200 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [may 7%, 
turn for yours, viz., that atmospheric air is composed of light, 
and the earth of water (and aqueous earth). That water is 
composed of aqueous gas which is displaced from its earth by oil 
of vitriol. Pray, make my best devoirs to all the Phlos., and 
pray tell Dr. Priestley that I wish he would try whether a plant 
insulated in % will spoil air. EK. DARWIN. 
When Darwin removed to Derby, he wrote to the Society: 
““T am here cut off from the milk of science, which flows in 
such redundant streams from your learned Lunatics, and which, 
I can assure you, is a very great regret to me.” 
In another letter he said: 
‘‘T hope philosophy and fire-engines continue to go on well. 
You heard we sent your Society an air balloon, which was calcu- 
lated to have fallen in your garden at Soho, but the wicked wind 
earried it to Sir Edward Littleton’s. Pray, give my compli- 
ments to your learned Society.” 
On another occasion, Darwin wrote to Boulton: 
**T hope Behemoth has strength in his loins. Belialand Ash- 
taroth are two other devils of consequence and good names for 
engines of fire.” 
Judging by these letters, Darwin was certainly a lively asso- 
ciate. 
The meetings of the philosophers at Mr. Galton’s must have 
been among the most delightful. The host was a man of supe- 
rior intellectual endowments, well skilled in the exact sciences, 
and a member of the Royal Society and of the Linnean Society. 
He was of the Quaker persuasion, and a man of family and 
opulence. He at first resided at The Five Ways about one mile 
from Birmingham, but in 1785 moved to Great Barr House, a 
beautiful estate of Sir Joseph Scott, about seven miles further 
from town. The house was large and rambling, it had four or 
five different staircases and halls, and was more like an assem- 
blage of several houses under one roof. It was situated in an 
amphitheatre of wooded hills, and was bordered by an old- 
fashioned Dutch garden full of fish ponds. In this comfortable 
mansion the Lunar Society was most hospitably entertained. 
Mr. Galton’s daughter Mary Anne (afterwards Mrs. Schimmel 
Penninck) characterizes the members with a graceful pen. Mr. 
Boulton, whom she calls the Father of Birmingham, ‘‘ was tall 
and of a noble appearance; his temperament was sanguine, with 
that slight mixture of phlegmatic which gives calmness and 
dignity; his manners were eminently open and cordial; he took 
the lead in conversations, and with a social heart had a grandiose 
manner like that arising from position, wealth, and habitual 
command. He went among his people like a monarch bestow- 
