90 



DISCOVERY 



jxissing it may be mentioned that the famous Diarist 

 was President of the Society for two years, from 1684 

 to 1686. 



At one of the early meetings of the Society a poisoned 

 dagger, sent by His Majesty, was laid before the 

 Fellows ; it had originally been received by the 

 King from the East Indies. " The dagger was warmed, 

 and with it blood was drawn from a kitten, to see 

 whether it would be kiUed thereby. The kitten not 

 dying while the Society were together, the operator 

 was appointed to observe what should become of it." 

 At the meeting in the following week, howe%'er, the 

 kitten was produced alive — a sound testimony to the 

 feline legend of nine lives ! Incidentally it is interest- 

 ing to note this experiment as one of the early fore- 

 runners of vivisection. 



The records of the Society contain several references 

 to their Royal founder, witnessing his continued 

 interest in the progress of Science. It is related that 

 the King ordered Sir Robert Gourdon to send the 

 Society a recipe to cure hydrophobia, invented by his 

 physician, Thomas Frasicr ; this recipe, needless to 

 say, is very typical of the medical science of the seven- 

 teenth century, and consists inter alia of roots, leaves, 

 crabs' claws, milk, and Venetian treacle ; a truly alarm- 

 ing compound ! 



The long reign of King Charles II terminated in the 

 year 1685, and his name will ever be honourably 

 associated with the Royal Society, as their Founder 

 and first Patron. No efforts appear to have been 

 made, however, to obtain the patronage of his brother 

 and successor, James II, although, as mentioned above, 

 he was already a Fellow of the Society. William III 

 and Mar>', too, do not seem to have taken any active 

 interest in the progress of their predecessor's founda- 

 tion ; their names, together with that of Queen Anne, 

 constitute the only three omissions from an otherwise 

 unbroken chain of royal signatures from 1662 down to 

 the present day. In 1705 Queen Anne was petitioned 

 by the President, Council and Fellows for a grant of 

 land " to build a place of their own to meet in nearer 

 to Westminster " — a petition to which she made no 

 response. Nevertheless, seven years later, she was 

 pleased to intimate her intention of countenancing 

 and encouraging the studies of the Society. This she 

 proposed to do by instructing her Ministers and 

 Governors abroad to promote the Society's interests 

 " by corresponding with the Fellows and procuring 

 answers to such enquiries on scientific matters as may 

 be sent to them from time to time in their several 

 stations." The Queen's husband. Prince George of 

 Denmark, was elected a F'ellow in 1704, and the 

 Council desired the President and Secretary to wait 

 on the Prince with the Charter Book, " to have the 

 honour of his subscription." Prince George also 



munificently undertook to bear the cost of publication 

 by the Society of Flamsteed's Hisloria Coelestis Britan- 

 nica ; this had previously been estimated at between 

 eight and nine hundred pounds. 



The First George of England and Hanover, after 

 having conferred his patronage on the Society by 

 signing the Charter Book, was petitioned in 1724 by 

 the President, Council and Fellows to grant a licence 

 to purchase or hold lands, manors, tenements, etc., in 

 Mortmain. This Petition, which was signed by Sir 

 Isaac Newton as President, was referred to the Attor- 

 ney-General to consider and report upon, and, in conse- 

 quence of his favourable verdict, was duly granted by 

 His Majesty. 



In 1727 the President, Sir Hans Sloane, proposed 

 that an address of loyalty should be presented to King 

 George II, and after several long discussions this 

 address was drawn up ; it included also a humble 

 petition for the Royal protection and patronage. A 

 deputation consisting of the President, the Duke of 

 Richmond, and other Members of CouncU, conveyed it 

 to the King, and it is recorded that " His Majesty was 

 pleased to receive the gentlemen in a most gracious 

 manner, and did the Society the honour to write his 

 Royal name in the Charter Book as their Patron ; and 

 that upon waiting on the Queen with a compliment. 

 Her Majesty had likewise been pleased to receive them 

 very graciously." 



A similar loyal address was presented to King 

 George III shortly after his accession in 1760, and was 

 conveyed by a deputation consisting of several of the 

 Fellows headed by the President, the Earl of Maccles- 

 field, who relates that " The King was pleased to 

 receive them very graciously — all the Members had 

 the honour of kissing his hand ; and His Majesty 

 afterwards sent for the President into his closet, and 

 signed his Royal name in the Charter Book, and was 

 pleased to express a great regard for the good of the 

 Society." The notable progress made by the Royal 

 Society during his reign affords ample e\idence of 

 this regard. Shortly afterwards the Dukes of York 

 and Cumberland were elected Fellows. It is pleasant 

 to note that the King's interest was before long 

 evinced in a very substantial form when, in response 

 to a humble request for funds to send out expeditions 

 to distant stations to observe the forthcoming Transit 

 of Venus (1769), His Majesty at once directed that 

 a sum of £4,000 should be paid from the Treasury 

 for this purpose. Three parties were eventually sent 

 out, one to Hudson's Bay, one to Madras, and one to 

 the Pacific ; in command of the last-named party was 

 Lieutenant James Cook, afterwards, of course, the 

 famous na\ngator ; on this occasion he hoisted his 

 pennant in the Endeavour. Several years after these 

 expeditions had been successfully carried out, a depu- 



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