The certificate, recommending him as a candidate for the honour of a seat in the Royal Society, was read for the first time on the 21st of April 1803; and having been duly suspended in the meeting-room, during ten sittings of the Society, according to the statute, he was put to the ballot, and elected on the 17th of November in the same year. As every circumstance connected with the progress of Davy will be hereafter viewed with considerable interest, I shall here introduce the form of the certificate, and record the names of those Fellows who sanctioned it by their signatures. "HUMPHRY DAVY, ESQ. Professor of Chemistry in the Royal Institution of Great Britain, a gentleman of very considerable scientific knowledge, and author of a paper in the Philosophical Transactions, being desirous of becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society, we the undersigned do from our personal knowledge recommend him as deserving that honour, and as likely to prove an useful and valuable member. (Signed) MORTON, R. J. SULLIVAN, KINNAIRD, CHARLES HATCHETT, THOMAS YOUNG, WEBB SEYMOUR, W. G. MATON, THOMAS RACKETT, JAMES EDWARD SMITH, W. G. JORDAN, JOHN WALKER, RICHARD CHENEVIX, ALEXANDER CRICHTON, HENRY C. ENGLEFIELD, CHARLES WILKINS, GIFFIN WILSON, GILBERT BLANE, EDWARD FORSTER." On the 7th of July, in the same year, he was elected an Honorary Member of the Dublin Society, having been proposed from the chair by the Vice-President, General Vallancey. It has been stated that, shortly after Davy's arrival at the Institution, the Managers, being anxious to encourage all investigations of a practical tendency, directed him to deliver a series of lectures on the art of tanning. With this view, he entered into a scientific examination of the subject, in which he was encouraged by Sir Joseph Banks, the liberal patron and promoter of all useful knowledge, who supplied him with various materials for experiment. The subject had recently attracted considerable attention, both at home and abroad, but much still remained to be effected; and Davy succeeded in adding many important facts to the general store.