204 THE KOYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



tlie administration of war and the direction of tlie police, lie applied himself, on 

 the one hand, to the melioration of tlie condition of the soldier, and, on the other, 

 to the siipj)ression of mendicity l»y organizing a house of labor for the poor. He 

 had never lost sightof the sciences, liis earliest jwedilection. Researches on the 

 cohesion of bodies and on the force of powder bad procured his admission, in 1779, 

 into the Royal Society of London. In his new position he undertook experi- 

 ments on the nature of heat and light, as well as on the laws of their propaga- 

 tion, with a view to supplying large assemblages of persons with economical 

 nourisliment, clothing, warmth, and artificial illumination. It is not within the 

 scope of this paper to discuss these researches of Count Rumford ; they will be 

 found detailed in his Esscujs* Suffice it to say that light and heat became the 

 engrossing subjects of his philosophic attention. Thus we lind him, in 1796, 

 establishing a prize at London " for new discoveries tending to the iuiprovement 

 of the theories regarding fire, heat, light, and colors, and for the inventions and 

 processes by which the production, preservation, and employment of heat and 

 light may be facilitated."t 



In 1798 he proceeded to London as minister plenipotentiary of the elector 

 of Bavaria, but was held to be disqualified for fulfilling the functions of that 

 ofHce by the fact of his being still regarded, in point of law, as a British subject, 

 and inca})able, therefore, of representing a foreign power at the British court. 

 Soon afterwards he learned the death of tlie prince, his benefactoi-, and, fore- 

 seeing that he would have scarcely less difficulty in resuming his old than in 

 exercising his new functions,! he turned with halutual earnestness to other pur- 

 suits, and, in becoming the principal founder of the Royal Institution, of which 

 his favorite ideas formed the basis, established one of his best claims to lasting 

 remembrance. 



The latter years of Count Rumford were passed in retirement. In 1S02 he 

 transferred his residence to Paris, where he contracted a second marriage, with 

 the widow of Lavoisier. This union jirovcd unhappy, and was terminated after 

 three years by a private separation. ' He then retired to a country house at 

 Auteuil, about four miles from Paris, and there devoted his time to the embel- 

 lishment of his domain, and to the cultivation of chemistry and experimental 

 philosophy. Here he died, August 21, 1S14, at the age of sixty-one years. 



II. — The fikst rEosPECTUS of the noTAL ixstitutiox. 



The first meeting of the founders and directors of the Institution took place 

 the 9th of March, 1799, at the mansion of Sir Joseph Banks, those present 

 being Sir Joseph, the earls of IMorton and Spencer, Count Rumford, Richard 

 Clark and Thomas Bernard. Sir Joseph was named president, and Thomas 

 Bernard secretary. The prospectus of the establishment, for the preparation of 

 which Count Riunford was designated, bore the following title : " Proposals for 

 forming, liy subscription in the metropolis of the British empire, a public 

 institution for diffusing the knowledo'e and facilitatin": the general introduc- 

 tion 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 — by Benjamin, Count Rumford, F. R. S.," &c. j 

 in octavo, 54 pp. ; Cadell & Davies, 1799. 



The following extract from the prospectus, given by the Blhliotlieqiie Brltan- 

 ique (sciences an<l arts) of Geneva, for the year last mentioned, will convey an 

 idea of the objects of the new establishment: 



Wfien the directors sliall have chosen a site, there shall be prepared larj^e and airy apart- 

 ments to receive and exhibit the mechanical inventions and improvements which seem to 



* See also tlie Eloge by the Baron Cuvier, already referred to. 



t See the History of the Royal Society of London. Count Rumford founded a similar prize 

 at Philadelphia, United States. 



X The new elector, Maximilian Joseph, conferred on him a pension of 30,000 francs. 



