Chapter V (1)

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.