The Royal Institution: Its Founder and First ProfessorsJones, Bence
History
The Royal Institution: Its Founder and First Professors
Jones, Bence
Davy, Humphry, Sir, 1778-1829; Royal Institution of Great Britain; Rumford, Benjamin, Graf von, 1753-1814; Young, Thomas, 1773-1829
Already he had made enemies and met with difficulties, and early in
1802 political necessity and private interest led him abroad, and made
him agree to changes which affected the foundations of his Institution,
and caused it to approach in some respects nearer to its present form.
Thus the year 1802 saw the first great change in the management of the
Royal Institution.
In the sixth number of the Journal of the Institution the lectures of
Young, and in the seventh number the lectures of Davy, which began on
January 21, are mentioned by Young thus:
As the object of the Journals is to present to their readers
discussions tending either to practical utility or to the
illustrations of the principles of science, so particulars of any
mode of demonstration either new or not commonly known that may
occur in the lectures will be noticed.
Not that anything like an abstract is intended, for this may be
found in the compendiums already published; but it may be the more
proper to notice some experiments as it has not been possible to
introduce an enumeration of experiments into those compendiums.
In a meeting of the Committee of Chemistry of the Institution on the
20th of January it was resolved that--
The Committee of Chemistry, having taken into consideration the
present state of knowledge respecting the history of metallic
alloys, and being of opinion that this branch of chemistry (so
eminently important to science and so useful to various arts) has
not been hitherto investigated with due accuracy, resolve that a
series of experiments shall be made in the laboratory of the Royal
Institution, in order to ascertain with all possible precision the
physical and chemical properties of these metallic compounds.
This is probably the germ of Faraday’s investigation of the alloys of
steel.
Count Rumford moved that all the stock 7,000_l._ in the funds belonging
to the Institution should be sold out to pay for the new buildings and
other debts.
Early in February it was resolved that each proprietor should have
an extra transferable ticket, ‘to facilitate the admission of such
artists and mechanics as may derive advantage from the public lectures
delivered at the Institution, which will give admittance to the gallery
only of the great lecture room and to no other part of the house.
‘Resolved,--That this new arrangement, which is intended as an
experiment, do continue as long as the managers shall deem it
expedient.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account