Chapter III (1)

EARLY HISTORY OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION, 1799-1800; WITH THE LIFE OF PROFESSOR GARNETT.

The history of the Proposals for founding the Royal Institution is thus given by Count Rumford in 1799:

Having long been in a habit of considering all useful improvements
as being purely _mechanical_, or as depending on the perfection of
machinery and address in the management of it, and of considering
_profit_ (which depends much on the perfection of machinery) as
the only incitement to _industry_, I was naturally led to meditate
on the means that might be employed with advantage to diffuse
the knowledge and facilitate the general introduction of such
improvements; and the plan which is now submitted to the public was
the result of these investigations.

In the beginning of the year 1796 I gave a faint sketch of this
plan in my second essay; but, being under a necessity of returning
soon to Germany, I had not leisure to pursue it farther at that
time, and I was obliged to content myself with having merely thrown
out a loose idea, as it were by accident, which I thought might
possibly attract attention.

After my return to Munich, I opened myself more fully on the
subject in my correspondence with my friends in this country, and
particularly in my letters to Thomas Bernard, Esq., who, as is
well known, is one of the founders and most active members of the
Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of
the Poor.

This gentleman I found, on my return to England in September 1798,
not only agreeing with me in opinion in regard to the utility and
importance of the plan I had proposed, but very solicitous that
some attempts should be made to carry it into immediate execution
in this capital.

After several consultations, that were held at Mr. Bernard’s
apartments in the Foundling Hospital and at the house of the Lord
Bishop of Durham, at which several gentlemen assisted who are well
known as zealous promoters of useful improvement, it was agreed
that Mr. Bernard should report to the Committee of the Society
for Bettering the Condition of the Poor the general result of
these consultations, and the unanimous desire of the gentlemen who
assisted at them, that means might be devised for making an attempt
to carry the scheme proposed into execution.

The gentlemen of the Committee agreed with me entirely in the
opinion I had taken the liberty to express, that the Institution
which it was proposed to form would be too conspicuous, and too
interesting and important, to be made _an appendix_ to any other
existing establishment, and, consequently, that it must stand
alone, and on its own proper basis; but as these gentlemen had no
direct communication with any persons, except with the members of
their own Society, they appointed a Committee, consisting of eight
persons, from their own body, to confer with me on the subject of
the plan.[12]

I had the honour to meet this Committee on this business on the
31st of January, at the house of Richard Sulivan, Esq., where a
plan I had previously drawn up for forming the Institution in
question was read and examined, and its principles unanimously
approved; but, as some of the gentlemen present were of opinion
that the plan entered too much into detail to be submitted to the
public in the beginning of the business, I undertook to revise it,
and to endeavour to accommodate it to the wishes of the Committee.

Having made such alterations in it as I thought might satisfy the
Committee, I sent a corrected copy of it to them, accompanied by
the following letter:

‘GENTLEMEN,--Inclosed I have the honour to send you a corrected
copy of the Proposals I took the liberty of laying before you
on Thursday last, for forming in this capital, by private
subscription, a public Institution for diffusing the knowledge
and facilitating the general and speedy introduction of new
and useful mechanical inventions and improvements; and also
for teaching, by regular courses of philosophical lectures
and experiments, the application of the new discoveries in
science to the improvement of arts and manufactures, and
in facilitating the means of procuring the comforts and
conveniences of life.

‘The tendency of the proposed Institution to excite a spirit of
inquiry and of improvement amongst all ranks of society, and to
afford the most effectual assistance to those who are engaged
in the various pursuits of useful industry, did not escape
your observation; and it is, I am persuaded, from a conviction
of the utility of the plan, or its tendency to increase the
comforts and enjoyments of individuals, and at the same time
to promote the public prosperity, that you have been induced
to take it into your serious consideration. I shall be much
flattered if it should meet with your approbation and with your
support.

‘Though I am perfectly ready to take any share in the business
of carrying the scheme into execution, in case it should be
adopted, that can be required, yet there is one preliminary
request which I am desirous may be granted me, and that is,
that the Government may be previously made acquainted with
the scheme before any steps are taken towards carrying it
into execution; and also that his Majesty’s Ministers may be
informed that it is in the contemplation of the founders of the
Institution to accept of my services in the arrangement and
management of it.

‘The peculiar situation in which I stand in this country, as
a subject of his Majesty, and being at the same time, by his
Majesty’s special commission, granted under his royal sign
manual, engaged in the service of a foreign prince, this
circumstance renders it improper for me to engage myself
in this important business, notwithstanding that it might
perhaps be considered merely as a private concern, without the
knowledge and the approbation of the Government.

‘I am quite certain that my engaging in this, or in any other
business in which there is any prospect of my being of any
public use in this country, will meet with the most cordial
approbation of his Most Serene Highness the Elector Palatine,
in whose service I am; for I know his sentiments on that
subject; and although I do not imagine that his Majesty or his
Majesty’s Ministers would disapprove of my giving my assistance
in carrying this scheme into execution, yet I feel it to be
necessary that their approbation should be asked and obtained;
and, if I might be allowed to express my sentiments on another
matter, which, no doubt, has already occurred to everyone
of the gentlemen to whom I now address myself, I should say
that, in my opinion, it would not only be proper, but even
necessary, to inform Government of the nature of the scheme
that is proposed and of every circumstance relative to it,
and at the same time to ask their countenance and support in
carrying it into execution; for although it may be allowable
in this free country for individuals to unite in forming and
executing extensive plans for diffusing useful knowledge and
promoting the public good, yet it appears to me that no such
establishment should ever be formed in any country without the
knowledge and approbation of the Executive Government.

