THE ROYAL SOCIETY 75 



On December n it was moved, at an ordinary meeting, 

 that the thanks of the Society be given to Dr. Hutton 

 for his services as Secretary for Foreign Correspondence. 

 The President at first objected to this, on the ground 

 that it was impossible for the Society, as a body, to know 

 whether the duties of the Foreign Secretary had been 

 efficiently performed or not. After a rather stormy 

 discussion the motion was carried by thirty ayes against 

 twenty-five noes ; and the President forthwith pro- 

 nounced the Society's thanks to Dr. Hutton. The latter 

 made a good defence in writing on the next evening 

 meeting ; and it was resolved by a majority of thirty 

 out of forty-five members present, that the Doctor had 

 fully justified himself. 



Matters might have ended here. But a storm had been 

 gathering to which this episode was only preliminary. 

 A strong party had been formed against Sir Joseph. Their 

 ultimate aim was the choice of a new President in his 

 stead. This feeling against Banks was precipitated by 

 a sense, rightly or wrongly, that the mathematical side 

 of the Society's work had been unduly shelved under the 

 existing ruler. There were several very able men in 

 the forefront of the opposition ; and, if to the above 

 charge they could add that their President had im- 

 properly interfered in the election of Fellows, there were 

 good reasons for questioning his suitability for the Chair. 



Dr. Samuel Horsley (F.R.S., 1767) was a mathematician 

 of some note, a well-informed man, and a fine preacher ; 

 distinguished for his animosity toward the doctrines of 

 Dr. Priestley and the warmth of his defence of orthodoxy 

 generally. He rose to distinction in the Church, and 

 made a respectable prelate. But his nature tended to 

 partisanship : the very last quality to be desired in a 

 President of the Royal Society. And it was understood 

 that this was his ambition. Lord Brougham is far too 

 contemptuous about Dr. Horsley's abilities ; but he is, 



