Chapter V (2)

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.