Chapter III · EARLY HISTORY OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION, 1799-1800; WITH THE LIFE OF PROFESSOR GARNETT. (continued 2)

That matters might be put in a proper train it would, I think, be best to agree immediately upon the arrangement of the house, and to give Mr. Webster and myself, with one or more of the managers, the power of seeing the arrangement executed.

I am, with much respect, your most obedient Servant,

Thos. Garnett.

On January 6, 1800, the managers resolved that the morning lectures of Dr. Garnett should be given on Tuesday and Thursday at two, and the evening lectures at eight, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

The first lecture was on Tuesday, March 4. The two rooms which now make the upper library formed the theatre. It had been fitted up to accommodate the greatest possible number of auditors, ‘with a greater deference to their curiosity than to their convenience.’

In the first number of the Journal of the Institution the account of Dr. Garnett’s lectures for the week beginning April 7 shows the arrangements that then existed.

Morning Lectures.—On Tuesday, the 8th, the lecture will be on Charged Electrics and the Theory of the Leyden Phial, with experiments. On Thursday, Respiration and Animal Heat will be continued, with the Effects of Oxygen in the Blood. On Saturday, on Hydrogen Gas and the Composition of Water, Sulphurated and Phosphorated Hydrogen; and a specimen of the philosophical fireworks with the inflammable air will be exhibited.

Evening Lectures.—On Monday evening, the 7th, the subject will be Spontaneous Evaporation, Ignition, and Inflammation, with some Remarks on Light. On Wednesday evening, the Different Powers of Bodies as Conductors of Heat; and some Experiments with the Passage Thermometer. The method of confining heat and applying it to useful purposes with economy.

Friday being Good Friday, no lecture will be given on that day.

Those who come to the lectures in carriages are requested to give orders to their coachmen to set down and take up with their horses’ heads towards Grafton Street.

A contemporary account says:

During the winter the lecture room was crowded with persons of the first distinction and fashion, as well as by those who had individually contributed much to the promotion of science, and although the northern accent, which he still retained in a slight degree, rendered his voice somewhat inharmonious to a London audience, his modest and unaffected manner of delivering his opinions, his familiar and at the same time elegant language rendered him the object of almost universal kindness and approbation.

Dr. Garnett left Glasgow with the expectation that he should have accommodation for his family in the house of the Institution, and the first disappointment he met with was the opposition to his wishes in this respect. When he gave up his position in Glasgow he fully intended to enter into practice as a physician in London, but from this also he was restrained in great measure by the managers of the Institution.

His biographer says:

The exertions of the winter in some degree injured his health, and the uncertainty he saw in his prospects tended greatly to depress his spirits. He determined, however, to keep his place at the Institution.

In the summer he rejoined his children in Westmoreland, but his anxiety of mind was not diminished or consequently his health improved by the relaxation from active employment. He walked over the same ground and viewed the same prospects that he had formerly enjoyed in the company of his wife. He had not resolution to check the impressions as they arose, and thus, instead of being solaced by the beauties which surrounded him, he gave the reins to his melancholy fancy, which, unchecked by any other remembrance, dwelt only on the affection and virtues of her whose loss he had ever to deplore, the want of whose society he imagined to be the chief source of his misery.

Dr. Garnett showed his own position when he answered the application of Webster for his recommendation as chemical operator.

Kirkby-Lonsdale, September 27, 1800.

Dear Sir,—I have received your letter, and, in answer to it, must observe that such is my opinion of both your industry and abilities that it would give me pleasure to serve you, and I should with the greatest willingness recommend you to any situation for which I knew you qualified. That you could in time qualify yourself for the situation of operator there is not the smallest doubt, but still it must have been evident to you that if you had acted in that capacity last year, imperfect as the lectures were, they must have been much more so; for though I had an operator capable of preparing any experiments that could be made, still it was with the greatest difficulty that I could get through it. How, then, could I have done had my time been taken up with instructing an operator? And, having the greatest number of chemical things to prepare, I could not have got through it with any credit to myself or satisfaction to the managers. You are better acquainted with the duty of an operator than you were before the commencement of the lectures, and can therefore form some judgment concerning the knowledge requisite and the labour which it requires. It is unnecessary to say that an operator must give up his whole time to it; and, as we are to have a good laboratory, it seems to me necessary that he should be a good practical chemist, which he cannot be without working some years in a laboratory. Sadler could do anything in that way, and, were he a little more steady, would be invaluable in the Institution. You say nothing what has become of him. I was in hopes he might have been employed again next year. Indeed, the managers ought, in my opinion, to endeavour to have an operating chemist who would be permanent.

