158 Presidentship of Sir Joseph Banks 1782 



daily life of the President. He was a Swede, already settled 

 in London, and well-known to Sir Joseph, who chose him 

 to replace Solander in the charge of the large library in 

 Soho Square. Sir Benjamin Brodie has put on record that 

 " this library was to Dryander all in all. Without being 

 a man of science himself, he knew every book, and the 

 contents of every book in it. If anyone enquired of him 

 where he might look for information on any particular 

 subject, he would go first to one shelf then to another, 

 and return with a bundle of books under his arm containing 

 the information which was desired." x He prepared a 

 detailed catalogue of this natural history library in five 

 volumes which were published in 1798-1800. 



The non-foreign visitors included no men of special 

 prominence who had not dined with the Club before. The 

 Dr. Chelsum invited by the Treasurer on I7th January was 

 probably James Chelsum, D.D., rector of Droxford, Hamp- 

 shire, who was best known for his attacks on Gibbon's 

 presentation of Christianity in the " Decline and Fall." 

 Sir Abraham Hume, the second and last baronet of that 

 creation, was a collector of minerals, precious stones and 

 old masters. He had been in Parliament and while in that 

 position had in 1775 been elected into the Royal Society. 

 When the Geological Society was founded in 1807 he in- 

 terested himself in its success, and was chosen one of its 

 vice-presidents. He lived till 1838 and died in his 8gth 

 year. Among the guests this year who had already en- 

 joyed the Club's hospitality were Robert Mylne, Major 

 Rennell, Dr. David Pitcairn, Sir Henry Englefield and 

 William Herschel. One name often appears in the dinner 

 lists between the middle of March and the first week in 

 August that of the "Rev. Mr. Playfair." Under this 

 modest designation may be recognised one of the great 

 leaders of geological science in the early decades of last 

 century. When he first entered the Club he was in the 

 thirty-fourth year of his age, had succeeded his father as 

 minister of the sequestered country parishes of Lift and 

 1 Autobiography, vol. i. p. 45 ; London 1865. 



