Page:Passages from the Life of a Philosopher.djvu/202



1826, one of the secretaryships of the Royal Society became vacant. Dr. Wollaston and several others of the leading members of the Society and of the Council wished that I should be appointed. This would have been the more agreeable to me, because my early friend Herschel was at that time the senior Secretary.

This arrangement was agreed to by Sir H. Davy, and I left town with the full assurance that I was to have the appointment. In the mean time Sir H. Davy summoned a Council at an unusual hour—eight o'clock in the evening—for a special purpose, namely, some arrangement about the Treasurer's accounts.

After the business relating to the Treasurer was got through, Sir. H. Davy observed that there was a secretaryship vacant, and he proposed to fill it up.

Dr. Wollaston then asked Sir Humphry Davy if he claimed the nomination as a right of the President, to which