The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-29
II.

II.
On the resignation of Sir John Pringlo in No
vember, 17TS. Banks was chosen President of the
Royal Society, and retained tho oflce for forty
three years. Ono of his earliest Official acts
was a proof of tho estimation in which he held
his late fellow voyager. Cook. On tho death Of
the latter. In 1873. Banks proposed to the
Council that n medal should BIO struck
as a mark of tho high sense entertained by
tho society OF the Importance of Cooks dis
coveries In different parts OF tho globe. Among
other noteworthy services rendered by Banks
In HIS capacity Of President of tho Royal
Society may be mentioned the following: In
1884 tho Council obtained the permission Of
George III. to a geodetical survey:
This served as tho basis of the Ordnance Sur
vey. In the GLOWING year he made successful
application TO the King to guarantee the cost,
amounting to twenty thousand dollars, of Sir
William Herschel's forty-foot telescope. He
served on n OF the society appointed
to ascertain tho length of the pendulum vibrat-
ing seconds of time at various localities in Great
Britain. In 1917 tho Council. at his suggestion,
recommended tho Government to At out an
Arctic expedition: as a result, two expeditions
were sent. tho ono under Capt. John
Ross. In search of the Northwest Passage;
the other. which included Franklin, to
sail northward by tho east coast of
Greenland. lie was one of the founders of the
LinnRan Society IN 1888, and took an oven
more conspicuous part in the formation of the
Royal Institution in 1900. In all scientific mat
ters he acted as chief counsellor to the king. In
this capacity he had virtual control of the
Royal Gardens at Kew, and 1t was due to his
exertions that these were raised to tho position
of the finest gardens in the world. and that col
lectors were sent to the West Indies. tho Cape
Colonies. and Australia to send homo living
plants and seeds and herbaria. He was tho
first to bring India rubber into notice, and
early advocated the cultivation Of tea in India.
10 established botanic gardens in jamaica,
st. Vincent and Ceylon. besides giving support
to tho foundation OF tho gardens at Sibpur,
near Calcutta. He was @ keen agriculturist
and. among his very few public writings. one is
on Blight. Mildew. and Rust" another on the
Introduction OF the Potato" and q third ON
the Apple Aphis."
The Horticultural Society was founded in
1904, and Banks was named as one Of the persons
to whom the charter was granted In 1909. Nor
were his services to science confined to botany
and natural history. He was promoter OF tho As
sociation for tho Exploration OF Tropical Africa,
and 1t was under his auspices that Mungo Park,
Clapperton. and others were sent out. He was
one of q to investigate the
buuleCt OIL llRutulOR CONDUCTORS. HIS lo-
ters to Josiah WedGwood show his keen
appreciation not only of tho special work
OF tho great potter. but of his other
ingenious contrivances. Among the mass
Of papers left by Banks on his death
was an illustrated dissertation on the history
and art OF the manufacture of porcelain by tho
Chinese. He took q deep interest 1. the COIN
age. and was in close communication with Mat
thew Boulton on systems of minting. He pro-
sented the mint with a fine library. embracing
a large number of books relating to numismat-
les and coinage questions generally. together
with q valuable collectio. of coins. His inter-
est In manufactures, also. was CONSTANT; Sir
Joseph Hooker assures us that, could his letters
DO brought together. a flood OF light would
thereby be thrown upon tho progress of arts
and sciences in Europe during his long ten
ure of the Presidency of the Royal Society.
AS an instance of his zeal for science
is recounted the proof he gave of the interest he
took in Sir Charles Blagden's experiments to de-
termine tho power of human beings to exist in
rooms heated TO an excessive temperature. Sir
Joseph Banks was ono of the first who plunged
into n chamber heated TO the temperature of
260' Fair; he was taken out nearly exhaust
cd. 1t may be remembered that Sir Francis
Chantrey once remained two minutes In n fur
mace at a temperature of $500. Sir Joseph
Hooker evidently thinks that Sir Joseph Banks.
like Sir William Thompson. should have been
made q peer. for he deems the diRnities which
wore conferred upon him by royal favor made
quate for q man OF his distinction. Banks was
created o Baronet In 1881. n Knight of tho
Bath In 1906. and, two years subse-
quently. was sworn as n Privy Coun-
cillor. In 1902, no was chosen one of tho
eight foreign members Of the Paris Academic
des Sciences. Sir Joseph became latterly q great
martyr to tho govt, and he died of 1t in 1920,
leaving a widow. but no lineal Issue. In his will
he earnestly requested that no monument
should be erected TO his memory. The wish
was not respected. In July of the same year
the Council of the Royal Society resolved to
erect a full-length marble statue of Sir Joseph
Banks. to DO executed by Mr.. Rfterward Sir
Francis) Chantrey. The monument now stands
in tho Natural History Department of tho Brit
ish Museum. Among tho public notices of him
which appeared after his death tho best known
arc Cuvier's Eloge. delivered before tho French
Academy, and Sir Everard Holiness Hunterian
Grafton. The name of Banks 10 commemorate
botannically IN the Australian Genus Banhsid,
80 named In his honor by tho younger inneus.
III.
In his general account OF tho South Sea ISL
ands. which 1t must he remembered Sir Joseph
Banks visited In l769-7O. when the Inhabitants
were in their pristine condition. uninjured by
contact with the viler sort Of Europeans, he tells
us that all the islands he had seen were very
populous along the whole length OF tho coast,
,vbara r a Generally largo flats coyared with a