THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 7 



the date of the following year, just before his sailing for 

 Bencoolen is mentioned, his widow wrote \^ 



At this time he meditated the establishment of a society on the 

 principle of the Jardin des Plantes, which finally, on his last return from 

 the East, he succeeded in forming, in 1826, under the title of the Zoological 

 Society of London. 



It has been asserted that, during this visit to England, 

 Sir Stamford broached the subject to Sir Joseph Banks, who, 

 according to a statement in the Athenoeum of March 4, 1905, 

 "expressed his warm approval of the proposal." This goes a 

 little beyond what Mr. Demetrius C. Boulger had published 

 in 1897 : 



During his, Sir Stamford's, stay in 1817, he had discussed with Sir 

 Joseph Banks a plan for establishing in London a zoological collection 

 which should interest and amuse the publicf 



If Sir Stamford did so mention the project to the President 

 of the Royal Society, it is readily conceivable that it was 

 discussed in scientific circles, and especially among the Fellows 

 of the Royal and Linnean Societies, to both of which the 

 Rev. W. Kirby belonged. But there is no evidence that any 

 such discussion took place ; and it is equally possible that 

 the Chairman of the Club was referring to a plan other than 

 that of Sir Stamford Raffles, perhaps of Sir Humphry Davy 

 or of some member of the Club. Reference to the quotations 

 hereafter given will negative the statement that Sir Stamford 

 Raffles intended " to interest and amuse the public." On this 

 point we have the direct testimony of his widow, who records 

 the fact J that he had not been many months in England — 

 he returned in August, 1824 — when 



He suggested a plan to Sir Humphry Davy for the formation of a 

 zoological society which should combine with the pursuit of science the 

 introduction and domestication of such quadrupeds, birds, and fishes as 

 might be most likely to prove useful to agricultural and domestic 

 purposes. 



It seems at least possible that there has been some 

 confusion between the two Presidents of the Royal Society, 



* "Memoir of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, F.R.S.'* By his widow. London, 

 1830, p. 290. 



t "Life of Sir Stamford Raffles," p. 341. + "Memoir," p. 589. 



