The lectures began on January 13, but Davy did not lecture until March 12.
This interruption of the lectures stopped the income of the Institution in the autumn. The difficulties regarding the finances became urgent. From the time when Davy’s support was temporarily removed until the reign of Faraday was far advanced the Institution remained in a state of great poverty.
In 1808 the visitors made the following report on the state of the Institution:
‘Since 1803 the bills of each preceding year have been paid out of the subscriptions received in the beginning of the succeeding year. The amount has varied in different years, and is now about 2,000l. This was not attended with inconvenience until this year, when, by some disappointment as to lectures and by the postponement of the autumnal course in consequence of the lamented illness of their excellent Professor of Chemistry, the subscriptions have been diminished and their payment postponed.
‘The expenses have increased. The library required 520l. There was some extra expense—about 166l.—in the laboratory, so honourable to the Royal Institution and so beneficial to the interests of science in every part of the world. The fitting up and forming the mineralogical collection has cost 404l.
‘It is proposed that 1,461l., to be paid by the representatives of Mr. Edward Gray for renewing his lease of one of the adjoining houses, should be spent, and that the cost of the proprietors’ shares should be reduced.
‘Mr. Soane, the architect of the corporation, and Mr. Harris, the librarian, have made a valuation of the Institution property.
| House and buildings, with the two adjoining houses, subject to the existing under-leases and to the proposed lease | £13,000 |
| Books and manuscripts | 7,000 |
| Mineralogical collection | 1,000 |
| Laboratory and apparatus | 450 |
| Mechanical apparatus and models | 1,000 |
| Furniture of the house | 900 |
| Consols 3½, 1,375 at 64 | 880 |
| Consols 4½, 2,684 at 83 | 2,297 |
‘With such a property, exempt from any mortgage or encumbrance, and with views directed to the great and important advantages which science, literature, and morality are deriving and may derive from this royal and public establishment, the anticipation of a part of the next year’s income will not be deemed of much importance.
‘When it is considered that in the last five years the library of reference and the mineralogical collection have been formed and newly completed, the laboratory very greatly enlarged and improved, and money invested, we trust there will be no one disposed to think unfavourably of the progress of the Institution.