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Notes on the history of science.

Although the collection is by no means comprehensive, there are interesting records of many aspects of Wilson's career.

Section A. Biographical: Brings together material relating to obituaries, tributes, honours and awards. Includes Wilson's account of his First World War experiences and his assessment of his scientific publications. Section B. Research: Although not extensive, provides documentation of a number of Wilson's principal interests including the Salmonella group of bacteria and milk hygiene. There are three laboratory notebooks with experimental data covering the period 1919-45. Section C. Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS): Relates chiefly to the unpublished history written by Wilson after his retirement as Director of the PHLS. There is also a little material relating to laboratory design and equipment and PHLS personnel. Section D. Lectures and publications: The most substantial in the collection. There are records of Wilson's lectures for a period of forty years from 1944, extensive documentation of the later editions of Principles of bacteriology and immunity, and editorial correspondence and papers for the British Journal of Experimental Pathology and the Journal of Hygiene. Section E. Societies and organisations: Documentation of Wilson's association with ten British organisations including the Medical Research Club, Medical Research Council and Veterinary Club. The Medical Research Council material relates to the Working Party on Tristan da Cunha which was set up to supervise medical investigations when the inhabitants were evacuated to Britain after the island's volcano erupted in 1961. There is also material relating to the Research Foundation, Chicago, which specialised in tuberculosis research, on whose medical advisory committee Wilson served. Section F. Visits and conferences: Records of a number of overseas trips in an advisory capacity for the World Health Organisation, including to Ethiopia 1964, Iraq 1965, Iran, Sudan and Egypt 1971 and the Philippines 1972, and records of international microbiology congresses. Section G. Correspondence: Although not extensive, includes a chronological sequence of scientific correspondence, 1930-1987, Wilson's collection of autograph letters addressed to Topley and himself, and references and recommendations. Section H. Photographs: Photographic records of Wilson, colleagues, conferences and PHLS laboratories. Section J. 'Biographical History of Bacteriology': Manuscript of Wilson's history, with correspondence about publication.

Papers of Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins, 1854-2004, including: laboratory notebooks, graphs, data sets, notes, x-ray diffraction photographs and published articles relating to his scientific research, 1948-1976, chiefly his work on the structure of DNA, 1947-1966; correspondence, 1948-2004, with and about scientific colleagues, including Struther Arnott, Allen Blaurock, Francis Crick, Boris Ephrussi, Harriet Ephrussi-Taylor, Bruce Fraser, Meyer Friedman, Raymond Gosling, Leonard Hamilton, John Kendrew, Robert Langridge, Don Marvin, Linus Pauling, Max Perutz, John Randall, Alec Stokes, James Watson and Herbert Wilson. Correspondence, notes and articles, 1950-2003, relating to research on the history of the discovery of the structure of DNA, including: copies of Rosalind Franklin's laboratory notebooks and articles, 1951-1953, relating to her DNA research; correspondence, 1967-2003, with writers on DNA history, including Aaron Klug, Robert Olby, Meyer Friedman, Horace Judson and Watson Fuller; unpublished articles and talks on DNA history by Wilkins, 1975-1987. Drafts, notes, correspondence and collected background research relating to Wilkins' autobiography, The third man of the double helix (Oxford University Press, 2003). Papers relating to Wilkins' education and early career, 1928-1942, including: teenage essays and fiction on the role of science, 1928-1934; notes, articles and photographs, 1937-1938, relating to his student activities, including physics experiments, and photographs relating to his incendiary bomb testing for Cambridge Scientists Anti-War Group, 1938. Correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports and notes, 1962-1982, relating to the administration of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Biophysics Unit, King's College London (from 1964, the Department of Biophysics), on topics including funding, staffing, equipment provision and teaching. Correspondence, course handouts, student essays (CLOSED) and background material, 1971-1996, relating to the undergraduate course, 'The social impact of the biosciences', created and run by Wilkins, 1972-1982. Correspondence, newsletters and conference papers relating to Wilkins' involvement in political pressure groups, 1968-2003, notably the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science (of which Wilkins was founding President, 1969-1991), Food and Disarmament International (Wilkins' was founding President, 1984-2004), the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), and the Pugwash Conferences on World Affairs. Audio recordings, 1972-1996, including lectures by Wilkins on: social responsibility in science; his Eddington Memorial Lectures,Cambridge, 1977-1978, on the history and philosophy of science; nuclear disarmament, 1981; his retirement speech, 1982; the history of DNA.

