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Letters from various scientists to Walter White, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society. With occasional material addressed to Charles Richard Weld and others. Usually on Royal Society business.

The archive correspondence can be characterized as the routine treatment of important events. In 1863, for example, Richard Owen wrote to White with brief instructions for his paper describing the feathered dinosaur archaeopteryx. Occasionally the letters are more significant for the Society's history. In an extended note of 1865, ex Royal Society President the Earl of Rosse 'a plain well-grown man, farmer like in appearance' discussed the merits of signing an election certificate for Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892). 'My opinion...was that it would be better to take the broad view and to elect men of great abillity...so as to strengthen the Society in carrying out, in the largest sense, its great object, that of improving natural science'. Tennyson was duly elected, an event which must have pleased White. The assistant secretary had become friendly with the Poet Laureate in the 1850s and White's published diary left a vivid picture of Tennyson reading aloud his Arthurian romances in the offices of the Royal Society.

School and university notebooks of David Hardy Whiffen.

Papers of John Hugh Westcott relating to radar and adaptive control including report on CA [coastal artillery] no.1 and Mark IV radar equipment ('James'), with supplementary papers on control engineering at Imperial College, London, and some photographs.

Three letters of application for Waynflete Professorship of Physiology, two of J N Langley and Charles Scott Sherington dated 1895; one undated from Francis Gotch.

'The age of the Oldway human skeleton' by E J Waylan, report of 25 pages and 2 blueprints with file of correspondence, 2 September 1932.

Papers of Henry Watts including lecture on Australia by Watts, Watts' passport and pamphlet publicising a fund set up to support his widow and children.

Visitors book to the Sir Isaac Newton Exhibition, 13-31 August 1951.

Account by Francis Vernon of his travels through Greece, with numerous copies of old inscriptions and plates. Also a letter dated 15 July 1709 from Richard Mead to the Reverend Dr Chisull.

Cartoons of eminent men of the day, 18 of which are bound together in a volume including photographs and signatures of the individuals; the volume is inscribed " C S Sherrington 1927". The cartoons were published in conjunction with articles by "Jehu Junior" in Vanity Fair between 1869 and 1912. Some of the cartoons are accompanied by the text of the article. Most of the subjects were Fellows of the Royal Society.

Notebook of John Tyndall 'Number II, Thermometer observations als Lusgen 7 October to 15 October'. No year.

Written in England. Contains the curious characters known as the Boetian contractions, and is a valuable document for the history of arithmetic. The treatise commences on the Roman abacal system, and afterwards proceeds to give an explanation of the Eastern Boetian system with altered characters, and with a complete adoption of the advantages of local position. In Folio 2, recto, line 5, the author says that he will expound 'quaedam de numerorum scientia. regulis uidelicet algorismi' and on Folio 3, verso, he refers to Pithagoras, Nicomachus, Apuleius and Boethius. The text ends on the first line of Folio 34, recto, and is followed by eight lines in a semi-current 13th century hand.

Folio 1, recto ' Prefatio sequentis operis. Vt ait salomon.. punge oculum. et profert lacrimam. punge cor' et profert sensum.....'

Folio 4, verso ' De impari numero..'

Folio 6, verso, line 6, ' Divisio algorismi '. The divisions are given as folows; ' digitus, mediato, multiplicatio, divisio '

Folio 8, recto, title in red in margin, ' Qualiter digitus multiplicat digitum '

Folio 9, recto, line 15 ' Qualiter articulus multiplicatur per articulum '

Folio 9, verso, line 13, heading in red, ' Qualiter digitus multiplicat articulum '

Folio 10, recto, line 10, heading in red, ' Qualiter compositus per compositum multiplicatur '

Folio 10, verso, heading in margin, ' Qualiter compositus multiplicat compositum non eundem habens articulum '

Folio 11, recto, bottom line, heading in red ' Regulo ab uno inequalibus '

Folio 12, recto, line 6, heading in red, ' Regula ab uno in equalibus binario adjecto '

Folio 12, verso, line 8, heading in red ' De duplicatione '

Folio 13, recto, line 5, heading in red, ' De pari adjecto '

Folio 13, verso, line 6, heading in red, ' De impari adjecto '

Folio 14, verso, heading in margin, ' De proposito secundum novenarium dispositum '

