1893- NOTES AND COMMENTS. 3 



rolling in mahogany cases from one end of the table to the other, 

 provoked the thirst of the drinkers. 



" To give more liveliness to the scene, the president announced 

 the health of the prince of Wales ; this was his birth-day. We then 

 drank to the elector palatine, who was that day to be admitted a 

 member of the Royal Society. The same compliment was next paid 

 to us foreigners, of whom there were five present. 



" The members of the club afterwards saluted each other, one by 

 one, with a glass of wine. According to this custom, one must drink 

 as many times as there are guests, for it would be thought a want of 

 politeness in England to drink to the health of more persons than one 

 at a time. 



" A few bottles of champaign soon put all the company in good 

 humour. The tea came next, with butter, marmalade, and all its usual 

 accompaniments ; coffee followed, humbly yielding precedence to the 

 tea, though it be the better of the two. In France, we commonly 

 drink only one cup of good coffee after dinner ; in England they drink 

 five or six times that quantity of the most detestable kind. 



" Brandy, rum, and some other strong liquors closed this philo- 

 sophic banquet, which terminated at half-past seven, as there was to 

 be a meeting of the Royal Society at eight o'clock. Before we left 

 the club-room, the names of all the guests were written on a large 

 sheet of paper, and each of us paid seven livres four sols French 

 money : this was not dear. 



" I repaired to the Society along with Sir Joseph Banks, — Caven- 

 dish, Dr. Maskelyne, — Aubert, and Sir [Henry] Englefield ; we were 

 all pretty much enlivened, but our gaiety was decorous. 



" Doubtless, I should not wish to partake of similar dinners it 

 they were to be followed by settling the interests of a great nation, 

 or discussing the best form of government ; such a conduct would 

 neither be wise nor prudent ; but to meet, to celebrate the admission 

 of an elector palatine, who has, besides, much merit, to a learned 

 Society, is not a circumstance from which any inconvenience can 

 result." 



Circumstances, as we have said, have changed much since the 

 time of St. Fond's travels, and we can only hope that the conservatism 

 of the older learned Societies will ere long be compelled to yield to 

 the spirit of the age. 



National Museums. 



An article of some importance " On our National Art Museums 

 and Galleries " is contributed by Sir Charles Robinson to the Nine- 

 teenth Century for December, 1892 (p. 1025), and many of his remarks 

 will apply equally well to the National Scientific Collections. While 

 fully appreciating the zeal with which the officers in charge of the 

 various museums perform their duties, and while duly acknowledging 

 the gratifying progress that is being made. Sir Charles laments the 

 want of a central controlling organisation to direct the whole and 

 prevent unnecessary duplication of specimens : — " It is little to say that 

 in our museum system everything is in a chaotic state, everything 

 drifts fortuitously ; there is no central overruling and directive power, 

 no bond of union, and scarcely any intercommunion between one 



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