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.

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'.

The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence: the Singers were clearly vigorous letter writers and both Charles and Dorothea had an enormous number of family, friends and acquaintances. Unfortunately many of their letters were hand written and very few carbon copies survive. Very occasionally an attempt at methodical selection and arrangement is evident: on the whole correspondence had been kept in alphabetical order, and this has been retained in the arrangement of the collection. Dorothea and Charles' correspondence was fairly mixed (reflecting their working life together) with the exception of two distinct groups: correspondence about Dorothea's research on alchemical manuscripts, and later correspondence about her hearing aids.

The main part of the collection centres on the correspondence; this has been grouped together in a self-evident sequence: writings and biographical personal papers follow. Certain of Dorothea's papers remained clearly distinct and these have been kept together. Section E contains a variety of material relating to Jewish refugees, which had been placed on one side by Dorothea after the war for permanent preservation. It has not been listed in detail but sorted into three broad categories. The last section, comprising additional correspondence of the Singers with Sir Zachary Cope, Sir Arthur Salusbury MacNalty and Dr F N L Poynter, is not strictly part of the collection, but these groups of correspondence were given to the Institute to be placed alongside the Singer papers.

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.

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.

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'.

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 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.

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

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.

Letters sent to the Royal Society, its President or Officers. Subject matter is both domestic and scientific. Domestic concerns include such matters as instructions from authors on the publication of papers. The letters on scientific topics appear to be those which were considered of small significance, e.g. giving notice of minor inventions, or appealing to the Society for recognition.

Council Attendance Book of Royal Society.

The collection consists of approximately 100 items on alchemy and early chemistry, the most notable item being De Secretis Mulierum. The collection also includes manuscripts of lectures given by Sir Henry Roscoe; his notes on solar chemistry work; letters written to him by a number of his peers and his notebook from 1849. The many volumes of letters in the collection includes correspondence with contemporaries such as Robert Bunsen, Michael Faraday, Dmitri Mendeleeff and Louis Pasteur as well as with a number of Presidents of the Chemical Society and the Royal Institute of Chemistry.

Papers of and relating to Joseph Priestley, inclusing volume of items relating to Priestley's life, three letters from Priestley, his spectacles, and Diploma and seal awarded in 1780 by Catherine II, Empress of Russia.

Records of the Physiological Society, including all the minute books from the foundation of the Society in 1876, the proposal books for candidates from 1888, correspondence, histories and photographs. The bulk of the material dates from after 1939.

Cartoon called "The Adventures of Isaac Newton" illustrating the attempts by Newton to demonstrate the force of gravity to the Fellows of the Royal Society, published in Viz Magazine, page 5, May 2004.

Biographical Memoirs notes and papers accumulated by Guido Pontecorvo relating to Hermann Joseph Muller gathered by Pontecorvo in the process of writing Muller's obituary for Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society.

Files of papers and correspondence relating to the Royal Society's administration of its internal affairs. Currently, the bulk of this material falls within the period 1925-50, although the period covered varies considerably according to subject. At present, the collection forms an important source on the Society's activities during the Second World War, and includes files of the Central Register (Section for Scientific Reseearch) for 1939-1940. Section A of the series contains correspondence of a number of important Fellows; WH Bragg 1935-41; HH Dale 1926-45; ACG Egerton 1939-49; AV Hill 1949-45; FW Lanchester 1942-44; HG Lyons 1939-42; TR Merton 1941-56; R Robinson 1946-50; AC Seward 1932-41; FE Smith 1928-33; HT Tizard 1940

Single manuscript letters or small groups of related documents considered too small to be added to the Manuscripts General series. Includes various document formats. The collection contains all manner of papers by, about or belonging to the Fellows of the Royal Society. Subject matter covers all branches of the sciences and includes non-scientific material. Current accessions are limited to materials not generated by the Royal Society, but acquired by gift or purchase; these usually number less than 10 items per accession. This has not always been the practice, so that the collection also contains relatively large groups of papers, occasionally on Royal Society business.

The collection provides good documentation of many aspects of McIlwain's career and his contribution to the development of neurochemistry in the UK and internationally.