Folio 15, recto, line 7-8, heading in red, ' De significationibus et nominibus figarum et locorum '
Transcript extract from line 14 ' Prima itaque omnium est igin. 1. id est unitas. Secunda andras. 2. id est binarius. Tercia ormis. 3. id est ternarius. Quarta arbas. 4. id est quaternarius. Quinta quimas. 5. id est quinarius. Sexta caltis. 6. id est senarius. Septima zemis. 7. id est septenarius. octava celentis. 8. id est octonarius. Nona cemenias. 9. id est novenarius. Singule ataque figure in quocumque loco sint sui ipsius exprimunt significationem. Nunquam enim figura unitatis officium binarii sibi usurpabit, nec binarius ternarii, nec ternarius quaternarii, nec quelibet ceterarum quod alter significare poterit. Ad majorem itaque evidentiam significationes locorum ponamus. primo ita loco posita igin seipsam, id es unitatem, significat. Secundo denarium. Tercio centenarium. Quarto millenarium. Quinto decem milia. Sexto centum milia. Septimo mille milia. Decimo mille mille milia. Undecimo decies milies mille milia. Duodecimo centies milies mille milia. Terciodecimo milies milies mille milia, et sic usque in infinitam singulorum decuplationem locorum extenditur. Similiter autem et andras rimo loco seipsam, id est binarium, significat. Secundo xx. Tercio cc. Quarto duo milia. Quinto xx. Sexto cc. Septima mm. et sic per cetera loca eodem cemate et cetere figure secundum propriam differentiam decuplabutn singulos articulos per loca singula. Est adhucet decima figura cujus nulla significatio est, sed tamen per loca disposita ceterarum significationes auget vel minuit. Dicitur autemzifera, et taliter depingitur 0. Sciendum autem quod omnes figure versus sinistram scribi debent, quia sic vim extendunt. Sed e converso literali ordine legi. '

Folio 17, verso, line 6, heading in red, ' De subtractione'

Folio 18, verso, line 8, heading in red, 'De dupli``catione'.

Letters and papers of Sir Thomas Edward Thorpe including scientific letters to T E Thorpe from colleagues, with documents relating to the Chemical Warfare Committee of the International Law Association. Containing also Thorpe's own letters to family members, his testimonials for work appointments and obituary notices.

Photographs recording the visits of Sir Henry Gerard Thornton abroad, on business for the Royal Society including visits made to Ankara in April 1952; Israel in May 1952; Delhi in 1954 and Russia in 1956.

Notes on a series of lectures given by Joseph John Thomson at the Cavendish Laboratory, October 1906 to December 1907.

Correspondence of Dr Brook Taylor, Secretary of the Royal Society on mathematical subjects with Professor Keil, Mr Machin, Bernouilli, the Abbot Conti, the Comte Raymond de Montmort, 1712-1717.

Report on studies at the Protectorate Department of Agriculture's entomological laboratory at Kukum, entitled 'Studies of Soil and Litter Fauna in the British Soloman Islands Protectorate': summary of work carried out November 1964 - August 1965.

Account book of Bindon Blood Stoney, 1860-1908.

Methodo Inverso dos Limites ou Desenvoluimento geral das Funcoens algorithmicas em Series par Francisco de Borja Garcao Stockler.

A calligraphic sample book, presumably compiled to demonstrate the skills of the unknown artist. Containing samples of writing and drawing styles, including some fine natural history drawings of freshwater animals.

f.1: fanciful decorative border including vignettes of indians with feather headresses, birds, snails, rams' heads, sphinxes, architectural columns, candles and paintings.

f.2: illustrations of four types of freshwater fishes: barbel (top); pike (bottom); bream (left) and gudgeon (right). With outer and inner borders of very small and patterned calligraphy.

f.3: specimen of calligraphy: Proverbs 16: 7-9 commencing "Wenn dem Herrn..." and ending "...aber der Herr allein gibt dass es fortgehe". Highly decorated 'W', using flowers, leaves and fruits.

f.4: seven lines of text with letters staggered at the line centre. Accompanied by a freely drawn bird [a swan on water?] and an illustration of a crayfish or lobster.

f.5r: three columns of written text, various styles and forms of address, commencing "Dantiscanae urbis origo"

f.5v: three coluns of written text, various styles and forms of address, commencing "Qua' tibi depictum..."

The presentation is noted in a meeting of the Royal Society of 26 February 1700/1: "Mr Owen was permitted to be present. He presented a fine piece of writing in a book done on Vellum at Dantzick [Gdansk, Poland]. He was thanked for it". [JBO/10 p.212].

Correspondence of the Sowerby family, chiefly letters to James Sowerby. Correspondents include: George Arnott Walker Arnott; Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward; Etheldred Bennett; William Bingley; James Clealand; Richard Cotton; Francis Crow; James Dalton; George Don; Richard Duppa; William Henry Fitton; Leonard Horne; John Harris; Adrian Hardy Haworth; Henry Heuland; George Hibbert; John Coakley Lettsom; John Lewis; Gideon Mantell; Thomas John Newbold; George Henry Noehden; Charles Panse; Thomas Joseph Pettigrew; Joseph Ellison Portlock; Thomas Purton; Philip Rashleigh; Joseph Sabine; Henry Sheppard; William Travis; Patrick Walker; Henry Warburton; William Wedderburn and Thomas Stamford Raffles.

