2 NATURAL SCIENCE. Jan., 
in various fashions, moistened with sundry potations of beer, and 
enlivened 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. Fond’s 
Travels in England, Scotland, and the Hebrides, 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 isa 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, 
