262
NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vi. GOT. 5, 1912.
" that formed by the Tradescants, a catalogue
of which was published in 1656, entitled ' Museum
Tradescantiutn ; or, a Collection of Rarities
preserved at South Lambeth, near London.'
This museum contained not only stuffed animals
and dried plants, but also minerals, implements
of war and domestic use of various nations, also
a collection of coins and medals "
Dr. Hamel in his ' Tradescant in Russland ' states that Peter the Great visited the " Tradescant Ashmolean Museum in 1698."
Weld tells of the straits to which the Society was put in its early years ; so crippled were its resources that its very existence became doubtful. On the 30th of Novem- ber, 1671, the Treasurer's accounts audited on that day showed that the arrears of subscriptions amounted to 1,696?., while the receipts in quarterly payments during the year were only 141?. 16s. It is pleasant to record that when Martin Folkes resigned the Presidency in 1753 the funded capital amounted to 3,000?.
The Athencewm, in its second notice of Weld's 'History' on July 1st, 1848, refers to " the vigour with which the Society fought against adverse circumstances and struggled through its century of poverty," and states :
" We have no doubt that it is to the hardihood of the men who brought the Society through that we owe the possibility of an association supported by private funds. Nowhere except in England or America has such a body lasted any time without government support in yearly sums of money."
During the eleven years Polkes was Presi- dent he was scarcely ever absent. It was to Folkes and Dr. Bradley, the Astronomer Royal, that the tables compiled by Daval (who was then Secretary to the Society) for the change of Calendar in 1752 were sub- mitted for examination and approval.
In the following year the Society of Arts was established, though the first public meeting did not take place till March, 1754. Its formation was due to William Shipley, a drawing master. He acted for some time as secretary, and in 1758 a gold medal was presented to him " for his public spirit, which gave rise to the Society " ; and his portrait appears as a frontispiece to the fourth volume of the Society of Arts' Trans- actions. It appears, however, that the idea had been entertained as far back as 1738, as on October 20th in that year there is a minute of Council of the Royal Society that
' a letter from Dr. Peck to the President (Sir Hans Sloane) was read, convoying a proposal to the Society for raising a stock of one thousand pounds sterling by way of subscription, for the encouragement of arts and sciences."
Letters previously received on October 9th
and 14th were also read, but after considera-
tion it was agreed that the Society could
not assist in the establishment of such a body,
though it would not oppose its design.
Among many attacks which have in the past been made on the Society there is one that should not be passed unnoticed, as it is frequently alluded to in the minutes of Council with the view of taking legal pro- ceedings. It was a pamphlet called ' The Transactioner.' The Society's library does not possess a copy, but one is to be found in the British Museum. Weld pronounces "the whole publication to be of so low and ridiculous a nature that it is surprising the Council should have thought it worth their while to notice it ; they appear, however, to have used every exertion to discover the author's name."
Weld has this foot-note :
" Dr. Johnson says : ' Dr. William King, born in 1663, a man of shallowness, wrote ' The Trans- actioner ' in 1700, in which he satirized the Royal Society, at least Sir H. Sloane ' (' Works,' vol. x. p. 32)."
The Royal Institution, incorporated on the 13th of January, 1800, in Albemarle Street, owes its origin to Fellows of the Royal Society. Faraday informed Weld that the earliest document he possessed in reference to its formation was an account of the first meeting held at the house of Sir Joseph Banks in Soho Square on the 9th of March, 1799. At this period it was custom- ary, whenever proposed scientific or literary institutions applied for a charter of in- corporation, to send a copy of the petition to the Royal Society, in order that the Council might make any objection that they thought proper. In the case of the Royal Society of Literatxire, a protest was entered against the title, which, it was conceived, would sometimes be con- founded with that of the Royal Society ; but matters had gone so far as to render it difficult and costly to change the appellation of the new body. The Royal Institution has been described as " the workshop of the Royal Society," for in its laboratory Davy made his brilliant discoveries.
In 1807 the Geological Society of London was instituted. It owes its origin to a few devoted workers. Greenough in his anni- versary address to the Society in 1834 stated that "Dr. Babington in 1807 in- vited to his house a number of gentlemen, the most distinguished for their zeal in the prosecution of mineralogical knowledge." A subscription was opened with the view