‘Trusting that you will be so good as to excuse the liberty I
take in making this observation, and that you will consider
my doing it as being intended rather to justify myself, by
explaining my principles than from any idea of its being
necessary on any other account, I have the honour to be, with
much respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient and most humble
Servant,

(Signed) ‘RUMFORD.

‘Brompton Row, February 7, 1799.
(Addressed)

‘To the Gentlemen named by the Committee of the Society for
Bettering the Condition of the Poor to confer with Count
Rumford on his scheme for forming a new Establishment in London
for Diffusing the Knowledge of Useful Mechanical Improvements,
&c.’

The Committee above mentioned having, in the meantime, made their
report to the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the
Comforts of the Poor, that Society came to the following resolution:

‘At a meeting of the Society for Bettering the Condition and
Increasing the Comforts of the Poor, on Friday, the 1st of
February, 1799,

‘_Present_:

The BISHOP OF DURHAM, in the chair,
PATRICK COLQUHOUN, Esq.,
THOMAS BERNARD, Esq.,
WILLIAM MANNING, Esq.,
JOHN SULLIVAN, Esq.,
The REV. DR. GLASSE,
JOHN J. ANGERSTEIN, Esq.,
WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, Esq.,
RICHARD JOSEPH SULIVAN, Esq.,
MATTHEW MARTIN, Esq., Secretary,

the Committee appointed to confer with Count Rumford reported
that they had had a conference with the Count, and that they
were satisfied that the Institution proposed by him would be
extremely beneficial and interesting to the community; that,
in order to provide the pecuniary funds of the Society at
its commencement, it was proposed that subscribers of fifty
guineas each should be the perpetual proprietors of the
Institution, and be entitled each to perpetual transferable
tickets for the lectures and for admission to the apartments of
the Institution; and that as soon as thirty such subscribers
offered it was proposed to call a meeting of those thirty
subscribers, in order to lay the plan before them and elect
managers for the Institution.

* * * * *

‘Resolved,--That the said report be approved of, and that
it be referred to the gentlemen of the Select Committee
to communicate the outlines of the plan to the members of
the Committee of the Society, and to such other persons as
they shall think fit, desiring that those who wish to have
their names inserted among the original subscribers to the
Institution would communicate their wish to the Special
Committee.

‘Extracted from the Minutes.
‘M. MARTIN, Secretary.’

In consequence of this resolution a paper was printed by the
gentlemen of the Select Committee containing the outlines of the
plan, and sent round privately among their friends and others whom
they thought likely to countenance the scheme, accompanied by a
printed copy of the foregoing resolution, with a request that those
who were willing to allow their names to be put down among the
original subscribers and proprietors of the Institution would be so
good as to communicate their intentions by a letter addressed to
Thomas Bernard, Esq., at the Foundling Hospital.

The Proposals that were circulated in this manner met with so much
approbation that fifty-eight of the most respectable names were
sent in before measures could be taken for holding a meeting, and
these successful beginnings encouraged those who were principally
concerned in forming and bringing forward the plan to make some
alterations in it, and particularly in respect to the time and
manner of choosing the first set of managers, and in regard to an
application for a charter for the Institution, which it has been
determined to make, in order to place the establishment on a more
solid and more respectable foundation, and to give full security to
the subscribers against all future claims upon them.

IN THIS STAGE OF THE BUSINESS, and especially as a meeting of
the subscribers is to be held in a few days for the purpose of
determining what other steps shall be taken for carrying the
proposed plan into execution, I have thought it to be my duty to
lay all these particulars before the subscribers, and at the same
time to state to them at length the general outline of the plan I
have taken the liberty to propose, and in the execution of which,
if it should be adopted, I am ready to take any part that the
subscribers may wish me to take.

RUMFORD.

Brompton Row, March 4, 1799.

THE PROPOSALS FOR FORMING BY SUBSCRIPTION, IN THE METROPOLIS OF THE
BRITISH EMPIRE, A PUBLIC INSTITUTION FOR DIFFUSING THE KNOWLEDGE
AND FACILITATING THE GENERAL INTRODUCTION OF USEFUL MECHANICAL
INVENTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS, AND FOR TEACHING BY COURSES OF
PHILOSOPHICAL LECTURES AND EXPERIMENTS THE APPLICATION OF SCIENCE
TO THE COMMON PURPOSES OF LIFE WERE THESE:

The two great objects of the Institution being the speedy
and general diffusion of the knowledge of all new and useful
improvements, in whatever quarter of the world they may originate;
and teaching the application of scientific discoveries to the
improvement of arts and manufactures in this country, and to the
increase of domestic comfort and convenience, these objects will be
constantly had in view, not only in the arrangement and execution
of the plan, but also in the future management of the Institution.

As much care will be taken to confine the establishment within its
proper limits as to place it on a solid foundation, and to render
it an ornament to the capital and an honour to the British nation.

