Mr. Davies Gilbert. 143 



tropolis, those powers of mind which had been hitherto confined to 

 the narrower sphere of his native county, and a few private admirers 

 and friends. He represented Helston in parliament in the year 

 1804 ; and at the general election in 1806, he was chosen to repre- 

 sent Bodmin, and continued to sit for that borough, till, in Decem- 

 ber 1832, he ceased to be a member of the legislative body. 



_ " On the 8th of April, 1808, he married Mary Ann Gilbert, only 

 niece of Charles Gilbert of Eastbourn, in Sussex, under whose will 

 he came into possession of considerable estates in that county; 

 and, in comphance with its injuncrions, assumed the name and arms 

 of Gilbert. 



" Mr. Gilbert's exertions to promote the objects of science in 

 general, and to forward the views of the different scientific Societies 

 of London and other parts of the United Kingdom, with which he 

 was connected, both in the House of Commons and with the 

 leading men of the state, are well known, and will be long held in 

 remembrance. He had been early admitted into the Royal Society, 

 of which he never ceased to be an active and distinguished member ; 

 and, in 1827, was elected, without opposirion, their President, on 

 the resignation of Sir Humphry Davy, whose friend and patron he 

 had been in the early life of that illustrious chemist and philosopher. 

 He resigned that chair in November 1830, and was succeeded in it 

 by H.R.H. the Duke of Sussex. He filled the oflice of President of 

 the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, from its origin rill his 

 death. 



"Mr. Gilbert, as a member of the legislature, and a distinguished 

 cultivator of science, appeared to government a proper assistant in 

 all pubhc inquiries for which station in society, and a competent 

 knowledge of mathematics, formed necessary or useful qualifica- 

 tions ; and he was accordingly appointed a member of the Board of 

 Longitude, a Commissioner of Weights and Measures, and a Com- 

 missioner to settle the Boundaries of Boroughs under the first Reform 

 Bill. He was also Chairman of the Committee appointed to consi- 

 der the subject of the Measurement of the Tonnage of Shipping ; 

 whose plan (jjroposed by one of our Fellows, Mr. Riddle) was 

 passed into a law. He was, indeed, at all times willing, when 

 called upon, to devote his time and acquirements either to the pub- 

 lic service of his country, or to the private aid of those who appealed 

 to him for assistance or advice. 



" After his retirement from Parliament and the Chair of the 

 Royal Society, lie did not resign himself entirely to repose ; but 

 continued, notwithstanding his increasing infirmities of body, 

 actively to co-operate with his fellow-labourers in the great field of 

 science. He accepted a commission of investigation into the Stan- 

 nary Laws of Cornwall, and frequented the Societies of which he 

 was a member with undiminished alacrity and zeal, always prepared 

 to obey the calls of duty or friendship with readiness of purpose and 

 gentleness of manners. 



" Mr. Davies Gilbert was not a very large contributor to the 

 Philosophical Transactions. In 182G, he gave a paper on Suspen- 



