58 THE LIFE OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 



It soon came to be seen that the right man had been 

 chosen. A good-natured autocrat was wanted. The 

 unique position occupied by the Royal Society required a 

 system of government calculated to preserve its authority 

 in matters of Science. None could fulfil the duties of 

 President but one already popular from his known 

 character ; and the authority of the Society happily 

 blended with the authoritative masterfulness of Banks. 

 It was a triumph of the " one man " system. All over 

 Europe the Society now became scarcely distinguishable 

 from its President. There was an internecine disturbance, 

 in the year 1784, to which reference will presently be 

 made, which only made Banks's position firmer ; and 

 from that time to the day of his death his personality 

 was overwhelming. Not that he was overbearing (al- 

 though one might think differently who consulted the 

 caricaturists, and the unhappy sufferers from envy) ; 

 on the contrary, there was no rule asserted, neither was 

 any refusal given, except in terms of perfect courtesy. 

 There will be plenty of evidence to this effect in some 

 of the occasional letters included in the following pages. 



The Royal Society was now become a venerable 

 National institution. During a career of eighty years 

 or more a system of recording the experiments, and the 

 philosophical speculations, of its members had been 

 followed, which resulted in placing every branch of 

 National Science on an intelligible footing. At the period 

 of the foundation of the Society, any organized scientific 

 pursuit was almost unknown. The lover of philosophical 

 experiment performed his labours in the dark ; unless he 

 cared to run the hazard of persecution, public or private. 

 The power of ecclesiastical censure lingered in a subdued 

 form long after the Churches had become professedly free. 

 Nature and her latent powers were tabu, as matters of 

 inquiry, and every manifestation of unwonted sort re- 

 mained the object of superstition and credulity. 



