twenty guineas.
The funds of the Institution were by no means flourishing; the balance
in favour of the Institution on the accounts of 1813 was 66_l._,
but many bills were paid out of the ‘benefactions to the fund for
discharging the debts and for providing for the future support of the
Institution.’ A list of the benefactors was ordered to be sent round to
the members and subscribers on the two last Saturdays in June.
For the promotion of science the three committees (1) on chemistry and
geology, (2) on general science and literature, and (3) on mathematics
and mechanics were requested by the managers to meet and to elect each
two chairmen and a secretary.
In 1815, in February, Mr. Babbage began a course of lectures on
Astronomy.
On May 15 Sir Humphry Davy was present at the meeting of managers. That
day Mr. Brande stated that he wanted assistance in the laboratory,
and that Michael Faraday was ‘willing to resume his situation.’ The
managers resolved that the assistant porter should be discharged,
and that the former assistant porter should take his place, and
‘that Michael Faraday be engaged as assistant in the laboratory and
mineralogical collection and superintendent of the apparatus at a
salary of 30_s._ a week, and that he be accommodated with apartments in
the house under the superintendence of Mr. Brande.’
The rooms given to him were 25 and 26, the two furthest on the attic
floor. The sister of the librarian, Mr. Harris, occupied the smallest
of these (26), and there were difficulties about any other arrangement,
so that a few weeks afterwards the librarian asked permission to reside
out of the house.
In 1816 the managers decided that, in consideration of the additional
labour caused to Michael Faraday by the lectures of Mr. Brande in
the laboratory, his salary should be raised to 100_l._ per annum.
The pecuniary difficulties of the Institution were increasing, and
Sir Humphry Davy, Mr. Auriol, and Mr. Solly were appointed as a
sub-committee to examine the expenditure. In 1817 the debts increased.
In 1818 the bill for coals in 1816 was paid. Mr. Fuller, who ultimately
founded the Fullerian Professorships, allowed one thousand pounds,
which he had invested for the benefit of the Institution, to be used
for the payment of debts. In the autumn Sir Thomas Bernard died.
In 1819 Mr. Brande applied to the board, on the part of Mr. Faraday,
for permission to occupy the two southernmost front rooms on the second
floor.
In 1820 an anniversary dinner was held on May 8 at Willis’s Rooms. The
following year Mr. Faraday was given the use of two more rooms on the
second floor, and appointed Superintendent of the House and Laboratory
in the absence of Mr. Brande.
In 1822 the treasurer had to advance 1,000_l._ to pay the bills, and
in 1823 a loan of 4,000_l._ without interest was raised amongst the
members.
In 1824 Faraday first lectured at the Royal Institution, and was
elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his discoveries made in the
laboratory.
From 1815 the life of Faraday and the history of the Royal Institution
became inseparable, and from 1824 it was kept alive by his unselfish
devotion to its welfare.