The Banksian Society. 169 



indeed, of the earnest scientific men of the time, Crozier 

 of course in the front. They called themselves the 

 " Banksians," and had regular indoor meetings up to 

 1836, when, owing to the loss of many members, 

 Edward Hobson, the president, in particular, who died 

 that year, there came a lull, and eventually a break-up. 

 BuTCrozier was alive : that was enough ; no world is ever 

 so drowned but some little Ark floats on the surface of the 

 waters; younger men arrived on the scene, the Directors 

 of the Institution gave them every encouragement in 

 their power, and in less than eighteen months the cele- 

 brated old Cooper-street " Natural History Class " came 

 into existence. At intervals there were delightful evening 

 meetings of the character, though less pretentious, that 

 now-a-days are called soirees, more than once under the 

 presidentship of the late Mr. James Aspinall Turner, 

 always a warm and liberal patron of natural history; 

 honoured also by the presence of visitors from Preston, 

 Halifax, Warrington, and other towns from which the 

 journey was then possible only by whip. After coffee 

 had been served short essays were read, and from nine 

 o'clock until half-past ten or so the company promenaded, 

 examining the curiosities in the glass cases that covered 

 the wall or those laid out upon the tables, and enjoying 

 the social pleasure which grows so largely out of con- 

 sociation based upon a definite and intelligent idea, and 

 where there is plenty to feast the eye. No man entered 

 more thoroughly into the spirit of these gatherings than 

 George Crozieri They were his festivals and harvest- 