In the execution of the plan it is proposed to proceed in the
following manner:

A place having been fixed on by the managers for forming the
Institution,

Spacious and airy rooms will be prepared for the reception and
public exhibition of all such new and mechanical inventions and
improvements as shall be thought worthy of the public notice, and
more especially of all such contrivances as shall tend to increase
the conveniences and comforts of life, to promote domestic economy,
to improve taste, or to promote useful industry.

The most perfect models of the full size will be provided and
exhibited in different parts of this public repository of all such
new mechanical inventions and improvements as are applicable to
the common purposes of life. Under this head will be included:

Cottage Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils for Cottages.

A complete Kitchen for a Farm-house, with all the necessary
Utensils.

A complete Kitchen, with Kitchen Utensils, for the family of a
gentleman of fortune.

A complete Laundry for a gentleman’s family, or for a public
hospital, including Boilers, Washing-room, Ironing-room,
Drying-room, &c.

Several of the most approved German, Swedish, and Russian Stoves,
for heating rooms and passages.

In order that those who visit this establishment may be enabled to
acquire more just ideas of these various mechanical contrivances,
and of the circumstances on which their _peculiar merit_
principally depends, the machinery exhibited will, as far as it
shall be possible, _be shown in action_, or in _actual use_, and
with regard to many of the articles it is evident that this can be
done without any difficulty and with very little additional expense.

Open Chimney Fire-places on the most approved principles will be
fitted up as models in the different rooms, and fires will be
kept constantly burning in them during the cold season.

Ornamental as well as Economical Grates, for Open Chimney
Fire-places, will also be exhibited; as also,

Ornamental Stoves, in the form of elegant Chimney-pieces, for
halls, drawing-rooms, eating-rooms, &c.

It is likewise proposed to exhibit _working models_, on a reduced
scale, of that most curious and most useful machine the Steam
Engine.

Of Brewer’s Boilers, with improved Fire-places.

Of Distiller’s Coppers, with improved Fire-places and improved
Condensers.

Of large Boilers for the kitchens of hospitals, and of Ships’
Coppers, with improved Fire-places.

Further it is proposed to exhibit in the repository of the
Institution--

Models of Ventilators for supplying rooms and ships with fresh
air.

Models of Hot-houses, with such improvements as can be made in
their construction.

Models of Lime-kilns on various constructions.

Models of Boilers, Steam-boilers, &c., for preparing food for
cattle that are stall-fed.

Models of Cottages on various constructions.

Spinning-wheels and Looms, on various constructions, for the use
of the poor, and adapted to their circumstances, together with
such other machinery as may be useful in giving them employment
at home.

Models of all such new-invented Machines and Implements as bid
fair to be of use in Husbandry.

Models of Bridges on various constructions, together with _models
of all such other machines and useful instruments as the
managers of the Institution shall deem worthy of the public
notice_ and proper to be publicly exhibited in the repository
of the Institution.

It is proposed that each article exhibited should be accompanied
with a detailed account or description of it, properly illustrated
by correct drawings. The name of the maker and the place of his
abode will also be mentioned in this account, together with the
price at which he is willing to furnish the article to buyers.

In order to carry into effect the second object of the
Institution--namely, TEACHING THE APPLICATION OF SCIENCE to the
USEFUL PURPOSES OF LIFE--

A lecture room will be fitted up for philosophical lectures and
experiments, and a complete LABORATORY and PHILOSOPHICAL APPARATUS,
with the necessary instruments, will be provided for making
_chemical_ and other _philosophical experiments_.

In fitting up this lecture room (which will never be used for any
other purpose than for giving lectures in natural Philosophy and
Philosophical Chemistry) convenient places will be provided and
reserved for the subscribers, and care will be taken to warm and
light the room properly, and provide for a sufficient supply of
fresh air, so as to render it comfortable and salubrious.

In engaging lecturers for the Institution care will be taken by the
managers to invite none but men of the first eminence in science to
officiate in that most important and most distinguished situation;
and no subjects will ever be permitted to be discussed at these
lectures but such as are strictly scientifical, and immediately
connected with that particular branch of science publicly announced
as the subject of the lecture. The managers to be responsible for
the strict observance of this regulation.

In case there should be places to spare in the lecture room,
persons not subscribers will, on the recommendation of a
subscriber, and on paying a certain small sum to be determined by
the managers, be permitted to attend the public lectures or any one
or more of them.

Among the various branches of science that will occasionally be
made the subjects of these public lectures may be reckoned the
following, _viz._: These lectures will treat--

Of Heat, and its application to the various purposes of life.

Of the Combustion of Inflammable Bodies, and the relative
quantities of Heat producible by the different substances used
as fuel.

Of the Management of Fire and the Economy of Fuel.

Of the Principles of the Warmth of Clothing.

Of the Effects of Heat and of Cold, and of hot and of cold winds,
on the human body in sickness and in health.

Of the Effects of breathing vitiated and confined air.

Of the Means that may be used to render Dwelling-houses
comfortable and salubrious.

Of the Methods of procuring and preserving Ice in Summer, and of
the best principles for constructing Ice-houses.

Of the Means of preserving Food in different seasons and in
different climates.

Of the Means of cooling Liquors in hot weather, without the
assistance of ice.

Of Vegetation, and of the specific nature of those effects that
are produced by Manures, and of the Art of composing Manures
and adapting them to the different kinds of soil.

Of the nature of those changes that are produced on substances
used as food in the various processes of cookery.

Of the nature of those changes which take place in the Digestion
of Food.

