286 Presidentship of Sir Humphry Davy 1825 



had been elected Foreign Members of the Royal Society 

 on the same day in the year 1815. Biot placed his signature 

 in the Society's Charter-book on the occasion of a visit 

 which he paid to London in 1817, and now Gay-Lussac 

 subscribed his name in the same venerable volume. 



Another prominent man in a totally different field of 

 intellectual activity was " Professor Bopp," introduced to 

 the Club later in the year by Sir Alexander Johnston, if 

 we may identify him with the noted philologist, Professor of 

 Oriental Languages at the University of Berlin and author 

 of the great " Comparative Grammar." On May 5th Sir 

 George Staunton introduced Mr. Smithson, who has been 

 already mentioned (p. 235). He was the illegitimate son 

 of the Duke of Northumberland. Though born in France he 

 was educated at Oxford, and showed marked ability in the 

 study of mineralogy and chemistry. At first he bore the 

 name of James Lewis Macie, and under this appellation 

 he was elected into the Royal Society in 1787. He after- 

 wards changed his name to Smithson, which was that of 

 his father before he succeeded to the dukedom. He lived 

 mostly on the continent of Europe, but maintained a 

 correspondence with some of the most eminent men of 

 science in England. When he died at Genoa it was found 

 that by his will he had bequeathed a sum of more than 

 100,000 to the United States of America to found at Wash- 

 ington an establishment " for the increase and diffusion 

 of knowledge among men." Hence arose the beneficent 

 Smithsonian Institution which has so ably carried out its 

 founder's intention. 



At the same table with Gay-Lussac there dined on April 

 I4th a notable Englishman, William Henry Fox Talbot, 

 whose name is imperishably connected with the earliest 

 stages of the art of photography. He was introduced by 

 Sir John Herschel. Captain Francis Beaufort, another 

 guest, had already shown great skill in the coast survey 

 of parts of South America and of Asia Minor, and a few r 

 years after this time he was made Hydrographer to the 

 Admiralty, a post which he held for more than a quarter 



