THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. 237 



same objections in England. The question, which at other times 

 would have been decided in scientific circles, became a political 

 one. George III, in his eagerness to weaken Franklin's prestige, 

 decided the scientific question like a king, adopted Wilson's views, 

 and had blunt rods erected upon his palace. The Royal Society- 

 was appealed to. It emphatically declared for pointed rods. The 

 president of the society, Sir John Pringle, was sent for, and roy- 

 ally commanded to support Wilson in the meetings. Sir John 

 remonstrated : " Sire, I can not reverse the laws and operations of 

 nature." George III modestly suggested, " Perhaps, Sir John, 

 you had better resign." 



Franklin's ready wit seized this incident to spit the king upon 

 the point of this epigram : 



" While you, great George, for knowledge hunt, 

 And sharp conductors change for blunt, 



The nation's out of joint ; 

 Franklin a wiser course pursues, 

 And all your thunder useless views, 

 By keeping to the point." 



When Halley predicted the transit of Venus in 1761, the Royal 

 Society recommended the Government to send out capable men to 

 India to make careful observations of this important astronomical 

 event. For this purpose Mason and Dixon, two eminent astrono- 

 mers and mathematicians, were dispatched, with all necessary ap- 

 paratus, upon the Government vessel Sea-Horse, to Bencoolen. 



An encounter with a French frigate drove the expedition into 

 a friendly port. The astronomers proved poor soldiers, and they 

 wrote home to have themselves released from the hazardous un- 

 dertaking. 



Their apparatus was better fitted for dealing with whirling 

 bodies at a distance rather than at close range. However, the 

 English Government commanded them to sail, which they with 

 much trepidation proceeded to do, although the time wasted 

 prevented them from reaching Bencoolen. They consequently 

 landed at the Cape of Good Hope and made their observations 

 there. 



Mason and Dixon were later associated in an expedition 

 which proved more successful. They landed in Philadelphia in 

 1763, and proceeded to survey, and settle for all time, the disputed 

 boundary-line between the colonial patents of the Penns and Lord 

 Baltimore. This line afterward became famous in American his- 

 tory from its division of the free and the slave States of the 

 Union. 



It is sad to relate that the society which could stand so bravely 

 beside a non-resident member should so weakly yield to popular 

 clamor as to break the last tie which held one of its most distin- 