Of the Chemical Principles of the process of Tanning Leather,
and of the objects that must particularly be had in view in
attempts to improve that most useful art.

Of the Chemical Principles of the art of making Soap, of the art
of Bleaching, of the art of Dyeing, and in general of _all the
Mechanical Arts_, as they apply to the various branches of
manufacture.

OF THE FUNDS OF THE INSTITUTION.

It is proposed to raise the money necessary for defraying the
expense of forming this Institution, and also for the future
expense of keeping it up, in the following manner:

1st. By the sums subscribed by the original founders and sole
_proprietors_ of the Institution, at _fifty guineas each person_,
to be but once paid.

2dly. By the sums contributed by those who shall subscribe _for
life_, at _ten guineas_ each person, to be but once paid.

3dly. By the sums contributed by the _annual subscribers_ at two
guineas _per annum_ for each person.

4thly. By the particular donations and legacies that may be
expected to be made for the purpose of extending and improving so
interesting and so useful an Institution; and,

Lastly. By the sums that shall be received at the door from
strangers who shall visit the repository of the Institution, or who
shall obtain leave to frequent the philosophical lectures.

PRIVILEGES OF THE ORIGINAL SUBSCRIBERS OR PROPRIETORS OF THE
INSTITUTION.

_1mo._ These subscribers, who will _never be called upon for any
further contributions_ after the sum subscribed (fifty guineas)
shall have been once paid, will be effectually secured against all
future legal claims and demands upon them on account of any debts
the managers of the Institution may contract, as a charter for
the Institution will be applied for and obtained, for the express
purpose of providing for that security, before any other step shall
be taken for carrying this plan into execution, and before any part
of the money subscribed will be demanded.

_2do._ Proprietors will not be deemed liable to serve, either as
managers or as visitors, against their consent; and none will be
considered as candidates for either of those offices, or will be
entered on the lists as candidates, or be proposed as such, except
it be those who shall have previously signified their willingness
to serve in one of those offices in case of their being elected.

_3tio._ For the still greater security of the proprietors, as well
as to found the Institution on a more solid basis, one-half of the
sums subscribed by the original subscribers and proprietors of the
Institution will be permanently vested in the public funds, or in
the purchase of freehold property, and the annual produce thereof
employed in defraying the expense of keeping up the Institution.

_4to._ Each original subscriber and proprietor of the Institution
to be an hereditary governor of the Institution--to have a
perpetual _transferable_ share in all the property belonging
to it--to have a voice in the election of the managers of
the Institution, as also in the election of the Committee of
Visitors--to have, moreover, two _transferable_ tickets of
perpetual admission into the establishment, and into every part of
it, and two _transferable_ tickets of admission to all the public
philosophical lectures and experiments.

_5to._ Although the shares of proprietors and all the privileges
annexed to them are hereditary, and are also _transferable_ by
sale or by donation, yet those to whom such shares are conveyed by
sale or by donation must, in order to their being rendered capable
of holding them, have obtained the approbation and consent of the
majority of the managers for the time being. Those who shall become
possessed of these shares by inheritance will not stand in need of
the consent of the managers to be qualified to hold them, and to
enjoy the rights and privileges annexed to them.

_6to._ Proprietors’ tickets will admit any persons who shall be the
bearers of them.

_7mo._ Proprietors will have the privilege of recommending persons
for admittance to the philosophical lectures and experiments, and
the persons so recommended will be admitted in all cases where
there shall be room for their accommodation, provided that the
persons so admitted conform to the rules and regulations which will
be established by the managers for the preservation of order and
decorum within the walls of the Institution.

_8vo._ No more than _forty per cent._ of the sum subscribed by
each proprietor will be wanted immediately, and the remainder may
be furnished in three equal payments at the expiration of the
three next succeeding half-years; but it will be in the option of
proprietors to pay the whole sum of fifty guineas at once if they
should prefer doing it.

PRIVILEGES OF THE SUBSCRIBERS FOR LIFE.

Each subscriber of this class will receive _one_ ticket for life,
but not transferable, of free admission into the Institution, and
into every part of it, together with _one_ other ticket for life,
but not transferable, of free admission to all public philosophical
lectures and experiments.

PRIVILEGES OF ANNUAL SUBSCRIBERS.

Each annual subscriber will receive _one_ ticket for one year,
but not transferable, of admission into the Institution, and into
every part of it; as also _one_ ticket for one year, but not
transferable, of admission to all the public philosophical lectures
and experiments. Subscribers of this class will, moreover, have
a right of becoming subscribers for life, on paying at any time
within the year for which they subscribe an additional sum of eight
guineas.

PRIVILEGES THAT ARE COMMON TO SUBSCRIBERS OF ALL DENOMINATIONS.

_1mo._ Subscribers for life and annual subscribers, as well as the
proprietors of the Institution, will be entitled to have copies or
drawings (made at their own expense, however) of any of the models
in the repository, and this even when such copies are designed for
the use of their friends, as well as when they are wanted for their
own private use; and for their better and more speedy accommodation
workshops will be prepared, and workmen provided under the
direction of the managers, for executing such work properly and at
reasonable prices. And, to prevent mistakes, all copies or drawings
that shall be made of the machines, models, and plans lodged in
the repository of the Institution will be examined by persons
appointed for that purpose, and marked with a seal or stamp of the
Institution.

