Lunar Society

The Lunar Society was a discussion club, of a number of prominent industrialists and scientists, who met regularly in the latter half of the 18th century in Birmingham, England. The society's name came from their practice of scheduling their meetings at the time of the full moon (in that time of no street lighting, the extra light made the journey home easier)... Despite this uncertainty, fourteen individuals have been identified as having verifiably attended Lunar Society meetings regularly over a long period during its most productive eras: these are Matthew Boulton, Erasmus Darwin, Thomas Day, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Samuel Galton, Jr., Robert Augustus Johnson, James Keir, Joseph Priestley, William Small, Jonathan Stokes, James Watt, Josiah Wedgwood, John Whitehurst and William Withering. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Society see also Lunar Men

http://www.greencheese.org

http://jquarter.members.beeb.net/morelunar.htm

http://www.history.rochester.edu/steam/carnegie/ch7.html

http://www.virtualbrum.co.uk/history/brum5.htm

http://www.search.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/engine/resource/exhibition/standard/default.asp?resource=670