1783 Henry Cavendish ; Due de Picquigny 1 6 1 



had been elected into the Royal Society as far back as the 

 year 1746. He had occasionally dined at the Club, and 

 must have been well known to all the members. 



The attendance at the weekly dinners continued good 

 throughout this year. On the part of one or two of the 

 members it was extraordinarily continuous. In this respect 

 Henry Cavendish still stood far ahead. In 1782 he had 

 only been once absent ; in 1783 only three times ; but next 

 year, as has been already stated (p. 73), he attended every 

 weekly dinner, and there were no fewer than 53 of them 

 in the twelve months. 



Foreign visitors were more numerous than usual this 

 year. In January the two Polish noblemen of last year 

 reappeared on the invitation of the President. Next month 

 Sir Joseph Banks brought a diplomatic triad to the Club 

 in the persons of Francesco d'Aquino, Prince of Cara- 

 manico, Neapolitan statesman and ambassador to London, 

 Christopher William de Dreyer, the envoy from Denmark, 

 and Baron Nolcken, the well-known ambassador from Sweden. 

 The Venetian and Danish representatives were both elected 

 into the Royal Society in the following June. The President 

 had as his guest on August 7th another foreign nobleman 

 whom many of the members must have been interested to 

 meet again no other than the Due de Picquigny, now 

 the Due de Chaulnes, whom they had met in March 1764. 

 His career in the interval had been worthy of praise. He 

 had retired from the army at the age of 24 and instead of 

 giving himself up to a life of gaiety, as the English dowager, 

 who had misjudged him, would have anticipated, betook 

 himself to practical and useful work in science. In 1775 

 he proved that the mephitic air in the vats of breweries 

 owes its poisonous qualities to carbonic acid. He made 

 experiments in regard to the rescue of asphyxiated persons 

 by means of volatile alkali, and he tried his remedy on him- 

 self. He instructed his valet to carry him out of the cham- 

 ber when he saw him fall and apply the remedy, in the use 

 of which he had previously been initiated. The brave 

 experimenter was saved in time from becoming a martyr 



