always at the service of any fellow-worker 

 interested in the same subjects. Though 

 living so far from London, Michell was 

 nevertheless able to maintain intimate 

 relationship with some of the most emi- 

 nent men of science of his time. He 

 appears to have had some appointment 

 or duty which for a number of years 

 took him annually to London, and gave 

 him the opportunity of attending the 

 meetings of the Royal Society and culti- 

 vating the companionship of his scientific 

 friends. From the year 1758 onwards 

 till towards the close of his life he con- 

 tinued to be a frequent guest at the 

 weekly dinners of the Royal Society Club. 

 There would seem, indeed, to have been 

 a kind of friendly rivalry among the 

 members of the Club in securing him as 

 a guest at these dinners, and in this social 

 competition his friend Henry Cavendish 

 took part. Thus during the summer of 

 1784 he dined seven times with the Club. 

 Two years later, when he spent the 

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