Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. 18 



there the meritorious friends whom he had made, — a rich Ubrary, 

 accessible to all, — collections which would in vain have been 

 searched for even in public institutions, drew thither the lovers of 

 science. Nowhere was such a point of union more precious, it 

 might be said more necessary, than in a country where the bar- 

 riers which separate the conditions of society are stronger than 

 in any other, and where men of different ranks meet but rarely, 

 unless some one, for the purpose of bringing them together, puts 

 himself in some measure out of rank, or makes for himself a 

 peculiar and extraordinary rank. 



Mr Banks was the first who had the good feeling to give him- 

 self this honourable kind of existence, and thus to create a sort 

 of institution, the utility of which was so striking, that it was 

 promptly sanctioned by general opinion. The choice which the 

 Royal Society made of him, some years after, for its president, 

 gave to this sanction all the authenticity which it was capable of 

 receiving. But as is but too common among men, it was at the 

 moment when he obtained this honour, the greatest which he 

 could desire, that the most bitter disputes arose. 



Here it becomes necessary that we should give some explana- 

 tion to our hearers. 



The Royal Society of London, the oldest of the scientific 

 academies that subsist at the present day, and, without dispute, 

 one of the first for the discoveries of its members, receives no 

 assistance from government, and is supported solely by the con- 

 tributions of those who compose it. It is therefore necessary for 

 it to be very numerous, and a not less necessary consequence, 

 (as in all the political associations where the participation of the 

 citizens in the government is in the inverse ratio of their num- 

 ber), the men to whom it confides its administration exercise 

 over its labours, and to a certain point over the march and pro- 

 gress of science, a more considerable influence than we can 

 easily fancy to ourselves in our continental academies. The 

 situation of a minister in a representative constitution which 

 obliges him to have guarantees in some measure official for all 

 his acts, contributes still more to this influence, and extends it 

 over the lot of individuals. In reality, a new election is made 

 every year ; but the functions of the president are of so delicate 