_2do._ Tradesmen and artificers employed in executing any work
after any of the models lodged in the repository will, on the
recommendation of a proprietor or of a subscriber for life, or
for one year, be allowed free access to such model as often as
shall be necessary; and any workman or artificer so recommended
who shall be willing to furnish to buyers any article exhibited in
the repository that is in his line of business, will be allowed
to place a specimen of such article of his manufacture in the
repository, with his name and place of abode attached to it,
together with the price at which he can furnish it, such specimen
having been examined and approved by the managers.

OF THE GOVERNMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF THE INSTITUTION.

_1mo._ All the affairs of the Institution will be directed
and governed by _nine_ managers, chosen by and from among the
proprietors of the Institution.

_2do._ For the greater convenience of the proprietors, and to
spare them the trouble of a general meeting, all the elections of
managers, after the first, will be made by ballot, by means of
sealed lists of names sent in by the proprietors individually to
the Institution, which lists will be opened, and the result of the
election ascertained and published, by the united committees of the
managers and of the visitors for the time being.

_3tio._ The first set of managers will be chosen by the first
fifty or more original subscribers, at a general meeting of them to
be held for that purpose; and of this first set of managers three
will be chosen to serve _three years_, three to serve _two years_,
and three to serve _one year_, reckoned from the 25th day of March,
1799.

_4to._ All managers, as well those of the first set as others, will
be capable of being _re-elected_ without limitation.

_5to._ The elections of managers to be made annually on the 25th
day of the month of March,[13] and fourteen days previous to
each election the managers for the time being will send to each
proprietor individually a printed list containing the names of
all such of the proprietors as shall have offered or consented
to be candidates for the places among the managers that are to
be filled up. On this printed list, which each proprietor will
receive, he will indicate the persons to whom he gives his suffrage
by making a mark with a pen and ink in the form of a small cross
just before the names of those persons; and, this being done,
he will seal up the list without signing it and send it to the
Institution, directed ‘To the United Committee of the Managers and
of the Visitors.’ In order that these lists may be recognised on
their being returned to the Institution, they will all be marked
with the stamp of the Institution previous to their being issued
or sent to the proprietors. And, for still further security, each
proprietor will be requested to send in his or her sealed list
of names under an additional cover, signed with his or her own
name, which additional cover will be taken off, and all the sealed
lists mixed together in an urn, previous to any of them being
opened--an arrangement that will effectually prevent the vote of
any individual subscriber being known.

_6to._ The managers are to serve in that office without any pay or
emolument or pecuniary advantage whatever; and by their acceptance
of their office they shall be deemed solemnly to pledge themselves
to the proprietors of the Institution and to the public for the
faithful discharge of their duty as managers, and also for their
strict adherence to the fundamental principles of the government of
the Institution as established at its formation.

_7mo._ The managers are to take care that the property of the
Institution, as far as it shall be practicable, be insured against
accidents by fire.

_8vo._ The managers will cause exact and detailed accounts to be
kept of all the property belonging to the Institution, as also of
all receipts and expenditures. They will also keep regular minutes
of all their proceedings, and will take care to preserve the most
exact order and the strictest economy in the management of all the
affairs and concerns of the Institution.

_9mo._ The managers are never, on any pretext, or in any manner
whatever, to dispose of any money or property of any kind belonging
to the Institution in _premiums_, as the design or object of the
Institution is NOT TO GIVE REWARDS to the authors of ingenious
inventions, but to _diffuse the knowledge of such improvements
as bid fair to be of general use_, and to facilitate the general
introduction of them; and to excite and assist the ingenious and
the enterprising by _the diffusion of science_, and by awakening a
spirit of inquiry.

_10mo._ The ordinary meetings of the managers for the despatch
of the current business of the Institution will be held
weekly--namely, on every [space], at the hour of [space],--and
extraordinary meetings will be held as often as shall be found
necessary.

_11mo._ Any three or more of the managers being present at any
ordinary or at an extraordinary meeting, the others having been
duly summoned, to be a quorum.

_12mo._ The managers will be authorised to make all such standing
orders and regulations as they shall deem necessary to the
preservation of order and decorum in the Institution, as also such
regulations respecting the manner of transacting the business of
the Institution as they shall think proper and convenient, or
that may be necessary in order to regulate the responsibility of
the managers for their acts and deeds; all such standing orders
and regulations must, however, in order to their being valid, be
approved by six at least of the managers, and they must all be
published and made known to all the proprietors.

OF THE COMMITTEE OF VISITORS.

_1mo._ The Committee of Visitors will be composed of _nine_
persons, the first set to be elected three months after the opening
of the Institution.

_2do._ Three persons of the nine of which this Committee will
consist will be chosen for _three years_, three of them to serve
_two years_, and three of them to serve _one year_, reckoned from
the 25th of March, 1799.

_3tio._ Any three or more of the members of this Committee being
present at any meeting of the Committee, the others having been
duly summoned, to make a quorum.

_4to._ It will be the business of this Committee formally to
inspect and examine the Institution, and every part and detail
of it, once every year--namely, on the 25th day of the month of
March--and to give a printed account or report to the proprietors,
and to the subscribers of all denominations, of its state and
condition, and of the degree and manner in which it is found
to answer the important ends for which it was designed. This
Committee will also once every year--namely, on the 25th of the
month of March--examine and audit the accounts of the receipts and
expenditures of the Institution kept by the managers or by their
orders; and the report of the Committee of Visitors on this audit
will always make the first article in their public annual reports.