That you could in time do everything required I am very far from doubting, and, should it be the wish of the managers, I shall be far from opposing it; on the contrary, were you qualified, there is not one person whom I should so much wish to have it. But, before you come to a determination, you must well consider whether you would relish the many dirty jobs to which it will subject you as well as the labour; and, if it be still your wish and determination, it would certainly be proper to attend an autumnal course of lectures. If it be your intention to remain in the Institution and to continue as operator, which probably might be carried on along with the School of Mechanics (though of this I am not certain, as an operator’s time ought to be dedicated to natural philosophy), I would do all in my power to instruct you properly; but to have the weight upon myself without the prospect of being relieved from it another year is what I dare scarce look at.

In deciding put everything out of the question but the good of the Institution, for unless you can promote that you cannot promote your own by its means. You will, I hope, excuse my having spoken thus freely on the subject which so much concerns us both; consider it well and favour me with your sentiments again. I suppose that I shall be in town in about a month, but I should wish to hear from you before. There are probably some of my objections which you can remove.

I am, dear Sir, yours sincerely, Thos. Garnett.

Towards the latter end of the autumn Dr. Garnett returned to the Institution. The differences between him and the managers soon appeared. He prepared the outlines of a course of lectures on Natural and Experimental Philosophy, to be delivered in 1801, and he printed this preface: ‘This pamphlet contains the outlines of the popular course on Natural and Experimental Philosophy, delivered at the Royal Institution every Tuesday at two o’clock during the present session.—Royal Institution, February 2, 1801.’

At the same time he printed another pamphlet—‘Outlines of a Course of Lectures on Chemistry delivered at the Royal Institution,’ and to it he put this preface: ‘This work contains the outlines of the course of chemistry delivered at the Royal Institution by the Professor of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, every Thursday and Saturday at two o’clock during the present season.—Royal Institution, February 2, 1801.’

In the table of contents he gave thirty lectures, and it was almost exactly a reprint of the table of contents of the lectures on chemistry published by him in 1797.

There can be no doubt that Dr. Garnett printed these pamphlets, the one of twelve and the other of two hundred and sixteen pages, without consulting the managers; for at their meeting on February 2, 1801, they resolved that the annual courses of philosophical and chemical lectures at the Royal Institution should commence ‘as soon as the new theatre can be got ready for them, and that Count Rumford be authorised to take all such steps on the part of the managers as shall be necessary in that business;’ and they also resolved that Sir Joseph Banks, Henry Cavendish, and Count Rumford be a committee to superintend the drawing up and publication of a suitable syllabus or account of the philosophical and chemical lectures given at the Royal Institution. They further resolved that no syllabus of lectures or other account of what is doing or done, or to be done, at the Royal Institution, be published by any person or persons without the permission of the aforesaid committee, or the express leave of the managers formally signified in writing. This last resolution shows that Count Rumford had then probably determined that Dr. Garnett should give up his professorship at the Royal Institution.

On February 16 the managers resolved that their resolutions of February 2 should be communicated to Dr. Garnett, and on this day they determined to engage Mr. Humphry Davy as Assistant Lecturer on Chemistry. Still the managers did not decide on the removal of Professor Garnett, for the following letter shows that Count Rumford at this time had some conversation with him as to the terms upon which he would give up his rooms in the house. On February 22 Dr. Garnett wrote to Count Rumford:

Sir,—I have considered the matter you did me the honour to desire I would deliberate upon, and I place much confidence that when you and the other managers of the Royal Institution reflect upon the necessary expenditure for rent, coals, and candles, domestics and other out-goings, the sum of 100l. per annum will not be considered as an improper allowance for giving up the apartments and advantages assigned me in the house of the Institution by the honourable managers.