Manuscript of a paper 'Astronomical Experiment on the Peak of Tenerife, carried out under the sanction of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. By Professor C. Piazzi Smyth. Communicated by G.B.Airy, Esq., Astronomer Royal' in 'Philosophical Transactions' Volume 148 (1858) pages 465-534. Folder of drawings and watercolours, including tipped-in stereoscopic cards. Received 2 June 1857, read 18 June 1857. Last two pages in the manuscript provide an explanatory account of the photographs, how they were taken and developed, and what materials were used.

Three volumes of photographs taken by Charles Piazzi Smyth, at Clova, Ripon, North Yorkshire, where he had retired from his post of Astronomer Royal of Scotland. Printed title page in first volume; 'Cloud -Forms that have been; to the glory of God their Creator, and the wonderment of learned men. Recorded by Instant Photographs, taken at Clova, Ripon, in 1892, 1893 and 1894', prefaced by an introduction and compendious name, number and date list; but followed up, after the photographs, by a special, and continuous, day to day, meteorological journal, in manuscript. Concluded in the last volume by some discussion on a few of the results hoped to have been obtained.

Copies of letters from William Sherard, Consul of the Turkey Company at Smyrna, 1703.

Papers of William Sharpey including copy letters, correspondence including from Neil Arnott, George Gabriel Stokes and James Newton Heale and notes by Sharpey, some on Royal Society business.

A collection of letters to Abraham Sharp between the years 1701-2 and 1719.

Correspondence of Sir Arthur Schuster and letters and papers concerning the International Association of Academies, 1899-1913.

'Descriptio Itineris Alpini, Annis 1703, 1704 et 1705, per summas Helvetiae et totius Europae Alpes facti, a J Jacobo Scheuchzero, MD, Mathescos Professore Societatum Leopoldinae et Regiarum Anglicae et Prussiacae Membro'. Descriptions of journeys in the Alps by J J Scheuchzer, in four volumes:

Volume 1, 60 ff and 23 sheets of drawings

Volume 2, 109 ff and 39 sheets of drawings

Volume 3, 25 ff and 12 sheets of drawings

Volume 4, 279 ff and 13 sheets of drawings.

Notes by W E Ingham describing 'the true nature of the X-ray research carried out by Godfrey Hounsfield in creating the X-ray scanner. The notes also cover the little known but massive involvement of Godfrey and his team in assisting the newly formed EMI Medical Division whilst, at the same time, still continuing their research in the Research Laboratory. The difficult conditions under which Hounsfield worked make the magnitude of his achievement even greater.

'The notes are not a comprehensive history, but they provide a record of some of the key events that may be known only to the Director of the Central Research Laboratory (CRL) and a few others, before the information is lost.'

Typescript of article 'The Administration of the Royal Society' by Edwin Herbert Samuel, 2nd Viscount Samuel, presented by Dr Anthony R Michaelis, Editor of 'Interdisciplinary Science Review'.

'An Account of my Doings 1924-1966' by George Salt, including accounts of his scientific work, calligraphic work and his mountaineering.

Knight Frank and Rutley Sales Catalogue of the sale of the contents of the late German Embassy at 9 Carlton House Terrace in November and December 1945, with some annotations of prices fetched.

Leaflet accompanied by 52 original photographs (portraits) taken during the visit to the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory on 29 October 1971 as part of the Royal Society celebrations of the Rutherford centenary, 29 October 1971.

Letters to Sir Arthur Rucker, his wife and daughter, during the late 19th and early 20th century; many of them from scientists, including J J Thompson, William Huggins, Aston Webb, David Gill, N S Maskelyne, A Geikie. Together with assorted notes and ephemera.

Plans and surveys of the Royal Society's lands at Acton and Mablethorpe.

Royal Society Visitors Book containing the signatures of distinguished visitors to the celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Royal Society.

Nominations for visiting professors to the Royal Society.

The Royal Society's Tercentenary celebrations in 1960 prompted learned societies and centres of academic excellence worldwide to send gifts and messages of congratulations. Presentation books, medals and other memorabilia were presented also. Many of the messages were highly ornate, and this series illustrates a wide range of calligraphic techniques and styles of binding.

Letters and papers of the Royal Society Sylvester Medal Fund including correspondence regarding the setting-up of a Sylvester Memorial by international committee.

Secretaries Draft Minutes of Meetings of the Royal Society: these are the notes, more or less rough, which were written up to make the Journal Books. They fall into two sections;

1. 'Original Minutes' A series of guardbooks and packets of papers, 12 in number, containing original minutes of the Society's meetings. These minutes gradually approach nearer and nearer to the form and appearance of the Journal Book, and the last few volumes (from 15 onwards) are little different from the corresponding volumes of the Journal Book in their style.

