CHAPTER VI 



PRESIDENTSHIP OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS, 1778-1789 



1779. THE reign of Sir Joseph Banks at the Royal Society 

 extended over the long period of nearly forty- two years by 

 far the longest tenure of the Presidency in the history of 

 the Society. Though not a man of the first rank in science, 

 he showed an intelligent interest in every branch of research 

 and a keen desire to promote scientific progress. This 

 desire he put into constant practice, his wealth enabling 

 him to give efficient financial aid to many investigations. 

 He was proud of the position in which the choice of the Royal 

 Society had placed him, and he certainly showed his apprecia- 

 tion of the honour done to him by devoting his whole energies, 

 which were immense, to the furtherance of its interests. He 

 had in the course of years accumulated vast collections in 

 natural histo^, and gathered together an extensive librar}/, 

 both of which were always at the service of students. He 

 kept open house in his mansion in Soho Square and made 

 it an intellectual centre in the metropolis where the latest 

 discoveries and inventions were exposed to the visitors. 1 

 He took an active part also in the affairs of the Royal Society 

 Club, though without emulating the extraordinary assiduity 



1 Even the bitterly censorious Mathias could not bring a railing accusa- 

 tion against the President. " Sir Joseph Banks," he remarked, " has 

 instituted a meeting at his house in Soho Square, every Sunday evening, 

 at which the literati and men of rank and consequence, and men of no 

 consequence at all, find equally a polite and pleasing reception from that 

 justly distinguished man." Pursuits of Literature, i6th (quarto) Edit, 

 p. 298, note. 



