1888. | NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 199 
“1 consider my settlement at Birmingham as the happiest 
event in my life, being highly favorable to every object I had in 
view, philosophical or theological. In the former respect, I 
had the convenience of good workmen of every kind and the so- 
ciety of persons eminent for their knowledge of chemistry, par- 
ticularly Mr. Watt, Mr. Keir, and Dr. Withering. These, 
with Mr. Boulton and Dr. Darwin, Mr. Galton, and, afterwards, 
Mr. Johnson, of Kenilworth, and myself, dined together every 
month, calling ourselves the Lunar Society, because the time 
of our meeting was the full moon.” 
The invitations sent out by the host were not formal, but in 
the nature of friendly letters, in which hints were given as to 
the intellectual feast in store. Thus, on January 3d, 1781, 
Watt wrote to Dr. Darwin: ‘‘I beg that you would impress on 
your memory the idea that you promised to dine with sundry 
men of learning at my house on Monday next, and that you 
will realize the idea. For your encouragement there is a new 
book to cut up, and it is to be determined whether or not heat 
is a compound of phlogiston and empyreal air, and whether a 
mirror can reflect the heat of the fire. I give you a friendly 
warning that you may be found wanting whichever opinion you 
adopt in the latter question; therefore be cautious. If you are 
meek and humble, perhaps you may be told what light is made 
of, and also how to make it, and the theory proved both by syn- 
thesis and analysis.” 
To this communication, Dr. Darwin sent the following curi- 
ous and characteristic answer: 
Beau Desert, January 6th, 1781. 
Dear Mr. Watt:—You know there is a perpetual war car- 
ried on between the devil and all holy men. Sometimes one 
prevails in an odd skirmish or so, and sometimes the other. 
Now, you must know that this said devil has played me a slip- 
pery trick, and, I fear, prevented me from coming to join the 
holy men at your house, by sending the measles with peripneu- 
mony amongst nine beautiful children of Lord Paget’s. For I 
must suppose it is a work of the devil! Surely the Lord could 
never think of amusing himself by setting nine innocent little 
animals to cough their hearts up. Pray, ask your learned So- 
ciety if this partial evil contributes to any public good, if this 
pain is necessary to establish the subordination or different links 
in the chain of animation. If one was to be weaker and less 
perfect than another, must he therefore have pain as a part of 
his portion ? Pray, inquire of your philosophers, and rescue 
me from Manicheism. 
As to material philosophy, I can tell you some secrets in re- 