Section A, Biographical, brings together obituaries, curricula vitae and bibliographies, and material relating to the various stages of McIlwain's scientific career, especially in the 1930s and 1940s, his appointment to the Biochemistry Chair at the Institute of Psychiatry in 1954 and the symposium held in his honour on his retirement in 1980. The section also presents a significant body of material relating to McIlwain's undergraduate studies at King's College, University of Durham, including essays and notebooks.

Section B, Institute of Psychiatry, is principally papers relating to the activities of McIlwain's own Department of Biochemistry and especially its teaching programme in neurochemistry. There is also material relating to various government and University of London enquiries into medical education.

Section C, Research, includes copies of McIlwain's M.Sc. and Ph.D. theses, notes, drafts and reports for early work in the 1930s and correspondence 'from the Lab' for the 1930s and 1940s.

Section D, Publications, lectures and broadcast, is the largest in the collection. It presents significant documentation, especially correspondence, relating to his textbook Biochemistry and the central nervous system which went through five editions, 1955-1985, and important editorial correspondence for the Biochemical Journal (member of the Editorial Board, 1946-1950), Biochemical Pharmacology and Journal of Neurochemistry. There are also drafts for lectures and seminars for scientific audiences in the UK and abroad, principally from the 1960s onwards.

Section E, Societies and organisations, documents McIlwain's involvement with a number of UK and international bodies including the Biochemical Society, the International Brain Research Organisation and the International Society for Neurochemistry (ISN) of which he was a founder member and from 1984 'Historian' of the Society with responsibility for its archives.

Section F, Visits and conferences, covers the period 1947-1993 and is of particular interest for its documentation of the historical sessions which McIlwain organised at ISN meetings.

Section G, Correspondence, presents an alphabetical sequence of McIlwain's correspondence including significant exchanges with a number of distinguished mentors and contemporaries such as G.R. Clemo, F. Dickens, K.A.C. Elliott, P.G. Fildes, S.S. Kety, H.A. Krebs, Derek Richter and F.L. Rose, and a chronological sequence of shorter scientific correspondence covering the period 1938-1992.

There is also an index of correspondents.

Private papers of Professor Stephen Finney Mason, [1859-2007], including published articles and reprints by Mason, [1945-1990]; articles and photocopies of articles by others on Mason’s research interests, [1859-2000]; lectures given by Mason; research notes and correspondence, including correspondence about scientists and historians including Professor Reiko Kuroda, Dr Robert Davis Peacock, Professor Mike Lappert, Professor Anthony James McCaffery, Dr George Tranter, Dr M P Melrose, Dr Tom Ziegler, Professor Martin Quack, Professor David Parker, Keith Hutcheon and Dr Jack Morrell.

Notes of lectures (on medical jurisprudence), on cases, and on diseases such as material on digestion and on hip disease, 1877-[1885].

Scientific papers sent to the Royal Society, many of which were published in the 'Philosophical Transactions'. As the name implies, the series is a combination and continuation of Early Letters and Classified Papers into the 19th century. Later, the sequence divided into Philosophical Transactions and Archived Papers. From the time that the Letters and Papers (or New Guard Books as they were originally known) were created, none of these original papers were copied into Letter or Register Books. Scientists represented include William Herschel (66 papers) William Watson (36 papers) Henry Baker (32 papers) Everard Home (31 papers), William Stukely (30 papers), and John Smeaton (23 papers). As the series progresses, the character of the documents alters - the earlier decades contain larger numbers of short letters, but by the 19th century most of the manuscripts are in the form of long monographs. The texts are supported by a large quantity of original illustrations throughout the series. This collection provides a virtually unbroken run of presentations by leading 18th century scientists; the few gaps include 1746-1749, when no papers were collected. Occasionally such missing items may be located in the archives of other institutions.

Copies of letters received by the Royal Society, the originals of which are in the Early Letters collection. The Letter Books were copied (as were the Journal and Register Books) for security reasons. The numbering of the volumes and their chronological range is slightly eccentric. Volumes numbered 1-18 are letters of 1662-1727; within this group, Volume 11 has been extended into two volumes. No Volume 17 was created in order to leave a gap in the series for retrospective copying of original papers. The succeeding Volumes 19-26 overlap in time, giving correspondence for the years 1720-1740. There are also five supplementary volumes providing fair copies of letters omitted from the main run; these are labelled A-B, B-C, D-G, G-H and H-S, the letters being arranged in order of author.

