2 NATURAL SCIENCE. Jan.. 



in various fashions, moistened with sundry potations of beer, and 

 enUvened by joke and song — in contradistinction to the endless 

 dishes and wines and formality of the ' big wigs.' " 



" And in after years, when he had arrived at the zenith of his 

 reputation, and British geology had conferred upon him the highest 

 honours it had to bestow, his antipathy to men of buckram remained 

 as strong as ever. He could see no reason why a President of the 

 Geological Society should cease to be a ' Red Lion,' and so he 

 chanted his songs and cracked his jokes as merrily as he had done 

 in the little Birmingham tavern when he was only beginning to be 

 known." 



The Red Lion dinner, alas ! is not what it used to be — -with the 

 formalities and expenses that seem to attend the introduction of 

 *' war-paint." 



In making these remarks we have no desire to advocate a return to 

 the customs of the past, nor to impair in any degree the true dignity of 

 Science ; but we fully believe that if the festive gatherings of our 

 learned Societies were arranged on more economical lines, they 

 would much more adequately fulfil the purpose for which they are 

 instituted. In reference to the customs of the past, it will be of 

 interest to append the following account of a Royal Society Club 

 Dinner a century ago, taken from a translation of Faujas St. Pond's 

 Travels in England, Scotland, and the Hehvides, 1799 (vol. i., pp. 48-51) : — 

 " About forty members of the Royal Society have been, for 

 more than twenty-five years, in the habit of dining annually 

 in one of the taverns of London. Each member has the 

 right of bringing to this club two visitors, whom he chooses, 

 among foreigners or the friends of the Royal Society of his own 

 acquaintance. The president may bring a greater number, and can 

 select whoever he pleases for guests. 



" We sat down to table about five o'clock. Sir Joseph Banks 

 presided, and filled the place of honour. No napkins were laid 

 before us ; indeed there were none used ; the dinner was quite in the 

 English style. 



" A member of the club, who is a clergyman (I believe it was 

 the astronomer Maskelyne), made a short prayer, and blessed the 

 company and the food. The dishes were of the solid kind, such as 

 roast beef, boiled beef and mutton prepared in various manners, with 

 abundance of potatoes and other vegetables, which each person 

 seasoned as he pleased with the different sauces which were placed on 

 the table. 



" The beef-steaks and the roast beef were at first sufficiently 

 drenched by large quantities of strong beer, called porter ; it was 

 drank out of cylindrical pewter pots, which are, by some, thought 

 preferable to glasses, perhaps because they enable one to swallow a 

 whole pint at a draught. 



"This prelude being finished, the cloth was removed, and a 

 handsome and well-polished table was covered, as if it were by magic, 

 with a number of fine crystal decanters, filled with the best 

 port, madeira and claret ; this last is the wine of Bordeaux, Several 

 glasses were distributed to each person, and the libations commenced 

 on a grand scale, in the midst of different kinds of cheeses, which, 



