io8 Presidentship of James West 1770 



Porter, to whom reference has already been made (ante, p. 82); 

 William Watson, jun., M.D. (F.R.S. 1767), son of one of the 

 original members of the Club, the veteran Dr. William 

 Watson ; and Joseph Banks, who entered the Royal Society 

 in 1766. 



As the last-named new member was to play so notable 

 a part in the history both of the Royal Society and of the 

 dining Club, a few biographical facts about him may be 

 appropriately inserted here. Banks was born in 1743, and 

 educated at Harrow, Eton and Oxford, but left the Uni- 

 versity without taking a degree, though not without having 

 gained the reputation of being an enthusiast in natural 

 history pursuits. This deserved reputation led to his being 

 elected a Fellow of the Royal Society when he was only 

 three-and- twenty years of age. The considerable fortune 

 which he inherited enabled him to lend powerful financial 

 aid to the advancement of science. At the time of his 

 election into the Club he was absent with Captain Cook 

 on the Pacific Ocean, engaged in amassing those extensive 

 collections which for the first time revealed some of the 

 natural history features of many new lands. The voyage 

 lasted two years, and when Banks returned he found him- 

 self famous. He would fain have accompanied Captain 

 Cook in his second voyage, and had made considerable 

 preparations fpr the undertaking, when some official hin- 

 drance led him to abandon the design. Not to lose altogether 

 the use of what he had prepared, he fitted out a vessel and 

 sailed to Iceland in 1772, where he again made botanical 

 and other collections, visiting on the way the then unknown 

 isle of Staff a, the singularly impressive aspect of which 

 he first revealed to the world. 1 When only thirty-five years 

 of age he was elected President of the Royal Society in 

 1778, and he held this position till he died in 1820 a period 

 of forty- two years. He was thus probably the youngest man 

 who ever filled the chair, and certainly his tenure of the office 



1 In a communication to Thomas Pennant, who published it (together 

 with a selection of sketches from Banks' portfolios) in his " Tour in Scot- 

 land " (1774) a volume which he dedicated to Banks. 