The Journal Books exist in Original and Copy versions. The Journal Books contain minutes of the ordinary minutes of the Royal Society, setting out the following information: person in the chair, news of elections to the Fellowship and Council, non-Fellows given leave to be present, and books and rarities presented to the Society. Letters and papers read before the Society are given in abstract with any subsequent discussion. By the 19th century much of this earlier detail is lost, so that , for example, only titles of papers are recorded.

Draft and copy minutes of Royal Society meetings taken by Robert Hooke, the first 120 pages consist of notes taken by Robert Hooke after going through the draft notes of his predecessor, Henry Oldenburg, as Secretary. Remaining pages are notes taken by Hooke as Secretary attending the Society meetings. Includes a folder of loose material which was removed from the folio without noting where they came from before it was acquired by the Society.

Records of the History of Science and Technology Department of Imperial College, 1958-1994, notably correspondence, including foundation of the department, 1958-1960; Rectors' correspondence, 1963-1978; departmental accommodation, 1963-1968; future organisation, 1978-1980; Leverhulme Research Fellowship, 1966-1974; working party minutes, 1964-1968 (KH); course booklets for Science and Technology Studies, 1992-1994, (KHB); course details, 1995-1996; student magazines for Science Communication Studies, 1992-1993 (KHBC);
University of London Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology course booklets, 1988, (KHC).

Manuscript transcripts of six writings on hermetic philosophy, [1700], including tracts by David de Planis Campy, Adrien Ameuric and Raymond Lulle.'

The collection contains handwritten notebooks and loose typescript papers. Some of the notebooks are entitled 'Electricitat' or 'J.H.Waitz' and are often in German. Some are concerned with the history of electricity. The folders contain loose papers, often correspondence, about student work and exams and societies, in the history of science.

Papers, 1930-1962, concerning lectures and publications by Hart, notably correspondence, 1951-1961, mainly relating to lectures on Leonardo da Vinci, aeronautical engineering and other subjects; correspondence relating to the writing and publication of his work, including James Watt and the history of steam power (Henry Schuman, New York, [1949]), 1948, and The world of Leonard da Vinci, man of science, engineer and dreamer of flight (Macdonald, London, 1961), 1960-1962; typescripts of lectures on textile education, 1951, the scientific basis for Leonardo da Vinci's work in technology, 1952, and handicraft instruction; typescript of The world of Leonard da Vinci, man of science, engineer and dreamer of flight (Macdonald, London, 1961), 1960; copies of published articles by Hart on medieval and modern science, 1930-1955.

Biographical Memoirs notes and papers accumulated by Professor Bryan C Clarke in the process of compiling two Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society: Edmund Brisco Ford FRS (1901-1988); and Arthur James Cain FRS (1921-1999).

Manuscript volumes, correspondence and papers by Michael Faraday including material based on original Faraday documents 1809-1961, comprising six volumes in total covering subjects on botany; chemistry; colour; fire eating; galvanism; gas lighting; light; magnetism; meteorology; lightning; preserving drawings; removing glass stoppers; scientific apparatus; details of his visits with Davy to France and Italy 1813- 1814; visits to copper works and state mines in Wales 1819; visit to the Isle of Wight 1824; manuscript notes on lectures given by Faraday to the City Philosophical Society 1816-1819; general observations; experiments; notes including scientific subjects as well as anagrams; etymology; recipes for gin and ginger beer; humour; love; memory; oratory; philosophy; Rochefoucault; Shakespeare; 'Chemical Love Letter.' 1816-1846; chemical notes [1822]; notes on experiments on electric lamps powered by batteries 1854 and a letter to John Tyndall; c 750 manuscript correspondence between Faraday and scientists, politicians and the general public 1812-1867; letters and draft letters by Faraday written from the Royal Institution 1853-1863; committe minutes from a subcommitte set up to conduct experiments in optical glass 1828-1835; papers relating to the wear and production of coinage at the Royal Mint 1835; papers relating to table-turning 1853-1864; Faraday's French passport 1856; notes on Faraday including his illness and his refusal of the post of President at the Royal Institution 1864-1872.

The papers are extensive covering Faraday's work in science. Details of his work on electro-magnetic induction, the laws of electrolysis and the theory of electro-magnetism are in the form of laboratory notebooks, lecture notes and various publications on experimental researchers in electricity. There are some administrative papers on the Royal Institution of Great Britain including cash books. The correspondence covers his work for the Admiralty and the Corporation of Trinity House whilst acting as Scientific Adviser; they also detail his general communication with people and other organisations. Other items include his book collection, scrapbooks, portfolio of portraits and apparatus. A few lacunae have been identified. There are no documents on his personal life or his work as Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.