You will allow me to add that I have also considered the possibility of my residing out of the house occasioning any inconvenience to the interests of the Institution, and that if upon the maturest consideration I was not confident no such inconvenience could arise, there is no personal compensation that could tempt me to quit my residence in the house of the Institution.

It is with great deference I take the advantage at the same time to submit to your and the other managers’ consideration whether the funds of the Institution are in your and their judgment in a condition to authorise any of that gradual increase of my salary of 300l. which the resolution of September 14, 1799, gave me well-founded reason to hope for, and which I now most cheerfully and with perfect confidence beg to leave to the candour and liberality of yourself and the managers.

I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect, Sir, your very obedient Servant,

Thos. Garnett.

On February 23 it was resolved that the consideration of Dr. Garnett’s letter be postponed till the annual accounts of the Institution for the present year be made up and the state of its finances ascertained.

The lectures began in February. His biographer says: ‘The transactions of the winter almost completely undermined his constitution. He became sallow, listless, melancholy. A gloomy day or the smallest disappointment gave him inconceivable distress.

‘The effect produced upon his lecturing was remarkable. Debility of body as well as uneasiness of mind incapacitated him. His spirited and, at the same time modest, method of delivery was changed into one languid and hesitating. He would have resigned in the middle of his course, and on one occasion at least Count Rumford, at a few hours’ notice, found a substitute to lecture for him.’ This was on the evening of March 2, when with the shortest possible notice Count Rumford got Dr. Crichton to give the lecture on account of the illness of Dr. Garnett.

He again wrote to the managers on May 11, and on the 25th a special meeting of the managers was held, and it was resolved that ‘the managers, taking into consideration the two applications of Dr. Garnett, are unanimously of opinion that they cannot agree to make any alteration in his present salary and situation.’

On June 1 Davy was appointed Lecturer on Chemistry.

On June 15 it was resolved by the managers unanimously that Dr. Garnett’s resignation should be accepted, that his salary up to the end of the year should be paid to him by the Committee of Expenditure, and that his letter of resignation should be preserved. Unfortunately this letter does not exist now.

‘Dr. Garnett had long determined to apply himself to medical practice, and at the same time to give private lectures, to secure that income of which he seemed fated to be disappointed.’

In the summer of 1801 he removed to Great Marlborough Street, and brought his family to London, and he sought for practice as a physician. He built a lecture room; he made arrangements for editing the ‘Annals of Philosophy, Natural History, Chemistry, Literature, Agriculture, and Fine Arts’ for the year 1800, intending to continue it yearly; and he prepared himself to give not less than eight courses of lectures during the winter. At his own house he gave two courses on Chemistry, one on Mineralogy, one on Botany, two on Experimental Philosophy, and a private course on this subject also; he gave a course on Botany at Brompton, and in a room at Tom’s Coffee House, in the City, a course of popular lectures on Zoonomia, or the Laws of Animal Life in Health and Disease. This was for the convenience of medical students and others in that part of the town.

A return of ill health prevented him from completing some of these courses, but he used every means to increase his private practice. In May 1802 he was elected physician to the Marylebone Dispensary, which he thought would bring the success which he seemed never able to obtain. Very weak in body and not exempt from anxiety of mind, he began the hard work of his Dispensary. He caught typhus fever from one of the patients in June, and died on the 28th of that month.

He left his children penniless.

On August 2 Dr. Garnett’s executor, Mr. Parker, asked permission to have the popular lectures on the Laws of Animal Life, the Zoonomia, printed at the press of the Royal Institution, and that the printer to the Institution, Mr. W. Savage, might receive subscriptions for the publication of the work. The managers resolved to subscribe for the Institution 50l., and in 1804, when the work was published in quarto, they allowed it to be dedicated to them, a privilege which they refused on many occasions afterwards. The dedication was in these words:

To the Right Honourable and Honourable the Managers of the Royal Institution of Great Britain these Lectures, composed by a man who, in his lifetime, was honoured by their selection as their first lecturer, and whose infant family have since experienced their benevolence and protection, are, with permission, dedicated by the trustees of the subscription in favour of these orphans.

The amount of the subscription was nearly two thousand guineas.