BANKS' BROAD SCIENTIFIC SYMPATHIES. 
17 I 
The Xa\y Board, 21st March, 1799, consulted Banks as to the 
appliances necessary “ for the purpose of trying for coals at a more 
convenient place than where the present mine has been discovered.”* 
Mineral specimens of some sort or other were often sent to Banks. 
Governor King, 28th September, 1800, sentf a ‘‘ box of stones ” to 
him, and Banks sent out a mmer named John Allen as a member of 
the scientific staff of the “ Investigator,” under Flinders. 
Lieut. Wm. Kent (H.M.S. “ Buffalo ”) sent to Banks from London, 
16th October, 1801, J specimens of iron “ extracted in the foundry at 
Gosport, from the ironstone fouird in the vicinity of the town of Sydney, 
which I am told is superior to the finest Swedish iron.” He reverts 
to the matter on 1st Xovember,§ and refers to his services to the infant 
•colony. He brought some live emus to Banks,]] and also a pair of 
black swans, for which he had paid fifty guineas to a Hawkesbury 
settler. 
An expert opinion on the iron ore brought by Lieut. Kent was given 
by a Mr. H. Vernon.*^ 
For notes on the zoological collections acquired and distributed by 
Banks, see Fletcher.** From various circumstances Banks abandoned 
the detailed study of zoology, confining his scientific interest mainly 
to botany. But Banks’ Journal shows that his knowledge of zoology 
was anything but superficial. Zoological specimens were sent to him 
from the infant colony from time to time, e.g., bird-skins.tf 
Brown, as naturalist of the “ Investigator,” sent to Banks zoological 
as well as botanical specimens, though we can well imagine that his 
heart was not ux zoology. 
Banks was one of the founders of the Royal Institution in 1799. 
In 1802 he was chosen a member of the National Institute of France, 
and his letter of thanks in response to the honour was the occasion 
of a bitter anonymous attack by an old opponent. Dr. Horsley, Bishop 
of St. Asaph, and a disappointed candidate for the Presidency of the 
Royal Society, who taxed him with want of patriotic feeling. He 
corresponded with the Institute with the view of securing the release 
of Flinders. (See p. 206). 
Banks was one of the persons named in the Charter of the Horticul- 
tural Society in 1809. Of the latter society he was elected an honorary 
member, and shortly after his death the society established the Banksian 
Medal. (See p. 238). 
• Hist. Rec., iii, 649, 651. 
t H>., iv, ‘207. 
t Ih., 595. 
5 lb., 608. 
II Ib., 629. 
lb., 631. 
•• Proc. Aust. Assoc. Adv. Science. 1900. 
tt Hist. Rec., iv, 360. 
tX lb., V, 412, 458, 646. 