Ent's papers, c.1641-1685, consist of his Apologia pro Circuitione Sanguinis..., in his hand, thought to be a revision prepared for the second edition of the work, c.1641-1685. The volume also includes the texts of some of Ent's speeches, such as his presidential addresses at the College, 1670-1674, and 1676, and contains some accounts entered by Peter Ent, 1671-1674, who was in possession of the volume for a time; Ent's anatomical lectures, delivered at the College 13-15 April 1665, in his hand, 1665.

Original manuscripts of letters to the Royal Society, which are largely scientific. These papers form the raw material from which the Letter Books were compiled. There are many letters of importance, 1613; 1642; 1651-1740.

Papers of Brian S Dyde relating to the Hydrographic Office of the Admiralty and to the hydrographic survey work of the Royal Navy, including surveyor's workbooks, 1959-1973, including astronomical observations for the position of a geodetic station on the Island of Arorae, Jun 1962; and papers relating to the history of the Hydrographic Department.

Typescript of an unpublished book entitled 'Elizabethan Technology or the development of the letters patent protection for inventions'. Also correspondence about the book.

Letters discussing family matters and work from Paul Dirac and his wife Margit Dirac to Esther and Myer Salaman. Einstein had been Esther's supervisor, and provided her with a reference to Cambridge.

Papers of Sir Gavin Rylands De Beer, the majority c1939-1972, consisting of: notes and drafts for publications and lectures on the history of science and literary topics; correspondence concerning literature and De Beer's scientific work; papers from De Beer's work during the First and Second World Wars; financial and legal papers; and some personal correspondence.

These papers show Davy's first ideas for an electric telegraph from his early sketches in 1836 of a frictional electric telegraph to one worked by electromagentism which he developed 1836-1839. His first patent was lodged in 1837 in opposition to Cooke and Wheatstone's first patent. The papers indicate his efforts to find a purchaser for the patent rights and to establish a company to develop the telegraph. He made agreements with several business men but none of these arrangements bore any fruit. He also negotiated with the railway companies and demonstrated the telegraph for them. The papers record the efforts of his father, Thomas Davy, and several others, to continue Davy's negotiations with the railway companies and the arrangements which were made to re-exhibit a working model of the telegraph. The papers also relate to the sale of the patent to the Electric Telegraph Company in 1847. Fahie's memoir on Davy is included in the papers.

Copies of the letters of Erasmus Darwin transcribed from original manuscripts or photocopied from published versions by Desmond George King-Hele.

Papers of Sir Henry Hallett Dale include three photographs of Sir Henry Hallett Dale; correspondence and papers to and from various recipients, relating to topics such as lectures, students and meetings at the Royal Institution of Great Britain (RI), 1942-1945; correspondence and papers to and from various recipients, relating to topics such as apparatus for the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory at the RI, 1945-1946; volume containing various aspects of RI accounts such as petty cash and catering supplies, some correspondence is also included, 1943-1965.

Letter from the Countess Vernède de Corneillan of 46 (ancien) rue de Rivoli au coin de la rue Castiglione, Paris to [Charles] Babbage, 10 Sep 1854. 'Monsieur Babbage m'a fait passer la lettre que vous avez eu la bonté de lui écrire au sujet d'inventions de M. [Philippe] de Girard … Je prends la liberté de vous récrire a çe sujet, car cette affaire est d'une haute gravité pour notre famille … Vous dites …que le "moyens de M. de Girard sont ingénieux mais que le même effet a été produit par des moyens plus simples, et tellement analogues qu'il me serait difficile de prendre un brevet"'. Saying that if this sentence concerns 'les greniers à blé', she would like to ask certain questions: (i) whether the process analogous to that of Girard is patented in England; (ii) under what name; (iii) at what date and since when; (iv) what are the differences that make it simpler and what are the things analogous to it? Excuses her importunity on the grounds of the matter's important to the memory of her uncle.

Autograph, with signature.

