1784 Rev. John Michel! 165 



largely composed of those who have already appeared in 

 the records of previous years. Among the fresh names 

 are those of Dr. Ussher of Dublin (probably the astronomer 

 who died in 1790), John Hunter, the eminent surgeon 

 and anatomist, the Rev. William Tooke (probably the author 

 who wrote a History of Russia), Lord Kinnaird and Professor 

 Anderson of Glasgow. The last-named guest had been in 

 earlier days an officer in the corps raised to resist the march 

 of the Jacobites from the Highlands under Prince Charles 

 Stuart. He was now Professor of natural philosophy in 

 the University and an active pioneer in educational methods. 

 This liberal-minded man had been elected into the Royal 

 Society as far back as 1759. He entertained Johnson and 

 Boswell on their way back from the Hebrides in 1773. 



But probably the guest in whom members of the Club 

 to-day will take most interest was the Rev. John Michell, 

 already alluded to. As far back as 1758 he had been in- 

 vited by the President and other prominent members, and 

 he usually dined with the Club at least three or four times 

 in the course of the year, especially in the early months, 

 when some engagement appears to have annually called him 

 to London. Fourth wrangler and Fellow of Queen's College, 

 Cambridge, he took the degree of B.D., entered the Church 

 and held several preferments in succession. Being Hebraist, 

 Grecian, mathematician, astronomer and geologist, he lec- 

 tured at the University on the several subjects in this wide 

 range of acquirement. In the spring of 1760 he communi- 

 cated to the Royal Society a remarkable essay on " Earth- 

 quakes," which was far in advance of its time, seeing that 

 it was the first treatise to throw light on the nature of seismic 

 movements. It was probably this epoch-making paper 

 which led a few months later to his election into the Royal 

 Society and to his appointment as Woodwardian Professor 

 of Geology at Cambridge in 1762 a post, however, which 

 he resigned after two years. 



His astronomical studies were no less original. He wrote 

 some valuable papers on stellar problems. He was likewise 

 the author of the bold and original invention of the torsion 