_5to._ A person actually serving as a visitor will not be eligible
as a manager, nor can his name be put on the list of candidates for
that office till one whole year shall have elapsed after he shall
have ceased to belong to the Committee of Visitors. Those, however,
who serve as visitors will be capable of being _re-elected_ on that
Committee without limitation.

MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES.

_1mo._ The managers will take care to procure, and to exhibit in
the repository as early as possible, models of all such new and
useful mechanical inventions and improvements as shall, from time
to time, be made in this or in any other country.

_2do._ All presents to the Institution, and all new purchases and
acquisitions of every kind, will be and remain the joint property
of the proprietors of the Institution and of their heirs and
assigns, and all the surplus of the income of the Institution, over
and above what shall be found necessary for maintaining it and
keeping it up, will be employed by the managers in making additions
to the local accommodation of the Institution, or in augmenting the
collection of models, or in making additions to the philosophical
apparatus, accordingly as the managers of the Institution for the
time being shall deem most useful.

_3tio._ In order that the proprietors of the Institution and the
subscribers may have the earliest notice of all new discoveries
and useful improvements that shall be made, from time to time, not
only in this country, but also in all the different parts of the
world, the managers will employ the proper means for obtaining,
as early as possible, from every part of the British Empire, and
from all foreign countries, authentic accounts of all such new and
interesting discoveries in the various branches of science, and
in arts and manufactures, and also of all such new and useful
mechanical improvements as shall be made; and a room will be
set apart in the Institution where all such information will be
lodged, and where it will be kept for the sole and exclusive use
and inspection of the proprietors and subscribers, and where no
stranger will ever be admitted.

At a general meeting of the proprietors, held at the house of the Right Honourable Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., K.B., in Soho Square, on the 7th day of March, 1799, the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks in the chair, the following list of the proprietors and original subscribers of fifty guineas each was read:

Sir Robert Ainslie, Bart.
J. J. Angerstein, Esq.
Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, K.B.
Thomas Bernard, Esq.
Scrope Bernard, Esq., M.P.
The Earl of Besborough.
Rowland Burdon, Esq., M.P.
James Burton, Esq.
Timothy Brent, Esq.
Henry Cavendish, Esq.
Rich. Clarke, Esq., Chamb. of London.
Sir John Colpoys, K.B.
John Craufurd, Esq.
The Duke of Devonshire, K.G.
Andrew Douglas, Esq.
The Lord Bishop of Durham.
The Earl of Egremont.
George Ellis, Esq., M.P.
Joseph Grote, Esq.
Sir Robert Bateson Harvey, Bart.
Sir John Cox Hippesley, Bart.
Henry Hoare, Esq.
John Spalding, Esq., M.P.
The Earl Spencer, K.G.
Sir George Staunton, Bart.
John Sullivan, Esq.
Richard Joseph Sulivan, Esq.
Lord Teignmouth.
John Thomson, Esq.
Lord Hobart.
Lord Holland.
Henry Hope, Esq.
Thomas Hope, Esq.
Lord Keith, K.B.
William Lushington, Esq., M.P.
Sir John Macpherson, Bart., M.P.
William Manning, Esq., M.P.
The Earl of Mansfield.
The Earl of Morton, K.T.
Lord Ossulston.
Thomas Palmer, Esq.
The Lord Viscount Palmerston, M.P.
Edward Parry, Esq.
Right Hon. Thomas Pelham, M.P.
John Penn, Esq.
William Morton Pitt, Esq., M.P.
Sir James Pulteney, Bart., M.P.
Sir John Buchanan Riddell, Bart.
Count Rumford.
Sir John Sinclair, Bart., M.P.
Lord Somerville.
Samuel Thornton, Esq., M.P.
Henry Thornton, Esq., M.P.
George Vansittart, Esq., M.P.
William Wilberforce, Esq., M.P.
The Earl of Winchelsea.
Hon. James Stuart Wortley, M.P.
Sir William Young, Bart., M.P.

_The following Resolutions were agreed to unanimously:_

I.--That before any measures are taken for carrying the plan into
execution, a petition be presented to his Majesty, praying that he
would be graciously pleased to grant a charter to the Institution.

II.--That an outline of the plan be laid before the Right
Honourable Mr. Pitt and his Grace the Duke of Portland.

III.--That for these purposes it is expedient to elect the
Committee of Managers.

IV.--That the following proprietors (_who have agreed to serve in
case they shall he elected_) be now elected as the _first managers_
of the Institution:

_For three years._

The Earl Spencer.
Count Rumford.
Richard Clark, Esq.

_For two years._

The Earl of Egremont.
Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.
Rich. Joseph Sulivan, Esq.

_For one year._

The Earl of Morton.
The Rt. Hon. Thomas Pelham.
Thomas Bernard, Esq.

V.--That the said managers be desired to solicit a charter for the
Institution, upon principles conformable to the Proposals which
have been printed and distributed, and (as soon as the charter is
obtained) to publish the plan for the benefit of the public, in
such manner as they shall deem most expedient; and also to take
preparatory measures for opening the Institution.

That these resolutions be inserted in the public papers.

JOS. BANKS, Chairman.

Sir Joseph Banks having quitted the chair,

Resolved,--That the thanks of the meeting be given to him for his
conduct in the chair.

