174 Presidentship of Sir Joseph Banks 1786 



Spencer, Colonel Miranda and John Hunter. The Dinner- 

 registers of the Club of this period enable us to make a slight 

 correction in Wilson's admirable Life of Cavendish where it 

 is stated that Cavendish and Watt " met in August 1785 

 [at Birmingham] for the first time after their rivalry in 

 1784." 1 They were both present together with Boulton at 

 the Royal Society Club's dinner on the 24th February 1785, 

 with Sir Joseph Banks in the Chair. We can well believe 

 that at this dinner the first steps were taken towards the 

 re-establishment of friendly relations between them, and 

 that the way was paved towards the visit which Cavendish 

 paid to Watt later in the year. 



1786. Although no trace of discordance appears in the 

 records of the Royal Philosophers, the years 1783-1784 

 witnessed an unfortunate schism within the Royal Society. 

 It arose ostensibly out of a complaint that the duties of the 

 Foreign Secretaryship, to which a gentleman had been 

 appointed who resided at Woolwich, could not be properly 

 discharged unless the holder of it lived in London. But there 

 were underlying personal antagonisms which led to much heat 

 and ill-feeling. The President and Council, however, were 

 supported in their action by an overwhelming majority of 

 the Fellows. Some of the discomfited leaders showed their 

 vexation in a manner more likely to injure themselves than 

 the Society. The chief of them, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Horsley, 

 had been a Fellow since 1767, and had taken an active 

 part in the business of the Society, of which for some years 

 he was Secretary. He appears to have been particularly 

 arrogant and bitter in his opposition to the policy of the 

 President, and when he found himself completely defeated, 

 he resigned his connection with the Society. The Secretary, 

 Paul Henry Maty, was hardly less restrained in the con- 

 troversy. Boldly refusing to obey the ruling of the Presi- 

 dent in the chair at the meeting on 25th March 1784 he 

 in a sensational manner threw up his office and withdrew. 



It may be believed that the echoes of this angry warfare 

 could not fail to reverberate in the Club, for each side had 



1 Op. tit. p. 162. 



