276 Presidentship of Sir Humphry Davy 1822 



marked not only by masterly contributions to physical 

 science but by a literary distinction seldom found in men 

 of science. After a brilliant opening at Cambridge, 

 where he was senior wrangler and first Smith's prizeman, 

 he was promptly elected into the Royal Society when only 

 twenty-one. Eight years later the Society awarded him its 

 Copley Medal. In the Club, which he now joined, he con- 

 tinued for nearly half a century to take a personal interest. 

 He had dined several times as a guest in the first half of 

 the year ; at the first meeting after the Anniversary he took 

 advantage of his right as a member to invite Charles Babbage 

 as his guest, and he repeated the invitation again and again 

 before the end of the year. 



The effort to secure a good attendance at the autumn 

 dinners had now become feebler each year. In 1822 from 

 the beginning of August to the middle of October the average 

 number for each dinner was 4.5. At one dinner there were 

 only two, and at another nobody appeared. 



The list of guests this year supplies a good example of 

 the wide range of interests which the members recognised 

 in their invitations. Thus, with so active a coadjutor as 

 the Bishop of Carlisle the Church was not likely to be 

 overlooked. He invited younger clerics to the dinners, 

 perhaps with the liberal intention of showing them by 

 practical experiment that the Philosophers were really a 

 social and interesting company, with whom even the most 

 orthodox churchman might fraternise without injury to 

 his principles or his usefulness. Now and then another 

 high ecclesiastical dignitary was invited, and this year the 

 Bishop of Salisbury came. 



The two great military services, which until only a few 

 years before had for so long been fighting for their country 

 in all parts of the world, were seldom unrepresented. This 

 year from the Navy there came some typical sailors. Among 

 these were Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, who had fought 

 at Trafalgar, and had still twenty years of active service 

 before him ; Franklin, who again dined with the Club on 

 2ist November, having come back from his great expedition 



