44 Presidentship of Martin Folkes 1752 



large practice. He became F.R.S. on 8th February 1753, 

 at the age of thirty-two. 



In some years the presents of venison and other viands 

 for the table poured in upon the Club both from members 

 and outsiders. The summer of 1752 was one of these 

 seasons of plenty. Venison arrived in abundance, followed 

 by the customary election of the donor as an honorary 

 member and the drinking of his health in claret, which, as 

 the Treasurer continued to record, was paid for by the 

 company who consumed it. The Honourable Philip Yorke, 

 Sir Matthew Featherstonehaugh, Dr. Heberden, Mr. Stari- 

 hope, and the Marquis of Rockingham are duly chronicled 

 for their gifts. There were likewise presents of water-melons 

 from Spain and Portugal. But all the good things that 

 arrived at the Mitre were not destined for the Royal Phil- 

 osophers. There is a significant entry in the Register for 

 2nd July. " The Company were this day forced to dine 

 in a room different from what they used to dine in, by a 

 Turtle being dressed in the house which weighed 400 Ibs." 

 No share of this delicacy came to them : on the contrary, 

 as it happened, the Treasurer had provided for them a some- 

 what less formidable dinner than usual. 



As there was peace with France between the years 1748 

 and 1755 opportunity was given for an exchange of visits 

 between men of science in that country and in England. 

 Among the Frenchmen who came to London and received 

 the hospitality of the Royal Society perhaps the most noted 

 was M. Clairault, one of the illustrious geometers of France, 

 who in later years made some remarkable deductions re- 

 garding the time of the return of Halley's Comet. He dined 

 three times with the Club during the winter of 1752-3, and 

 again in the spring and early summer of 1754. He was 

 one of a mission (which included Maupertuis) sent to Lap- 

 land to measure a degree of the meridian with a view to 

 determine the figure of our planet. 