Personal and business correpondence of William Fothergill Cooke, mostly relating to his dispute with Charles Wheatstone, together with legal documents (copies and originals) connected with the case, in 7 bound volumes. Comprising personal correspondence, mainly to Cooke's mother relating to his hopes and expectations of the telegraph. The correspondence is mainly 1836-1841 with fewer letters for 1843, 1844, 1860, 1868, 1869, 1875, 1879 and 1880. There is also correspondence with Latimer Clark both before and after Cooke's death concerning a history of British Telegraphy and a life of Sir William Fothergill Cooke. Copies of this some of this correspondence can be found in Volume VII, and these are easier to read than the extensively crossed originals; Correspondence relating to railway companies, arbitration, and creation of the Electric Telegraph Company. The correspondence also shows the causes of the breakdown of his partnership with Wheatstone, the arbitration process and subsequent agreement to purchase Wheatstone's royalties in the shares; Correspondence between Mr Robert Wilson, solicitor acting for William Fothergill Cooke, and William Richardson, solicitor acting for Professor Wheatstone, relating to the arbitration between Cooke and Wheatstone, frequently concerning sending of drafts of agreement, with amendments, and with arranging appointments for arbitrators, and witnesses for the arbitration; Papers concerned with the arbitration between Cooke and Wheatstone, including bound copies of agreements and articles referred to in the arbitration; Papers submitted to the Arbitrators, Sir Marc Isambard Brunel and John Frederic Daniell in 1841, mainly copies of evidence. They represent Cooke and Wheatstone's cases, and the Arbitrators' decision, with one later patent granted to Sir William Fothergill Cooke. There are also some poems about Autralia or the Central World and Neptune at the end of the volume; Papers concerning assignment by Wheatstone of all royalties and shares to Cooke, including extracts of letters and transfers and assignments of inventions, rights in patents and shares separating Wheatstone and Cooke's business affairs; Copies of letters, mainly from Volume I of the collection made by George Bristow of the successor firm to Wilson and Harrison with the idea of publishing them on the 50th anniversary of the first Patent for the Electric Telegraph. The Volume contains copies of three letters between Bristow and Latimer Clark, and copies of extracts of other letters. Several letters were cut out for publication in 1893. There are also some notes made by a clerk at Bristow's concerning the other original material and its whereabouts, and also references to 'The Electric Telegraph: Was It Invented by Professor Wheatstone?' in two volumes by Sir W F Cooke, 1856-1857. The copies are easier to read than the extensively crossed originals.

Letter from Ernest Clarke of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, 13 Hanover Square, London to [Herbert Somerton] Foxwell, 29 Jul 1897. Mainly discussing the 17th-century writer Samuel Hartlib.

Autograph, with signature.

Papers of Patricia Hannah Clarke, 1963-2003, comprising biographical material including autobiographical material compiled for Clarke's personal record as a Fellow of the Royal Society; curriculum vitae; video of an interview for the Biochemical Society; papers relating to Deer Park School, Cirencester of which Clarke was a Governor, 1988-1999 and correspondence with local and national politicians on education, tobacco advertising and asylum seekers.

Papers relating to Clarke's interest in the historical contribution of women scientists and her concern in encouraging women scientists. Includes, correspondence, notes, printed reports and photocopied material used for a number of activities including her lecture 'Women in Science at University College, 1878-1978', 1992; Royal Society meeting on 'Women in Science and Technology: opportunities for change?', 28 May 1993; papers relating to Clarke's service on the Committee on Women in Science, Engineering and Technology and a meeting on Women in Science at the Royal Society, 27 Mar 2001.

Publications including an incomplete set of offprints of Clarke's works; papers relating to her biographical memoirs of Roger Yate Stanier and Michael Douglas Lilly and her entry for Muriel Robertson for the New Dictionary of National Biography; lecture material including for Clarke's Royal Society Leeuwenhoek Lecture 'Experiments in microbial evolution: new enzymes, new metabolic activities', 1979, and the 19th J D Bernal Lecture, 'New directions in biology: basic science and biotechnology', delivered at Birkbeck College London, 1988.

Papers relating to eight UK and overseas societies and organisations, 1975-2001, including the British National Bibliographical Research Fund, the Royal Society, the Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia and the Research Grants Council, Hong Kong.

Papers relating to Clarke's visits and conferences, 1971-1998, including visits to the Far East including Singapore, Malaysia, China and Hong Kong and meetings marking the centenary of the birth of J B S Haldane, 1992.

Correspondence, including with researchers at University College London, colleagues in the UK and scientists in the USA and Europe. Correspondents include R E Drew, B W Holloway, S Brenner; H L Kornberg, R D Sager and R Y Stanier.