After this meeting of the proprietors a meeting of the managers was held, and the following resolutions taken:

At the first meeting of the Managers of the Institution, held at the house of the Right Honourable Sir Joseph Banks, in Soho Square, Saturday, March 9, 1799,

On a motion made by Count Rumford--

I.--Resolved, That Sir Joseph Banks be requested to take the chair,
and that he do continue to preside at all future meetings of the
managers, until a charter shall have been obtained from his Majesty
for the Institution.

II.--Resolved, That all acts and deeds of the managers, in carrying
on the business of the Institution, be transacted and done in the
name of the managers of the Institution.

III.--Resolved, That at each meeting of the managers one of the
managers present be elected by a majority of those present to act
as secretary to the managers at that meeting.

IV.--Resolved, That the minutes of the proceedings of each
meeting of the managers for the despatch of the business of the
Institution, as well as all orders, resolutions, and other acts
and deeds of the managers, be signed by the person who acts as
president, and also by the person who acts as secretary at the
meeting at which such business is transacted.

V.--Resolved, That the persons present at this meeting do now
proceed to make choice of one of their number to act as secretary
at the present meeting.

VI.--Resolved, That Thomas Bernard, Esq., is duly elected to act as
secretary at the present meeting.

VII.--Resolved, That the Proposals for forming the Institution,
as published by Count Rumford, be approved and adopted by the
managers, subject, however, to such partial modifications as shall
be by them found to be necessary or useful.

VIII.--Resolved, That the Earl of Morton, the Earl Spencer,
Sir Joseph Banks, and Mr. Pelham, or any one or more of them,
be requested to lay the Proposals for forming the Institution
before his Majesty and the Royal Family, and before his Majesty’s
Ministers and the Great Officers of State.

IX.--Resolved, That the Proposals for forming the Institution be
laid before the Members of both Houses of Parliament, and also
before the members of his Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council
and the twelve Judges.

Messrs. Cadell and Davies, booksellers in the Strand, having
generously offered to make a donation to the Institution of 500
copies of the original Proposals for forming the Institution,
published by Count Rumford:--

X.--Resolved, That the thanks of the managers be given to Messrs.
Cadell and Davies for this donation; that it be accepted; and that
these 500 copies of the Proposals be distributed among such persons
as the managers may think most likely to give their assistance in
forming the Institution.

At the next meeting of managers, on March 23, Count Rumford was elected secretary.

It was decided that ladies should be admitted as proprietors and subscribers, and entitled to all privileges, ‘excepting only that ladies will not be called upon to take any part in the management with the officers of the Institution.’

And on the 30th, Mr. Bernard being secretary, the draft of the charter was read.

On April 30 Dr. Glasse was elected honorary secretary, and Mr. Bernard treasurer. Mr. Mellish’s house in Albemarle Street was ordered to be bought. Count Rumford was asked to see the Rev. Mr. Farish regarding lectures on experimental philosophy. Mr. Swan was chosen as clerk assistant to the treasurer and secretary. Mr. Webster, a young architect twenty-six years old, was engaged as Clerk of the Works. He had been educated at Aberdeen, and had studied at the Royal Academy and with an eminent architect. At this time he had also a small school for about a dozen mechanics.

In May it was decided that the treasurer and secretary should be entitled to assist at all the deliberations of the managers, and a committee of expenditure was appointed.

On Wednesday, June 5, the managers first met in Albemarle Street.

In the second volume of the ‘Reports of the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor,’ Mr. Bernard gives an account of the Institution ‘so far as it may be expected to affect the poor.’ He thus gives a view of the Institution as it was intended to be, June 1, 1799: ‘Besides having a general view to the benefit of arts and manufactures and to the advancement of taste and science in this country, the Institution should specifically direct itself to the improvement of the _means of industry and of domestic comfort among the poor_. In bettering the condition of the poor there is very little prospect of these difficulties being removed until a _centre of action_ can be fixed, to which persons may apply for examples, for models, and for engravings accompanied by printed instructions, without being any longer compelled implicitly to rely on the talents, the docility, and the conscientious moderation of the different tradesmen who may be employed to make and sell them.

‘A convenient house was proposed for the purpose of lectures and experiments, and for a public exhibition of all such new and useful inventions and improvements as are applicable to the common purposes of life, and especially those which tend to increase the conveniences and comforts of mankind, and to promote domestic economy and useful industry. In the priority of introduction it was proposed that regard should be had to the degree of public utility, and particularly as they might benefit the general mass of the people.

‘Of the subjects of the lectures there are few which appear peculiarly to apply to the poor. Such as those on heat, on the principles of the warmth of clothing, and on the effects of the different temperatures of the air on the human body.

‘The models and inventions in which the poor are most immediately concerned will be those which may promote economy in food and fuel, and tend to correct and purify the air in cottages and workhouses, and which may supply means and instruments of industry on a cheap and simple construction.

‘Thus the models to be exhibited will consist of improved fire-places and kitchens, and of flues and louvres for supplying rooms either with tepid or fresh air.

‘There will be small models of inventions at a very cheap price, with engravings and explanatory descriptions useful to those who are unable to employ the persons recommended by the Institution or to examine them in actual and constant use at the Institution.’

