On March 25 Mr. Bernard reported to the managers ‘that Mr. Davy will give three courses of lectures in the ensuing season—the first in November, December, and January, upon that part of Practical Chemistry that relates to the Experimental History of Water, the Atmospheric Heat, and Electricity; the second in February and March next, upon the Chemical History of Water and the Atmosphere; and the third in April and May, upon the Modern History of Science.’
On April 1 the clock in the gallery was ordered.
Mr. Dibden agreed to give ten or twelve lectures on the Use and Progress of English Literature.
At the first meeting in May the following professors were proposed for election at the meeting of managers: Professor of Chemistry, Mr. Davy; Natural Philosophy, Mr. Allen; Poetry, Rev. W. Crowe; Belles Lettres, Rev. John Hewlett; and Moral Philosophy, the Rev. Sydney Smith.
The proprietorship was raised to 150 guineas, and at the end of the year to 200 guineas. The mineralogical room was fitted up for the minerals. The laboratory was opened for analyses for persons paying 10l. at most. Ventilators were placed in the roof and under the gallery of the theatre. It was impossible to keep out the wet because of the settlement in the foundations, so the roof was new-leaded; and Mr. Soane, the architect, advised that the roof should be examined twice yearly.
On May 29 Mr. Bernard reported to the managers ‘that he had been requested by Sir Francis Baring to inform them that a plan similar to that of the Royal Institution was intended to be adopted in London, with a view to the same laudable and beneficial effects as have been produced with such extraordinary success in Westminster under the auspices of the managers of the Royal Institution; that the gentlemen who had taken the active part in the proposed establishment had no other object in view but that of promoting, concurrently with the Royal Institution, the prevalence of science and literature in the metropolis, and in this they have flattered themselves that they shall receive the approbation and assistance of the managers of the Royal Institution.’ It was resolved unanimously ‘that Sir Francis Baring be informed that the managers view with great satisfaction the exertions of him and the other gentlemen to extend the beneficial effects of science and literature in the metropolis, and that the managers will be ready to give them any aid and assistance which they can with propriety in the execution of their plan, conceiving as they do that the two institutions will not interfere with each other, but will rather increase the public interest in favour of their objects and promote the success of both by the mutual assistance and beneficial co-operation which they may be enabled to render to each other.’
In October Sir Francis Baring invited Sir Joseph Banks to become a vice-president. This he declined by a letter written on October 14. He, however, expressed his wish to purchase a share in the Institution. He said:
I confess, however, I do not at present foresee the period at which the utility of your new Institution is likely to commence. The Royal Society was set on foot by a number of persons well versed in those matters which its constitution was intended to promote. The Royal Institution was at first wholly under the direction of persons entirely addicted to science, and has not improved since the management of it has passed into other hands. The Athenæum at Liverpool has been formed, I may say, wholly under the immediate superintendence of Mr. Roscow and Dr. Currie. All this I can understand, but how the very worthy and most respectable men you at present look up to as managers of your new Institution will be able to guide it into the paths of science and literature is not to me quite so evident as I sincerely wish it to be.
In 1806 Sir James Mackintosh, writing from India to his friend Mr. Sharp, also shows how fashion, rather than science, had become the characteristic of the Royal Institution.