Abstract
IT was recorded in NATURE of February 18, p. 229, that Pepys, after an interval of non-service, re-entered the council of the Royal Society at the anniversary meeting on November 30, 1681, Sir Christopher Wren being president. At the anniversary meeting in 1684, Pepys became the Society's president, and it is of interest to note the frequency or otherwise of his attendances at council meetings, or at the general gatherings afterwards in Gresham College, for discourse, or for experimental purposes of the kind then possible. When presiding at councils Pepys did not always remain for these later meetings, and the reason may doubtless be found in his numerous public duties, but, as substitute, Dr. Gale, Sir John Hoskyns, Dr. Lister, and Sir Joseph Williamson were often called upon in turn. Pepys was not present at the Society's meeting on December 3, 1684, but he attended the council on December 10, as well as presiding at the subsequent meeting of fellows. From the following January 7, until September 18, he attended three councils and one meeting. He was continued on November 30, 1685, in the presidency for another year, and during that period he attended eight council meetings and three ordinary meetings. On November 30, 1686, the Earl of Carbery was made president, and Pepys a vice-president. Opportunity may here be taken to record that Sir Anthony Deane, the eminent ship designer,and co-adjutor of Pepys in naval matters, who was made a fellow of the Society in 1681, was elected to the council on November 30, 1682. At the anniversary of 1684, when Pepys became president, Sir Anthony Deane re-entered the council; thus the two were colleagues. We may, perhaps, believe that Deane owed his entry to Pepys's recommendation.
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Samuel Pepys and the Royal Society. Nature 131, 299 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/131299b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/131299b0