1 66 Presidentship of Sir Joseph Banks 1784 



balance by which the density of the earth could be deter- 

 mined. This apparatus he did not live to put to practical 

 use, but after his death it passed into the hands of Henry 

 Cavendish who, making slight modifications in it, ascertained 

 by its means that our planet is 5.4 times heavier than a 

 globe of water of the same dimensions would be. 



Michell was no dryasdust philosopher and unsociable 

 recluse. Fond of music he gave entertainments to his 

 friends, at which it is said that William Herschel in his 

 youth played the violin. These gatherings were sometimes 

 attended by Henr}^ Cavendish. In later years, when Herschel 

 had risen into fame as an astronomer, he and Michell were 

 associated in astronomical studies. Though he never joined 

 the Club as a member, Michell seldom failed to appear at 

 its dinners when, quitting his Yorkshire rectory, he could 

 spend a few weeks in London. During the summer of 1784 

 he dined seven times with the Club. Two years afterwards, 

 when he passed the months of May and June in the capital, 

 he dined at the " Crown and Anchor " every week, and 

 similar hospitality awaited him as long as he lived. There 

 would almost seem to have been a sort of competition among 

 the members for the pleasure of securing him as a guest, 

 and in this friendly rivalry Henry Cavendish was not 

 infrequently successful. 



Western Europe in the year 1784 was greatly excited by 

 the efforts in ballooning which were carried out with partial 

 success in France and England. In the summer of the 

 previous year the brothers Montgolfier at their native town 

 of Annoncy in the Ardeche, had filled a balloon with hot 

 air, and allowed it to rise into the atmosphere, where it 

 reached a height of some six thousand feet and travelled 

 a distance of 2700 feet from where it started. The inventors 

 at first attributed its flotation to the peculiar smoke produced 

 by a mixture of straw and carded wool which they kindled 

 below the opening. It was soon shown, however, that the 

 virtue lay not in the smoke but in the heating and con- 

 sequent rarefaction of the air inside the balloon by the 

 blazing fire at its orifice. There was obviously always the 