2. 'Rough Minutes' A series of 5 notebooks containing rough minutes of meetings. It seems likely that these are the notes taken down by the Secretary at the meetings, which were later written out much more carefully to make the original minutes (which are usually more legible and more clearly intended to be preserved). These 5 notebooks cover fairly well the gaps in the series of Original minutes caused by the absence of Volume VI (almost certainly this is Sloane MS 3342 in the British Library) and the exceedingly fragmentary state of Volume V.

Disregarding the gaps, the period covered by the combined original and rough minutes is from August 1662 to November 1761. The period covered by the individual volumes are also shown on the backs of the volumes

The Register Books contain copies of scientific papers submitted to the Society - the original documents may be found in the Classified Papers. The papers were transcribed in order to establish their precedence for a particular discovery or idea. Therefore not all communications to the Society were registered in this manner, but only those judged to contain some significant material. Dates as listed are those in which the paper was communicated to the Royal Society; dates of writing, where given, are included in the description of each paper. Many of the these papers were published in 'Philosophical Transactions'.

The Register Books exist in Original and Copy form. The Register Book contains copies of scientific papers submitted to the Society - the original documents may be found in the Classified Papers series. The papers were transcribed to establish their precedence for a particular discovery or idea. It follows that not all communications to the Society were registered in this manner, but only those judged to contain some significant material.

Manuscripts and occasionally proofs of papers published in the 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' 1882-94, covering volumes 33-56 of the printed series. The printed Proceedings may contain 3 types of papers read to the Fellowship:

1) papers abstracted in the 'Proceedings', but not printed in 'Philosophical Transactions'.

2) papers abstracted in the 'Proceedings', and then printed in 'Philosophical Transactions'.

3) papers printed in full in the 'Proceedings'.

The published 'Proceedings' were issued from 1832 initially as retrospective abstracts of the 'Philosophical Transactions', but from volume 3 as a record of the Society's meetings including abstracts of papers read but not published. Volume 7 initiated the procedure of publishing full papers in addition to abstracts. The papers are in separate locations within the archives. Manuscript papers of typ 1 (see description above) may be found in the series Archived Papers; those of type 2 in the 'Philosophical Transactions' series; and type 3 in this series of 'Proceedings Papers'. ther are a number of missing papers from the series, but it remains relatively complete with the dates specified. 87 papers are unaccounted for, together with some illustrative material.

A series of (generally) printed material relating to, and commenting on, the Society's activities. The press cuttings and scrap books contain cuttings from newspapers interspersed with other printed matter, and occasionally items of manuscripts. The remaining volumes are concerned with particular events or subjects, such as 'HMS Challenger 1872-1895' or 'National Antarctic Expedition 1899-1904'. There are three types of volumes; the first volume is for the years 1846-1876, but therafter two types of book were kept;

a) biographical - 12 volumes, 1872-1910

b) general, 10 volumes 1885-1910.

These were discontinued for a short period, then merged: 36 volumes, 1918-1976. Thereafter newscuttings were photocopied and kept in monthly bundles.

A list of presents to the Royal Society, 1831-1849.

A small collection of photostats or photocopies of manuscripts held in other institutions, but of some relevance to the Royal Society and its own Archives. The series largely consists of groups of correspondence, notable letters to Julius Plucker (PH.1) letters of Hevelius, Newton and Flamsteed (PH.2) and of Edmond Halley (PH.3) There are some records of other institutions, including a minute book of the Physiological Society 1876-1892 (PH.9), and copies of Rutherford's correspondence at the Cavendish Laboratory.

The manuscript versions of papers published by the Royal Society in the 'Philosophical Transactions'. The series has many points of interest, which include authors' corrections to manuscripts, and the presence of original illustrations in various media (drawings, watercolours and photographs) bound in the volumes. Not all of the material printed in the 'Philosophical Transactions' relating to Society business survives, but manuscript examples of meteorological observations, lists of presents and annual indexing may be found in volumes 8, 9 and 12.
Papers are usually bound into vellum-covered volumes by year of publication, although a few (volumes 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 17, 73-75) are loose, boxed items. Several gaps appear in the collection, notably for the period 1825-1839 (volumes 18-22) and any year may lack one or more papers; these omissions are noted at the beginning of each part. Despite this, the series constitutes a large, relatively complete run.

Correspondence relating to the Royal Grant of Apartments in Somerset House to the Royal Society by King George III including a copy of a memorandum by Albert, the Prince Consort, in 1851.

Copies of the outgoing letters written by the Foreign Secretaries of the Royal Society.

Minutes of the meetings of the Officers of the Society to discuss matters of policy, the administration and staffing of the Society, and to consider reports from staff.

Copies of outgoing letters from the President, Officers and Assistant Secretaries. Each page may contain up to four copied documents. Volumes are numbered 1-73 with an additional volume for the period January 1901-November 1904.