SIR JOSEPH BANKS.
On Monday morning, June 19, 1820, at 8 o'clock, died, at his house, Spring Grove, near Hounslow, the venerable President of the Royal Society, the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, G. C. B. &c. &c. &c. The loss to science by the demise of this excellent man and liberal patron will be long and severely felt. It will be recollected, that when it was determined to send Captain Cook on his first voyage round the globe, Sir Joseph Banks, then a young man, whose ardent mind glowed with a love of science and of ingenious enterprise, determined to accompany him. His liberal spirit and generous curiosity were regarded with admiration, and every convenience from the government was readily supplied to render the circumstances of the voyage as comfortable as possible. Far, however, from soliciting any accommodation that might occasion expense to government, Mr. Banks was ready to contribute largely out of his own private fortune towards the general purposes of the expedition. He engaged as his director in natural history during the voyage, and as the companion of his researches, Dr. Solander, of the British museum, a Swede by birth, and one of the most eminent pupils of Linnæus, whose scientific merits had been his chief recommendation to patronage in England. He also took with him two draughtsmen, one to delineate views and figures, the other to paint subjects of natural history. A secretary and four servants formed the rest of his suite. He took care to provide likewise the necessary instruments for his intended observations, with convenience for preserving such specimens as he might collect of natural or artificial objects, and with stores to be distributed in the remote isles he was going to visit, for the improvement of the condition of savage life. In the course of the voyage dangers were encountered of no ordinary magnitude. On the coast of Terra del Fuego in an excursion to view the natural productions of the country, Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander had nearly perished in a storm of snow. After passing a night on land, amid the storm, they at last, and with much difficulty, made their way back to the beach, and were received on board the ship; but three of the persons who accompanied them were lost. Shortly after his return from this voyage, Sir Joseph, in company with his friend Dr. Solander, visited Iceland. A rich harvest of new knowledge and of specimens compensated for the toils and expense of this scientific adventure. They afterwards visited the Western Islands of Scotland: and among other things worthy of notice, they discovered the columna stratification of the rocks surrounding the caves of Staffa; a phenomenon till then unobserved by naturalists, but was no sooner made known in a description by Sir J. Banks, than it became famous among men of science throughout Europe. In 1777, when Sir John Pringle retired from the presidency of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks was elected to fill the vacant chair; and never perhaps has it been filled with more honour to the individual, or more advantage to the interests of science. His time, his wealth, (which was a princely fortune,) his influence, his talents, an incomparable library of science and art; knowledge and judgment to advise; affability to conciliate and encourage; generosity to assist; all in short of which he possessed, and it was all something either of goodness or greatness, he made the patrimony of the studious and learned, not of his own country alone, but of the whole world.