246 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. XIX. 



Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society,* runs as 

 follows : — 



Monsieur Joan Gideon Loten, a Li cien Gouverneur de Ceylon, 

 est un homme si distingue par sa naissance, par les emplois dont 

 il a ete revetu, par son merite et ses belles connoysances dans 

 diferentes parties de la Philosophie, qu' il ne peut que faire hon- 

 neur a toute Societe Literaire qui le reconnoitra pour un de ces 

 membres. J' ose dire en particulier que sa profonde estime pour 

 la Soci te Royalle de Londres et pour les excellens ouvrages de 

 ceux qui la compose le rend bien digne d'etre aggrege a cet Illus- 

 tre Corps. 



Translation. 



Mr. Joan Gideon Loten, former Governor of Ceylon, is a man so 

 distinguished by his birth, by the offices with which he has been 

 invested, by his merit and his fine attainments in different bran- 

 ches of Philosophy, that he cannot but confer honour upon any 

 literary society that shall recognize him as one of its members. 

 I may say in particular that his profound esteem for the Royal 

 Society of London and for the excellent works of those that com- 

 pose it render him very worthy of being added to that illustrious 

 body. 



On 27th November Loten was balloted for and elected, and 

 on 11th December was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal 

 Society. | 



It was doubtless at this time that Loten took up his resi- 

 dence at Fulham, as referred to by Mr. van Houten above ; 

 though when that residence began, and how long it continued, 

 I have not been able to discover. J In any case, it is certain 

 that he spent a number of years in England, § becoming almost 



* Mr. Harrison has also made a search among the records of the 

 Royal Society, but has found no further reference to Loten. 



f Loten's name appears for the first time in the ' ' List of the Royal 

 Society " for 1761, and (it should be noted) not among the "persons 

 of other nations," but as " John Gideon Loten, Esq." 



% Mr. C. J. Feret's elaborate work, Fulham Old and New (1900)^ 

 contains no reference to Loten. 



§ In 1763, as Mr. van Houten mentions, he visited France for the 

 benefit of his health. 