Mr. Bernard’s report ends thus: ‘Though the charter is not yet obtained, and the Institution may be considered only in its infancy, the subscriptions already exceed 8,000_l._

‘It is not very easy to calculate what may be eventually the progress of the Institution, and what its influence on the condition of the poor. If it is followed up with an equal zeal and attention on the part of the conductors, and it receives the support it merits from the public, its effects must be extremely beneficial and important. For, without adverting to the general advantage of a new species of employment and amusement being afforded to the higher classes of life; and science and useful occupation being brought into some degree of fashion; it must be apparent to everyone that, without some such means, the poor can never receive all that benefit and assistance which the efforts and co-operation of many are now directed to procure for them; and that the improvement of the domestic comfort and means of industry in the cottage, the promotion of health, the economy and well-being of the inhabitants of poor-houses, hospitals, manufactories, and other public establishments will never be effectually obtained without such an establishment as the Institution.’

It is difficult to believe that the Royal Institution of the present day was ever intended to resemble the picture given of it in this report.

In June the Earl of Winchester became the first president, and the King became the patron, and he allowed the Institution to be called Royal. At the last meeting in the month Count Rumford was authorised to carry into effect his proposition for a repository of models, and to employ such artisans as he might think necessary, paying according to his discretion for their services. He was instructed to procure such instruments and utensils as relate more immediately to the management of fire; and he was empowered to draw 500_l._ to fit up the house for their reception.

On July 6 he submitted to the managers a form of advertisement to be inserted in the public papers, in order to carry out the exhibition of models.

In September Count Rumford was requested to engage Dr. Garnett as lecturer and scientific secretary and Editor of the Journals, with lodgings in the house and 300_l._ emolument, with a prospect of a gradual increase to 500_l._, provided the funds of the Institution in future authorised this additional expenditure. A committee was formed to prepare a lecture room on the first floor for the next winter.

Mr. Webster was appointed clerk to the treasurer and secretary, as well as Clerk of the Works, and a long report from him was read to the managers by Count Rumford on the formation of an industrial school for mechanics at the Institution.

A letter written by Mr. Webster to Dr. Garnett in August 1800, and another in 1801 to a friend, give an explanation of this proposal.

Probably August 1800.

The original object of the Institution was certainly to disseminate
knowledge in the most effectual way possible; and for this purpose,
while the higher ranks of society were amused and instructed by
lecturers on science and its too much neglected applications to the
purposes of common life, it was conceived necessary to do somewhat
in order to enlighten the minds of that class which had not enjoyed
the advantages of a liberal education, and yet whose improvement
was necessarily connected with the progress of the useful arts.

This was always considered as an object of so much importance
by Count Rumford, who has certainly had the greatest share in
establishing the Institution, that he repeatedly declared to me
when I first knew him that it was his intention to do everything in
his power to establish a school for science under the auspices of
the Institution and particularly calculated for working mechanics,
a class of men whose deficiency in knowledge proves one of the
greatest drawbacks to the progress of art. It was through the
prospect of being employed in this way, which would have been as
agreeable to my habits of thinking as useful to my interest, that I
was induced to give up the school which I then kept and the other
business in which I was engaged, and to accept of a situation and
salary in the Institution by no means equivalent to what I should
have considered myself as entitled to under other circumstances.

Later Mr. Webster wrote to a friend:

You have heard, no doubt, that I was employed as draftsman to
the Royal Institution at its first formation, and was besides
engaged by Count Rumford to take the management of a school
for mechanics which he then proposed to establish. In order to
overcome the scruples of some of the managers of the Institution
on this subject, as well as to give a specimen of my abilities
for conducting such an establishment, I addressed a paper to
Count Rumford in August 1799, in which I gave him my opinion of
the kind of school which would prove most useful to the public,
and also entered into a detail of the plan which I proposed to
follow. This paper, which the Count read at the meeting of the
managers, was highly approved of, and I had then every reason to
expect that something would be done which would be creditable to
the Institution and useful to myself. I was induced in consequence
to give up the school which I then had, and which promised to
answer pretty well. But, after remaining some time in suspense,
I found some reason to be apprehensive that those who are at the
head of an Institution which professes to be a grand and national
establishment were not altogether possessed of that liberality of
sentiment and knowledge of the subject necessary for carrying into
effect plans which can only be accomplished by those whose industry
has made them acquainted with the arts and sciences taught. In
short, I saw but little prospect of its being done in the way I
wished, and I had no desire to engage in it otherwise. I am not
certain that the plan has been entirely abandoned, but I think it
is not likely to take place.

In 1837 Webster gave the following account of the intention to form an industrial school at the Institution:

Whilst employed as an architect, having occasion to direct various
workmen, I had observed their frequent inability to do what was
required from them through their deficient education, and that
it was no easy matter to find those who could understand either
drawings or directions; one had also frequently to contend with a
species of perverseness and conceit often the result of ignorance.
In attempting our improvements in fire-places, &c., I felt this the
more as this kind of work demanded a superior class of artificers.
Knowing from previous experience what it was possible to effect
in their improvement, I conceived the idea of giving to mechanics
for this purpose a species of scientific education suited to their
condition, and I believe I was the first person in this country who
took active steps for effecting so desirable an object. I was not
unacquainted with the political feelings of that time, but I did
not think a little learning was a dangerous thing _if judiciously
bestowed_, although without due caution it might be capable of
doing more harm than good. My idea was to make _good mechanics_,
not to force them like hot-bed plants out of the sphere in which
they are so useful.